The P. T. Barnum Digital Collection draws from the holdings of the Barnum Museum and the Bridgeport History Center, Bridgeport Public Library, both located in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The 1000+ archival items and artifacts selected for this collection pertain to the world-famous showman, Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810-1891), and many of his associates, such as Charles S. Stratton (“Gen. Tom Thumb”), Jenny Lind, and Jumbo the Elephant, as well as his American Museum in New York City, circuses, four homes in Bridgeport, and other career, civic-life, and family-life topics. Both the planning and implementation phases of this project received generous support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
