Articles, Booklets, Book Chapters

A Clown's Log, part one (circa 1840). Clown Joseph Blackburn, in company with Levi J. North, visited the British Isles in 1838.
A Clown's Log, part two (circa 1840)

Sale of a Menagerie (1854)

History of the Amphitheatre and Circus. T. Allston Brown, circus and biographical information. 1796 to circa 1861.

The Hippotheatron (1864-1872). T. Allston Brown's description of the Hippotheatron building used by circuses.

On the Road With a Wagon Show (1835-1888). Tony Parker's description of his fifty-three years in the wagon show life and forty-five years a clown.

Stranger Than Fiction (1860s-1919). W. Hendricks Quinett's biography and his life with circuses.

William Elhelbert Burke ("Billy Burke," clown), C. Spencer Chambers (ca 1860-1880s, pdf file). Also "Burnt Corkers" (minstrel shows organization)

Life in a Circus (1870s). Said to be authored by Arthur Pember, a journalist who went 'undercover' to tell his story. He spent a week in the properties department of the Howe's Great London Circus. One of the better accounts of circus life in the 1870s.

Robinson & Pastor Champion Circus, C. Spencer Chambers (1870, pdf file)

Circus Memoirs (1870-1880s). Reminiscences of showman George Middleton as told to and written by his wife.

One Day's Route With a Circus (1873). Description of the wagon circus' travels from one town to the next.

Circus Reminiscences of "Long Ago" (1877). How Aaron Turner gave a circus performance in Connecticut when circuses were prohibited in that state.

Tented Arena of the Olden Time (1878)

Circus in the Days of Old (1800s). Charles Day's articles on the circus and owner-managers.

Shows of By Gone Days (1800s). Chet Wright's memoirs of New England traveling shows, performers, tent shows, circuses.

Reminiscences of a Showman (1870s to 1900s). Agent Louis Cooke's articles on circuses, showmen, performers, staff.

Leavitt's Fifty Years in Theatrical Management (1860s to ca 1910). M. B. Leavitt's chapter on circus life, history.

Striking the Circus Tent (1882)

Hobby Swapper magazine, special circus issue, articles on Sells Bros. Circus, Chang & Eng, collecting circusiana, circus photographs, Burt Cork organization (1800s, pdf file)

Barnum vs Bailey, C. Spencer Chambers (1879-1880, pdf file)

Circus Reformation (1884)

A Circus Contortionist (1886)

How the Circus is Put Up and Taken Down (1895)

Organization of the Modern Circus, Whiting Allen, from The Cosmopolitan, August, 1902, pp. 373-383.

Setting Up the Tent (1919)

Tom Sandow's Life Diary (1940s-1970s, England).

Circusiana, Articles on a variety of circus topics by A. Morton Smith, published in Hobbies between 1944 and 1950.

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