Themes in American History

      In my opinion, visitors to this website can explore an interactive 3D recreation of the museum or an archive of images, documents and essays on 16 original Barnum exhibits. The website allows visitors to immerse themselves in the popular culture of Barnum’s era. It can be fun and educational at the same time. Once you explore the museum and indulge your child-like delight in games, the archives and classroom are worth a look. If visitors would like to do more research, these would be the more appropriate tool for the job. Since this is maintained by the City University of New York and GMU, it can probably be trusted to be reliable.

In the 1900’s, American society began to burst with cultural activity. After the Civil War and the Reconstruction, Americans were eager to return to their normal lifestyles. Traveling entertainment was extremely popular during this period. One such display was the circus, especially the Barnum & Bailey Circus,it featured an array of animals and performers. Throughout the 19th century the circus evolved in programming and management. Initially, trained horses and equestrian performances dominated circuses, but ropedancing, juggling, acrobatic acts, wild-animal acts, and clowning were all introduced within the first few decades. The flying trapeze, an important part of the modern circus, was not invented until 1859, and the street parade and sideshow did not become standard circus events until later in the 19th century.
Also, there were already 10,000 movie theaters throughout the country in the early 1900’s.

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I am unsure if Barnum’s American Museum would be a fair indication of the definition of entertainment in the 19th century, but what I am sure of is the fact that is was very popular. Personally, I was not sure what to expect. I had already heard about some of the “attractions” at the museum – such as the 25 inch midget and the mermaid from Fiji – and was very curious to get to the site. I have to admit that I was a little disappointed at what I discovered on the website – it did give me a lot of information about the attractions at the museum but lacked a certain “wow” factor, which I am certain was what made the museum very popular. But from an educational point of view, the online museum hits all the right marks. The archive is very informational and entertaining. The image I posted is a perfect representation of Barnum’s Museum to me. Even though it is in the 19th century, I think it was perceived as a colorful place to visit, with weird and larger than life attractions. The total tickets sold will also support the tag of the Peoples Favorite,  even though it is very clear that the museum had its fair share of critics.

With the introduction of the NY Herald in 1835, the culture in NYC was already changing. People were now being intrigued and entertained by reading about murders, suicides and rapes. I am uncertain if Barnum seen this culture change as the perfect opportunity of open the museum in NYC or he would have done it either way, but NYC was now rapidly expanding and accepting to new means of entertainment. I think from an historic point of view the website does a good job giving the viewer all the information it had in a fun method, but visually and interactively it could use a lot of improvement. Continue Reading »

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Barnum’s American Museum was located at the corner of Broadway and Ann Street in New York, from 1841 to 1865. The museum was mysteriously burnt at that time and the Lost museum was recreated to have people in modern time to visit and experience culture in the 19th century through website.  The museum offered both strange, and educational attractions.

Barnum opened his museum  to create a place where families could go for wholesome, affordable entertainment, but his success drew from the fact that he knew how to entice an audience. At its peak, the museum was open fifteen hours a day and had as many as 15,000 visitors a day. The museum was a spectacular place for people coming to enjoy it in 19th century.  People came to this place with their families and socialize with other people.  The cultural history of New York was people gathered in one place and watch other people’s show and share their opinions with each other while they were exploring the museum.

In my opinion, the strength about the website as a historical tool like Lost museum is that it helps people to experience and have more understanding about the historical facts that were really exist and greatly affected people but been destroyed. The weakness was it was mimicking the historical event, the accuracy would be affected.

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The museum’s archives have information ranging from President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination to the frontier out west to the civil rights movement. After exploring this museum my interest was most captured on the reform movement specifically with alcohol.

