Themes in American History

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.

3 Comments »

When exploring “The Lost Museum”, I indulged at the museum as if I was someone coming from 19^th century.  Established for the purpose of creating a place that entertained people, this Barnum Museum was a success in the 19^th century in New York City. It attracted a lot of audience at that time because of its various content, mirroring the entertainment people enjoyed at that time. As a museum, it combined a waxworks room where interesting wax figures were shown, a picture gallery including a lot of paintings, a “Lecture Room” which functioned as a theatre, and even a zoo. The founder, Barnum, opened this museum in order to feed people’s eager to see exotic animals from around the world. The living white whales, hippopotamus, and elephants were examples of these exotic animals. This museum, therefore, was not only regarded as entertaining but also educational. However, in the 19^th century, fires occurred frequently in such a crowded city. This museum was also burned down by a fire, including all of these animals. Thus, a web version of museum was established. The advantage of this online museum is that people from different time and every part of the world can understand the entertainment in New York City in the 19^th century. With a clear navigation and a comprehensive archive, this website is a great source to study 19^th century themes in New York history. However, making it as popular as it was in the 19^th century seems to be less likely.

Comments Off on The Lost Museum

The Lost Museum ,based of my first glance on the website, seemed like chaotic yet fun way to spend a day back in the 19th century. By going on this website you can tell what kind of spectacles people back in the 19th century did that was considered as their entertainment. Somethings ranging from having wax figurines of caged women all the way to hosting BABY SHOWS! These are some things that if were done today would probably be considered illegal and/or taboos! Some other things they showcased in the museum was the worlds tallest person at 8 feet tall.  And also showcased Joice Heth as an African American slave who was 161 years old as she claimed she was a nursemaid to George Washington. But when she died it was made clear she was no older than 80 years old. Regardless, The Lost Museum can be considered as a mix of today’s Ripley’s Believe it or Not and even The Guinness Book of World Records based of the items they showcased for entertainment.

Comments Off on The Original Ripley’s

Fire lecture film ironic since museum was burnt down

When I first visited “The Lost Museum” I got bored and I was not interested. Truthfully, the ground floor did not really capture my attention. So, I decided to move up to the second floor and check out if there was something more entertaining. I was impressed based on what I saw on the second and third floor. I was also surprised to see that this museum was different. It actually had a wide variety of exhibits ranging from those that dealt with history, science, and entertainment. The lecture film about fire caught my attention. I thought it was a little funny and ironic that this museum included a lecture film about fire as both Iranistan (Barnum’s mansion) and Barnum’s American Museum burned down. It was also interesting to see the amounts of fires that destroyed New York City and how fires were such a big problem for the city of New York.

“The Lost Museum” showed me something very important about entertainment in 19th century NYC; that it is not much different than entertainment today. The “freak show” aspect of the museum reminded me of the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museum in Manhattan. The wax figures in the waxworks room on the second floor were similar to Madame Tussauds wax museum also in Manhattan. Many people in New York City visit both of these museums for entertainment purposes probably the same way others visited The Barnum Museum in New York City in the 19th century.

I thought the interactive aspect of this website was a very effective tool to choose to include. It makes the visitors feel like they are in a actual museum. It is as if they are able to walk through it, move up levels and it keeps your attention and interest. The strength of this website is its ability to depict a form of entertainment in the 19th century and show how similar it is to forms of entertainment today. It also informs the visitors of the website about several different historical facts such as the assault on Charles Sumner by Preston S. Brooks (which actually happened). In my opinion, I feel they should have attempted to make the ground floor more interesting or for it to contain more interesting facts as it would impress the viewers and keep  them in the website to continue o to the other floors so they could learn more.

Comments Off on Losing Myself in The Lost Museum