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Who's Who in the American Circus
Sturtevant's List of Circuses 1724 - 1952
1900 - 1909 1910 - 1919 1920 - 1929 1930 - 1939 1940 - 1952
Thanks to the Circus Fans Association of America for permission to publish this information from White Tops.
Published in the Circus Fans Association of America's periodical White Tops in the 1960s, Charles Gates Sturtevant, CFA Historian, compiled this list of circus performances in early times in America, and of the later organized travelling circuses and traveling shows for each year down to 1952. He compiled this resource during his lifetime, from the records of newspapers, theatrical and sporting journals, programs, bills, posters, route books and other sources. This list is confined to Sturtevant's resources, methodology and imposed limits. There are additional lists, such as Chindahl and Directory of American Circuses 1793-2000, by Robert L. Parkinson (Baraboo, WI: Circus World Museum, 2002. Additional sources should be used to confirm the information in this list. There will be typographical and other errors in this information. Optical Character recognition (OCR) was used for this online edition.
Sturtevant stated "that the compilation lists by year all Circus combinations and travelling organizations known to have exhibited in the United States. Some attempt has been made under each year to list them in order of their size and importance, in many cases the number of cars of railroad shows, names of owners in parenthesis (if different from title used) and other important information is briefly indicated throughout the lists."
Sources Sturtevant lists:
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Bentley. The diary of William Bentley, D.D., pastor of the East Church, Salem, Massachusetts. By William Bentley, 4 volumes, Salem, Essex Institute 1905-1914.
Braathen. Private collection of Sverre O. Braathen. This collection is now largely at the Illinois State University, Bloomington, Illinois.
T. A. Brown's History. Brown, T. Allston, A history of the New York stage, from the first performance in 1732 to 1901, Publisher B. Blom, 1964, 3 volumes (first published, New York, 1903).
Chloupek records, Circus fan and collector James V. Chloupek took notices from scrapbooks and posters and supplied them to Sturtevant.
C A Day, Charles H. Day, circus press agent. He contributed articles to the New York Clipper, Billboard, New York Dramatic Mirror, and the Sporting and Theatrical Journal for over thirty-five years. Also penned several short volumes, such as Show Life.
Greenwood. Greenwood, Isaac J. The Circus: Its Origin and Growth prior to 1835, NY: Burt Franklin, 1970 (originally published 1898).
Glenroy's. John Glenroy, Ins and Outs of Circus Life, Boston, MA: M. M. Wing, 1885.
O'Dell's [sic]. Odell, George Clinton Densmore, Annals of the New York Stage, New York: Columbia University Press, 1927-1949, 15 volumes.
Scholl's. Private collection of Walter Scholl. Sholl's collection is now largely at Illinois State University, Bloomington, Illinois, but a second collection was dispersed piecemeal in the 1990s.
Gil Robinson. Gil Robinson, Old wagon show days, Cincinnati, OH: Brockwell Company, 1925.
Rowes Memories. Joseph Andrew Rowe, memoirs and personal correspondence relative to the circus business through the gold country in the 50's. Albert Dressler (Editor), California's Pioneer Circus,1926.
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BB = Billboard; S & T Jour/Journal - Sporting and Theatrical Journal.
do = ditto
Gt = Great; Cent = Central (e.g. Cent America). Many place names are abbreviated, e. g. Bost. for Boston, W. I. for West Indies.
Prs, pro = Proprietors
Circuses: RB for Ringling Bros., etc.
Months: My=May, Jy=July, S=September, N=November, D=December, etc.
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