During the 19th century, to deter drinking and intoxication, cities such as New York, Boston, and Philadelphia put on melodramas of an intoxicated person that is tempted by alcohol, and his life eventually going on a spiral downwards until he can chooses to reform. The Drunkard was one play that was so successful in Boston, in 1849 it debuted at Barnum’s American Museum in New York. An image representing this “alcohol induced wickedness” is from Ten Nights in a Bar Room. Temperance was not just a political debate but it was a moral dilemma facilitated in such melodramas, songs, conventions and parades. This inspiration came from the evangelical Christians who promoted moral reform.

I believe that the Saloons and the drinking culture in 19th century America was a chief source of entertainment. The fact that some spectators of these plays would go to the nearest saloon during intermission to drink, and then come back to watch the second act shows the difficulty in promoting temperance.

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When I’m browsing in the Lost Museum on the website, I’m trying to look for a historical character. On the 2nd floor picture gallery, there are many pictures of historical characters. I’m interested in one of the picture —-John Brown. The abolitionist John Brown was one of the most controversial person of the 19th century.  There are several incidents that influence him a lot. Firstly During his childhood year, his father explained to him that slavery was a sin against God. Also, he witnessed the beating of slave when he visited a farm.  Moreover, in 1837, Brown attended a meeting in Ohio in memory of Elijah Lovejoy, an abolitionist newspaper editor who had been killed in Illinois. At the meeting, Brown raised his hand and vowed that he would destroy slavery. Those incidents really motivate him to abolish slavery.  In 1859 he led a party of 21 men in a successful attack on the federal armory at Harper’s Ferry. Brown hoped that his action would encourage slaves to join his rebellion, enabling him to form an emancipation army. Two days later the armory was stormed by Robert E. Lee and a company of marines. Brown and six men barricaded themselves in an engine-house, and continued to fight until Brown was seriously wounded and two of his sons had been killed. John Brown was tried and convicted of insurrection, treason and murder. He was executed on 2nd December, 1859. After his execution on December 2, 1859, Brown became a martyr to those opposed to slavery. And the controversy over his actions and his fate helped stoke the tensions that pushed the United States to the brink of Civil War. Americans either regarded him as a noble hero or a dangerous fanatic.

The Lost Museum is really informative which contains a lot images and animation.  If you browse the museum, we will find that the museum is really categorized. Actually, the ground floor is mainly about the American cultural history. The second floor is mainly about entertainment and historical character. Although the lose museum is virtual, it looks realistic. The Lost Museum makes the visitors that they are really browsing in a real museum. When the visitors keep browsing in the museum, I think they can definitely expand their knowledge about 19^th century of American history.  However, some of the pictures and words are too small. The visitors may have difficulty to read.

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The Barnum’s American Museum was the popular attraction in 19th century New York City. P.T.Barnum purchased this museum from John Scudder in 1841. By 1850 he had greatly influence on the mid-19th century popular culture. The museum was burned down at the end of the Civil War. In this lost museum, you can find exotic animals from around the world, a number of “human curiosities” and many different wonders. Barnum used different kinds of innovative ways to dazzle the audiences. The museum displayed automata that imitated human and animal behavior and lantern slide shows, cosmoramas, and panoramas that presented images in new ways. The museum foreshadowed the commercial culture and pop culture in the United States. The museum is not only a place for entertainment, it also promoted the education on natural science in its animal exhibition, included historical context in its paintings and wax figures, and temperance reform and Shakespear dramas in its “Lecture Room”. Through adding educational value into its exhibitions, Barnum avoided to offend the religiously inclined. The Barnum’s American Museum was a single place where the people from different classes, immigrant, tourists, and residents, men and women could gather. It reflected the diversity of the American population at that time. However, in order to reinforce the white identities of museum patrons, african americans were only allowed in the museum on a limited basis. It was a key site for the antebellum articulation of whiteness. In addition, many of the exhibits in the museum reflected the emerging political and social crises that led to secession and Civil War.

The website has re-constructed the Barnum’s American Museum. We could explore the museum in a 3-D interactive environment. In my opinion, this website is pretty good as a historical tool but it would be better if it could allow us to check the museum in full-screen. Also, the website should add a side bar so that it could provide us more historical context and background information when we are navigating the museum. It would be more convenient too if the website has an audio guide.

