The Collection

The Barnum Museum has a diverse collection of artifacts as well as an archive of manuscripts, photographs, and ephemera. From centaurs and mermaids to items associated with General Tom Thumb and Jenny Lind, our collections are a veritable warehouse of wonders. However, we also have items associated with the history of Bridgeport, particularly as it relates to the growth of local industry and business. 

Thanks to grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and CT Humanities, hundreds of items in our collection have been professionally photographed and digitized. To access and browse our digitized assets, please visit Connecticut Digital Archive or Connecticut Collections. We continue to research, update, and add to these databases. In addition, the multi-year, interdisciplinary, and international research project on Ipy, the 4,000 year old Egyptian mummy who is resident in our museum, is available on our YouTube Channel on a playlist called Discovering Ipy’s Mummy. Our documentary, entitled Uncovering the Secrets of an Egyption Mummy and Coffin, was featured at two documentary film festivals and was the recipient of two Telly awards!

For information on obtaining permission to reproduce Barnum Museum images or collections materials, please contact Dr. Daryn Reyman-Lock at dreymanlock@barnum-museum.org

Explore more of The Barnum Museum’s Collections!

Our YouTube Channel offers additional information about not just our collections, but local and national history, and 19th century society and culture. It is updated weekly with new videos exploring our building, programs and events, as well as regular series.

See the full list of playlists.

Showman’s Shorts, hosted by Emmy-award winning historian and media attorney Betsy Golden Kellem, explores the fascinating history of P. T. Barnum and culturally significant moments in local and national history. 

Join The Barnum Museum’s curator, Dr. Daryn Reyman-Lock, as she explores historic legends, myths, scientific and industrial progress, and stories behind collections objects in Curious People Wanted.

The children’s series, Spilling the Tea, hosted by Peter Moran, helps to support educational programs in area schools and draws on the life and times of P. T. Barnum and 19th century American society.

Our podcast, Becoming Barnum: The Journey to Fame and Fortune, was written from blogs written by Curator Emerita Adrienne Saint-Pierre as she explored Barnum’s letter copybook written in 1847.