Album: Scrapbook of obituaries for P. T. Barnum, 1891

Scrapbook of collected newspaper obituaries and articles concerning Barnum's death in April 1891.  The articles, numbering in the low hundreds, were clipped from newspapers local to Bridgeport and Connecticut and from across the United States and around the world.  Of note is a Bridgeport Standard article describing Barnum's interview with a Mr. Holden, President of the Bridgeport Scientific Society, about one month before Barnum's death on April 7th.  Barnum described the plans for the Barnum Institute, to be built in downtown Bridgeport and serve as the home of the Bridgeport Scientific Society and the Fairfield County Historical Society.  At the time, Barnum was working with architects Longstaff and Hurd, and had developed a clear vision of the building he wished to become a legacy:  "I am not at all particular how the interior of the building is arranged.  You can fit that to suit yourselves.  What I care about is the exterior.  You know, Mr. Holden, I 'm a showman, and I want the outside of that building to make a grand show, a beautiful appearance.  I want that building to be such that when I am laid away visitors to the city will not pass it by without an inquiry or a look of curiosity. "I want that structure to loom up in grandeur so that people when first their eyes rest upon it will start back in surprise and say, 'What building is that?'  Then I want the Bridgeporter to be able to say with pride, 'Why that's the building Barnum gave to the Scientific and Historical Societies.' "That's the kind of a building I want to leave behind me, Mr. Holden, and I have arranged matters so that the plans I have accepted will be carried out to the letter.  Why I'm as happy over this prospect as any member of our society." The Barnum Institute was completed in 1892 at a cost of $85,000, and opened its doors in February 1893. The building was designed by the Bridgeport, Connecticut, architectural firm of Longstaff and Hurd, and sculptor Henri Plasschaert was responsible for the elaborate terracotta friezes, both the decorative frieze of foliage and animals, and the frieze around the top featuring historical scenes and busts of famous individuals.  Today known as the Barnum Museum, the brownstone and terracotta structure is an impressive, eclectic blend of styles, predominantly Romanesque Revival.