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When I think of P.T. Barnum I think of the showman.  Tom Thumb is one of people who I most readily associate with Barnum.  Barnum understood what attracted people and he was a master of exploiting it.  The people of the buttoned up Victorian Era were as interested in sensationalism as people are today.  This website is helpful in drawing parallels between entertainments in the 19th century and today.  Although I am a bit skeptical of museum exhibitions compiled by a man who said, ” there’s a sucker born every minute”, I can see why his attractions would be just as successful today as they was in his own lifetime.

The Lost Museum was an interesting web site to explore.  As a teacher I think it can be a great tool to help students to explore the cultural history of the 19th century.  I also liked how the archives provided a jumping off point for additional research into artifacts on display.  An artifact can make a event or time period so much more engaging than just text about it.

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The Lost Museum provides a very informative source to understand the 19^th century of America. The website is not only about one aspect. It includes American history and the entertainment of 19^th century. The best part of this museum is provides a huge numbers of picture, animation and copies of old document. It makes this virtual museum feels like I’m walking into an actual museum.

In the Waxwork room on second floor, I find some information about automaton. The 19^th century is an industrialized age. The time before the advent motion picture and electronic devices become popular. Automaton was the most advance technology entertainment at that time. In that period of time automaton has been largely produced for different purposes. One of the usages is entertainment. People fascinated in advance technology and like to see different automaton perform. In the picture below show an Automaton Chess Player. It was the most famous automaton of all time. The reason why it is so famous is because it is not only automaton chess playerimitated human behavior. It appeared to be a thinking machine to make the best decision and win chess experts and European royals. It fascinates audiences about how its operation.

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The tour of The Lost Museum was a very informative experience. I didn’t really know what to expect when I entered, but as I progressed and explored all the three floors I came out with a decent sense of the history of New York City. It wasn’t really like the museums nowadays, but it had a very good feel of what a typical 19th century museum would be like.

The one thing I found that was attention grabbing was the presentation on “The Great Fires of New York City.” The American Revolution ended with a fire in the city destroying many buildings and injuring people. Many more fires followed till the mid 1800s. The firefighters were the main heroes in these situations. They had the hardest, most dangerous jobs. Until the late 1800s, being a firefighter was voluntary, but after the Barnum Museum burned in the fire the legislature made changes and firefighters were then paid.

In addition to the presentation on the fires in NYC, I thought the portrayal of what entertainment was like in NYC in the past was very interesting too. Nowadays, entertainment means tv, movies, sports, etc. In the 1700 and 1800s, I learned that entertainment for them mainly were plays that acted out domestic dramas. Many people went and watched people perform live on stage for entertainment, for example “The Drunkard or the Fallen Saved.”

With its strengths, the museum came with weaknesses as well. The museum had very small floors. It could use addition of floors to spread things out and inform people more about the history of NYC. Also, some of the information was very vague. Many things could have been explained more for a better understanding.

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Exploring the Barnum Museum led me to believe that people haven’t changed much at all. The only things really different from the modern day are the technology and knowledge. The “Mechanism of  Human Emotion,” is a great example of what I mean. People in any time period in most places in the world have great use for the ability to judge whether a person is telling the truth.

The entertainment hasn’t changed much either. While probably distinctly less sexist and racist, much of today’s entertainment revolves around people who are different. Giants, like the 8 foot tall woman on the second floor, and Siamese twins resemble things commonly seen on the Discovery Channel, or National Geographic. To be specific, I found “The Drunkard or The Fallen Saved” to be hilarious, despite its age.

While primitive by today’s standards, the cutting-edge technology of the day seems incredibly important in this museum. The steam engine is praised as a “marvel of modern engineering.” Also, there are exhibits dedicated to fossils, and human development.

