| Phineas Taylor Barnum was arguably the
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| | different cultures, Barnum adjusted the
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| greatest showman of all time. He had a
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| | exhibits, shows and educational materials
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| knack for finding and exhibiting unusual
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| | to accommodate different cultures and
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| people, animals and a range of oddities,
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| | tastes as well as each strata of the
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| some of them hoaxes, such as the Feejee
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| | social classes of the times. There was
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| Mermaid.While the Barnum & Bailey Circus
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| | literally something for everyone.The
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| continues as a living testament to his
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| | public response was almost as varied as
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| talent for promotion, he was also a
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| | the museum's diversity. Some loved the
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| politician and journalist and enormously
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| | museum/theatre and some were appalled by
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| influential both here in the U.S. and in
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| | it.The flames of that outrage were fanned
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| Europe during the 19th century. He could
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| | by Barnum's support of temperance, and on
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| tomanipulate the press in ways that
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| | July 13, 1865, the American Museum was
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| render today's spin doctors inept
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| | burned to the ground. It has never been
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| hacks.P.T. Barnum, as he was best known,
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| | determined who set the fire. He
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| was born in Bethel, Connecticut on July
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| | subsequently built a new museum further
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| 5, 1810. After his father's death in
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| | uptown, which also burned down.He is
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| 1826, rural life faded as his ideal, and
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| | perhaps best known, however, for two
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| he was drawn to the city lights of
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| | special finds: Tom Thumb and Jenny
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| Brooklyn, New York, where he worked for a
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| | Lind.It was in 1842 that he discovered
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| short time as a store clerk.His own
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| | Charles Sherwood Stratton, whom he dubbed
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| fascination with curiosities, strange and
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| | Tom Thumb, a man who stood only 25 inches
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| bizarre, convinced him that his
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| | tall and weighed a mere 15 pounds at age
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| contemporaries of the era would be
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| | 11.Barnum invested two years in training
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| likewise captivated, so he set out to
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| | Tom to sing, dance and mime, then
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| make collecting and displaying
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| | embarked on a world tour with his tiny
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| peculiarities his career. His reading of
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| | friend who performed for fascinated
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| the sentiments of the times was right on,
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| | domestic and European audiences,
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| and people gathered in large numbers at
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| | including royalty and Abraham Lincoln.
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| the various venues he built, in
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| | Tom Thumb became a "must see" in the
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| particular, the American Museum in New
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| | American Museum.Jenny Lind, whom Barnum
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| York.The first of his endeavors involved
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| | called "The Swedish Nightingale" was a
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| Joice Heth, whom he billed as "The
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| | musical prodigy. She could play the piano
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| Greatest Natural & National Curiosity in
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| | at age four and developed an
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| the World."Telling those interested that
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| | extraordinary singing voice, which she
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| the story-telling, African American woman
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| | amply demonstrated to the influential and
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| was 161 years old, he convinced his
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| | political, including President Millard
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| audiences that, as a slave, she had
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| | Fillmore, General Winfield Scott, Henry
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| tended to a young George Washington.When
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| | Clay, Daniel Webster, Henry Wadsworth
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| a prominent physician pared back her true
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| | Longfellow, Washington Irving and
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| age to 80 after her autopsy, Barnum
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| | others.The Barnum & Bailey Circus, which
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| insisted that her body was a fake and
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| | he dubbed "The greatest show on earth" is
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| that she was still performing
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| | his most enduring legacy.Mixing politics
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| elsewhere.In 1841, Barnum founded and
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| | with his passion for the bizarre enabled
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| built the American Museum in the heart of
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| | Barnum to serve a one-year term as mayor
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| "Old New York City." It comprised an
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| | of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and he served
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| eclectic blend of sensational and gaudy
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| | two terms in the Connecticut
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| attractions, including Tom Thumb and the
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| | legislature.The Barnum Museum is an
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| Feejee Mermaid, natural history with
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| | excellent chronicle of the life and times
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| exhibits displaying taxidermy and
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| | of Phineas Taylor Barnum and very much
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| menageries, and art, wax figures and a
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| | worth a visit.Jim Hyde, an author,
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| Lecture Room and theatre in which
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| | award-winning writer and syndicated
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| Shakespeare was performed.To many
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| | columnist, is editor and co-owner with
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| historians and social scientists, the
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| | his wife, Terry, of a top-ranked New
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| American Museum was the bedrock of New
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| | England Website, NewEnglandTimes.Com,
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| York's urban evolution.Remarkably
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| | which covers travel, tourism, real estate
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| perceptive of the changing demographics
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| | and lifestyles.
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| of the city and the confluence of
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