Handbill: Joice Heth "The Greatest Natural and National Curiousity in the World..."

Handbill for the"Great Attraction Just Arrived at Hingham for a Short Time Only" advertising Joice Heth. The front features Joice Heth's name billed as a "great attraction just arrived at Hingham for a short time." It goes on to describe her as the nurse to General George Washington, and gives a brief history along with her supposed age of 161 years. The back features extracts from various public journals and newspapers describing their encounters with Heth. It includes the New York Son, the New York Evening Star, the New York Sunday Morning News, the New York Commercial Advertiser, and the Providence Daily Journal. Joice Heth was an African American woman who various showmen claimed to be the nurse of George Washington, and who was exhibited as such. Barnum took over her management in 1835, and they toured for seven months. When Heth died on 19 February, 1836, Barnum arranged for a public autopsy to be performed by David L. Rogers. Admission was charged. The display of Joice Heth was something P.T. Barnum expressed regret for doing later in his life, which compliments his changing views on African Americans and advocating for the 13th amendment Measures 9.375 by 6.375 inches. No printer is named. 1835