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As a historical tool, the website helps one visualize the 19th century.Little things like its layout, the wood, and the wording of the descriptions make it easier to experience the actual exhibits. Visualization only goes so far, however, eventually one might want to delve in deeper, where small pictures and hardly legible text would do no good.

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Navigating the life like virtual tour of the  Lost Museum was a refreshing experience. It gave me a sense of experiencing 19th century entertainment in NYC . What I got out of the whole 19th century entertainment industry was that everyone was interested in seeing things that were new and different. Things such as the 8 foot woman or the 4 footer Tom Thumb were some of the highlights of what was seen as different but extremely popular because of the attention that they received. One of the more interesting pictures that I found were that of Chang and Eng who could be thought of as the “original ” Siamese twins.

Overall the virtual tour of the Lost Museum was very interesting. at first it was a little difficult to navigate but once you get the hang of it its very easy. One of the things I liked was the clarity of the website and that it was also very fast to load.

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There’s always that moment when you wish you were around for something that is no longer there. Well, with our amazing technology, we are able to actually travel back in time to be there. One of the ways we can is with The Lost Museum website, a virtual tour of P.T. Barnum’s American Museum. We are able to explore the museum floor by floor, room by room, by using only the internet. With the mouse being your tour guide, and graphics so good as to have life like rats running across the floor, you are in for a wild ride. However, I found my ride to be somewhat of a interesting yet confusing one. Only confusing in the sense that I felt there was no theme to the museum and there was a little bit of any and everything going on from room to room. What I found most interesting though, was the etiquette slideshow in the lecture room.

The Lecture Room

This tells me that in 19th century New York City, although there was a great amount of diversity, there was also social norms that had to be followed. There were “rules” of how society should behave as a whole and it seems as though that was part of the entertainment. However, it also looks to me as though this shows separation of the economic statuses. Looking at the slides, there seemed to be higher class people, well dressed with furs and top hats, in theaters, etc., which makes sense as to why they were mandated to learn certain etiquette. As a whole, I feel as though this is a great historical tool because it shows the diversity but yet the separation of society at the time and the different types of entertainment and information that was shown then to how present day museums are. For example, we have different museums for different things but in there, everything was combined into one.

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During my visit of “Barnum’s American Museum” I was fascinated by 3-D virtual reconstruction. Barnum purchased this museum in 1841 and it was United States most visited museum until it was burned in 1865.The lost Museum includes wax work, art work, animals, aquarium, and pictures depicting different events. In 19^th Century the sources of entertainment were limited so people were taking advantage of places like Lost Museum. In 19^th century events like Baby shows in which finest babies get rewards were popular. The Museum was full of strange things and paintings. The 8 feet tall sculpture of Miss Anna Swan also draws my attention. Which is one example, why people get attracted to that Museum. Different Articles and letters from Lost Museum tell us about the history of slavery. Although NY State abolished slavery in 1827 but colored people were still unable to visit public places. “New York Tribune” newspaper in which Barnum allowed colored persons to visit his museum only for one day is also very important in history of museum. Unfortunately museum was burned to ground in 1865. The picture below is depicting burning of Museum.

The Museum is full of mysteries, in every corner there is part of history laying. It feels good to visit museum by sitting at home. Although few paintings were unclear with lack of information but overall the visual tour was good experience. The Lost Museum website is really great effort of preserving history.

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The Lost Museum, a digital recollection of the past, enables the audience to browse history with only a few clicks and drags. The experience allows the audience to click and search with past advertisements of recreations and events of the time, to really understand and be apart of the world of the past. The site does a good job of grabbing the attention of the users by stimulating this mysterious question of “who burned the museum” which entices the audience by setting an overall theme to the entire experience of visit. In my opinion, the museum is certainly an applicable method of pertaining to today’s internet era by creating this online museum. The weakness however derives from the lack of graphics with numerous cliches and outdated maneuvers. The archives is the actual beauty of the entire website because of the massive collection of historical artifacts and documents. The museum’s virtual tour allows the audience to get a good sense of the past by portraying a cultural aspect with pictures and artifacts of events that happened inside and out of the museum.
The 3-D attraction lacks in it of itself because it pretty much was 2-D, but the content of it all seemed to educate the audience through the idea of curiosity and amusement. The museum needs a little bit of more organizing because it seems to be a bit confusing and scattered but all in all was a amusing experience with new things learned and understood. One thing that interested me was the ad of the Baby Show that went on during the events of the museum. What lacked was the in-depth explanation of what really went on during the Baby Shows.

