Construction

The Barnum Museum remains closed as we ready the site and begin major construction of the historic exterior.

CONSTRUCTION

The Barnum Museum remains closed as we ready the site and begin major construction of the historic exterior.

The Barnum Museum is Not Open to the Public during construction and renovations.  We apologize for this inconvenience, but a new, immersive, 21st century Barnum Museum is on the horizon.

The Barnum Museum is many things!

We haven’t stopped working, connecting or imagining! 

The Barnum Museum and Vision Team has continued to work on the extraordinary restoration of the glorious historic building!  I am thrilled to tell you that architectural drawings have been submitted to the CT State Historic Preservation Office and Dept. of Economic and Community Development for review and compliance with the National Parks Service and Dept. of the Interior guidelines for nationally significant sites.  Upon approval, the Barnum Museum will officially move into the largest, most comprehensive historic restoration of the 1893 landmark in its history!  We look forward to scaffolding going up in the upcoming months and we welcome you to watch the ongoing progress reports that we will be regularly posting!  We welcome you to be a part of this special moment in Bridgeport, CT history!

But we are here for you.  Answering questions, having conversations, researching, writing, building a better, more engaging and innovative media platform, and keeping the massive restoration and re-envisioning alive and moving forward for you.

We are the change we want to see.

Yes, the world has changed over the last few years.  We walk in the world with new eyes, new ways of thinking, and new ways of processing and responding to our environment.  It continues to be a rollercoaster, but we rise.  Whether it be the flourishing of our new zoom friends, enhanced augmented reality opportunities on our iPhones, the explosion of LinkedIn connections, or just our new-found gratitude and compassion for our global family, it is unquestionable that the world has shrunk again and together we are finding solutions to carry forward.

Barnum wrote in his autobiography: “I believe this world is in a great measure what we choose to make it, and I therefore propose to point out so far as I can the methods that are best calculated to enable us to “get on” in it and obtain comparative happiness.”

Please do not hesitate to reach out to us!  The ‘building’ might not be open, but the larger-than-life BARNUM will never be closed!

Stay well, stay happy,
Barnum Museum Strong!

The Barnum Museum has continued efforts to keep the major historic restoration and rehabilitation on track.  The Museum is officially an active construction site, and scaffolding is scheduled to encircle the glorious exterior of the building soon.

We are truly grateful for all your wonderful support as we continue work to save and revitalize the historic landmark!  We regret the need to close our galleries to the public due to construction, but do check out the Barnum Museum YouTube channel, which has over one hundred professionally-produced videos, taking you behind the scenes and offering a wealth of stories about artifacts and little-known tales about P. T. Barnum himself.

Donations to the Barnum Museum are more important than ever!  As we continue to fundraise for the interior re-envisioning, the future of the Museum depends on contributions from donors like you.

Your contribution will enable the Museum to reach our goals:

  • To fully rehabilitate and revitalize the historic Barnum Museum.
  • To sustain the Barnum Museum’s relevance in the educational and tourism communities.
  • To explore and expand new channels of interpretation and programming to meet the needs of 21st century audiences.
  • To define the Museum as a leader in community engagement and intellectual exchange on a local, national and global scale.

It is an exciting time for the Barnum Museum!  We welcome you will join us in this new journey!  THANK YOU!