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The website gives the viewer some detailed historical content around 19th century, and events of the Lost Museum. The museum was something that almost everyone attended for entrainment. Similar to today’s Broadway theaters, Barnum’s Museum was something that was magnificently enjoyable in more of an art form. The first time when i was exploring the “Lost museum”, i found that the museum contains every mysterious objects that somehow unique and relates to unfound results.Each and every object in museum makes us to think on our own way no matter how the result is. Mainly, this museum gives a knowledge, facts, events, reality that used to exist during 1800-1900.

In comparison between “The Innocent Boy,” 1836 and “The Lost Museum”, both incidents seemed mysterious because the public never found out about the truth. For instance, the gesture of the boy looked as if he was leaving or just broke inside the apartment. Firstly, he is holding an ax in his hands. Secondly, the door knob seems to be broken, which might suggests the viewer that he just broke inside in order to help the burning Jewett. In addition, the boy is dressed as a hotel doorman which also convey that he was trying to save Jewett.
On the other hand, the boy may be holding axe because he just murdered Jewett and running away from the crime scene. It is mysterious because the painting itself is complicated and hard to decode. It does not give viewers, the exact details. It seems that the artist purposely left things out to gain more costumers/readers. Because the incident occurred around 1800s, this gives an impression of competition. It was written that “… the mass-circulation “penny press” had a field day covering the gruesome story for their largely working-class readers”. This appears that the newspaper company also left the story mysterious because they wanted readers to speak out, think and gain more costumers. In fact, Penny-press newspaper only costed a penny and was in competition with other average newspaper which cost six-cents each. So, this incident is still mysterious.

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The Lost museum website impressed me. It has both, strengths as well weaknesses. You don’t need to pay for an entry ticket and no traveling time is required. You could simply sit comfortably in your house and explore the museum. Many people don’t visit museums just because they have to go there and spend much of their time exploring it. The website is designed in an innovative way, making it fun to explore and learn about history. It’s a very good historical tool for people who are not willing to visit a real museum. There is lot of information on a site that is served to a viewer, in a much more entertaining way. Learning in a fun environment is much more beneficial than forcing yourself into learning something.
The downside of the site is its poor graphical design. I found myself confused at times, didn’t know where to click. The camera doesn’t allow you to walk freely throughout the floors, you feel like you are guided by someone in a strict way. The design could discourage a person from assimilating all the historical information present in the museum.

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Exploring The Lost Museum was a very interesting experience. It took me quite a while to be able to learn how to navigate through this virtual museum. On one hand, this website is interactive and keeps you involved in exploring the website the way you want to. You can start exploring from the ground floor or from the 3^rd floor and it’s up to you to pick what you want to read about. On the other hand, it takes too long to figure it out how to use this virtual museum as a historical tool and I wish they would simplify and incorporate table of contest on each floor. Overall, it helped me to understand the events and entertainment that was popular at that time in NYC and how P. T. Barnum’s American Museum was a highlight for many visitors in mid-nineteenth-century in New York City.

I found this picture in Waxworks Room on the second floor. This picture represents one of the things that I have learned through the website. It helped me to learn that although President Lincoln invited African American men to serve in Union Army, they were still at disadvantage and were underpaid and treated as inferiors.  

At the end, The Barnum museum taught me about entertainment in 19th century in NYC. This was a time when Tom Thumb and the original Siamese Twins were highly popular for entertainment. According to the website, “Much of what made the enterprise so remarkable was carried on by Barnum’s circus. Among the items on display were the farcical, unconvincingly cobbled together “FeJee Mermaid” and very real, majestic whales.  Lectures on religion and abolition took place in the museum’s theater.” This shows us that New Yorkers were entertained in various ways even in the days without TV or Digital World that our generation is consumed by entirely and sees it as almost the only way to be entertained or taught.

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Barnum Museum consists with an extensive collection related to P.T Barnum. It tells lots of things about culture, entertainment, and history of the United States, especially focused on the period of 19th century. Barnum museum is very strange as well as educational attrations in 19th century. The museum tells an era of invention and discovery with significant developments in the fields of science and technology. The skeleton of the horse, the picture of the brain in the museum tells the educational attraction in the area of science. Where as, the 32lb. Howitzer, and the Draft Wheel shows that the new invention on technology. On top of that, the museum also tells that there was a huge development on the photograph. Photography seems able to capture more detail and information than traditional medium such as, paiting and sculpting. Even many advances in photographic glass plates and priting were made in 19th century.  

  New York City has been always the city the of cultural diversity. People from all over the world come to the New York City for a better life and opportunities. Similarly, the museum also tells about the cultural history of New York City. The City is not only important for the trade but also central attraction for music, theater, and visual arts. Many artists have been drawn into the city because of the growth of theater industry. During 19th century, there was a great change in American theater which resulted tremendous growth in population espically in cities on the East Coast. People had more lesiure time and better standards of living, and they looked to the theater to provide entertaiment – laughter, glitter and sentimentality. Even during from 19th century the actors were considered as a quite socially respectable images.

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In the Lost Museum, there is a model wearing female dress and carrying a metal bucket, however, it is with a male face. It is a figure that represents the image of Confederate President Jefferson Davis when he purportedly disguised himself as his wife in order to get rid of the arrest of Union soldiers. Although media did not have advanced technology to take photos or videos to record the historical events in 1800s, they used many other ways to try to show the situation again.

The model in the Lost Museum is not the only public to present this event, many newspapers had sketches of the photo and draw cartoons to express opinions about it. In the picture, it was a cartoon from Harper’s Weekly. In this cartoon, it mocked the Confederate States and its president with the presentation of feminine attributes. It was the general attitude of Northerners toward Southerners during that time. These Historical records provided perfect evidence of the Civil War about the Northerners’, or even New Yorkers’ opinions.  Furthermore, people during that time had chances to receive news and trends in many different ways, by visiting the museum, reading newspapers or magazines and recieving handouts. The Lost Museum has well preserved these historical records and presented these to the public.

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The Barnum museum brings us back to a time period where we can more than anything imagine a world with endless possibilities. Reading through the museum archives and exhibitions, I realized that a time where internet nor tv existed was a perfect time for show business and entertainment. Ranging from the “Feejee mermaid” to the world tallest woman, if it was for money these show business men would create anything to draw people’s attention. The website is a very useful tool of keeping me focused and immersed since I actually virtually enter into a museum space. If the website was formatted just like any other webpages with endless lines of information with photos here and there, I would be very tempted to navigate away from the page. Another pro is that the virtual space also has an interactive aspect that puts viewers in control giving us the choice to read about an object or an image that intrigues us.

The image below is of a woman named Jenny Lind. In September 1850, Barnum took this Swedish opera singer and brought her to New York to start a new cultural phenomenon, the celebrity. She was called the “Swedish Nightingale” and created what was called then “Lindomania”. Just like how a big celebrity’s possessions are auctioned off with a high price, her songs, clothes, chairs, and pianos were all negotiated and sold by Barnum. Ultimately she became the “standard for measuring not just sopranos … but women”. It is interesting to note that the cultural idea of “celebrity” has its origin in New York, instead of Hollywood and the way top celebrities today set the standards for young girls today was also seen back in 1850.

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