Themes in American History

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 Barnum Museum is a display of the rich historical art of the 19th century. The virtual tour is so realistic that it’s almost like being there in person. The entertainment during that era was a combination of music, drama, literature and art. The introductory music to the virtual tour of the museum was upbeat and soulful. Entertainment in the 19th century New York was class segregated. The thriving entertainment industry had a lot to offer to its audience such as theatre, circuses and exhibition. The upper class New Yorkers enjoyed Italian Opera.
The museum mostly consists of wax statues of human and animals. It also has a display of paintings and weapons. Each and every artifact displayed, comes with information describing it making it easier for its viewer to understand and relate to it. The museum has three levels: the first level, second and third. When I clicked on the first floor I entered into P.T Barnum’s office. By clicking on the images a detailed caption appears with all the relevant information. The second floor consists of all the wax works, paintings and weapons of the 19th century New York. The third floor was called the ‘lecture Room’ or the theatre where Shakespeare’s dramas were held. The museum is actually a portrayal that the 19th century New Yorkers loved entertainment. Even though it was class segregated each class enjoyed the entertainment that was available to them.
The museum was destroyed by fire in 1865 but Barnum quickly reopened a second one in a different location and unfortunately it was destroyed as well. Barnum’s American museum was the only place where immigrants, native-born, working class and middle class, men and women could come together.

Barnum used this image to advertise his controversial 1842 exhibition of the FeJee mermaid. Once inside the American Museum, visitors were doubtless surprised by the actual appearance of the so-called mermaid; the astonishment engendered by such misleading promotion came to be an expected part of the American Museum experience. A similar image of a bare-breasted mermaid with flowing hair adorned an eight-foot high color banner on the outside of New York's Concert Hall, where the mermaid debuted before transferring to the American Museum

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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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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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Today I visited “The Lost Museum.” This virtual museum looked very realistic; I felt like I was actually visiting the museum. I can see how historical and artisitc the museum. Unfortunately, this museum burned down, which I found ironic because in the Picture Gallery, there was an article written by P.T. Barnum that spoke about mysterious fires in New York City and he was trying to identify the criminal behind these fires. “The Lost Museum” portrayed how it was one of the most entertaining landmarks in New York City during its time. If it were still standing, it would defnitely continue to be an attraction in the Big Apple. This museum doesn’t only act as an art gallery but it contains documents that explain some very shocking events in American History including the fires that raged throughout the city and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. New York City is currently known for its various museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art and Museum of Natural History; therefore, P.T. Barnum’s “The Lost Museum” would flourish in nowadays. It possesses many valuable artifacts from America’s nineteenth century entertainment and history. There were images and even figures of animals, tall people, presidents, anything; you name it! These aspects of the museum would make it a very useful historical tool of the nineteenth century.

The exhibit that intrigued me most was the one that had images of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, located on the second floor in the WaxWorks Room. I never knew that John Wilkes Booth was accompanied by two other men, David C. Harold and John H. Surrat. The image below shows the rewards that were issued on April 20th, 1865 by the War Department in Washington D.C. for the three men responsible for the murder of America’s beloved sixteenth president. There was another poster a few posts below talking about the image which is dedicated in memory of Lincoln. It’s the flyer for the play at Ford Theater, during which he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. I think that the addition of these historical artifacts adds meaning and value to the museum and definitely shows that this museum was a landmark.

Rewards for Abraham Lincoln's assassination.

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While I was exploring “The Lost Museum” I developed my knowledge of the US and the NYC history from the virtual exhibits. P.T. Barnum has created the space where people could see lots of exhibits that inform us what was going on during the era of 1800s throughout the museum. This website gave us the chance to visit the Barnum museum once again and I believe this webpage is great in the way to navigate us the whole museum virtually.

There are three floors in the museum and I enjoyed exploring the whole sections, and the one place that caught my attention the most was the lecture room on the third floor. In the room, there is a monitor and you can view the lecture films “fire” and “etiquette” on the screen. I viewed the film on the etiquette, and I learned that the early nineteenth century was the time when the etiquette became important in the society. People with better manner was thought as people from better class, and it played a huge role in the republican society during the era. It was unavailable to pick the pictures from the film slide and the only picture I could get from the archive was the displaying picture, however from the film and the articles from the archive, you can get a lot of information about the role of etiquette in 1800s.

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The “Lost Museum” website really surprises me a lot as I explore it. I have never seen a museum website like this that gives virtual experiences to its views. In real life, the actual P. T. Barnum’s American Museum does not exist anymore, but the website is a continuation of its missions and spirits. Barnum’s American Museum was considered as a key institution that led to the development of nineteenth-century urban culture. But it was mysteriously burn down in 1865. The website is not complicated, and the instructions are very clear. On the right side, there are floor maps of the actual museum. The screen is right in the middle, and you just have to move your mouse around and click. It is very simple and self-explanatory.

I think one of the strengths of using this website as a historical tool is providing people with different forms of historical evidences. Unlike actual physical evidences, the website gives virtual evidences, which is more accessible and convenience. And the weakness is that the screen is not big enough and lack of captions for many items.

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Out of curiosity, I clicked “who burned down the museum” before I explore the museum. That’s how I see, P. T. Barnum, in his office and telling me (perhaps) to solve a mystery while I am exploring the museum. That video makes interested in this website even more. I learn that the original Barnum’s American Museum was burn to the ground in one of the most spectacular fires New York has ever seen on July 13, 1865. This virtual version of the museum may not be exactly same, but it certainly cannot be burn down anymore.

My museum night start with the Barnum’s office, which I truly realize that why some many people hated him so much. One picture on his table catch my attention. He was trying to challenge public’s attitudes about everything was happening in that period. Because his politic interests was focusing on race, slavery, and sectionalism in the period leading up to the American civil war. Therefore, he used the museum as one of his ways to speck to the public, such as he played Uncle Tom’s Cabin to make family entertainment. However, what he really wants to do is much more than entertainment.

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P.T Barnum’s Museum was burned down in 1865 and “The Lost Museum” became a website that gave people the chance to discover what the museum was all about. If your not much of a online computer person, you would have trouble navigating through the website.

I felt like I was Sherlock Holmes trying to solve a mystery. There was much to explore in this virtual museum. This museum was a place where families could go for entertainment. The way the museum attracted people was through a combination of having a zoo, lecture hall, wax museum, theater and a freak show. During this time, it was vital development of American popular culture. What stood out to me was the image below. It is the original “FeJee Mermaid” (a monkey’s head and torso combine with half of a fish) and it was originally brought in the Museum in 1842. It’s purpose was to be attractive and appealing to Americans’ fascination.

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My visit to the website of the Lost Museum was like a walk through a carnival maze with eyes closed and hands reaching forward. I suppose it is appropriate for P.T. Barnum’s museum. After opening the home page, I clicked “explore the museum”, music blaring through my speakers, Flash animation rotating images of what the museum floor plan popped up. I clicked on each image, as my cursor turned into a question mark. I click the question mark and VOILA! Another page opens which provides further information on the image. It took me quite some time to navigate the website and find particular information. I would have much more appreciated a simpler table of content and clearer instructions. There is literally a web-page dedicated to how to use the website, and that’s never good. What I did learn from the Barnum museum, is the elaborate forms of entertainment that were available in the 19th century NYC. This was a time before movies were even invented, however PT Barnum found ways to use technology and stagecraft to entertain people. These included “lantern slide shows, cosmoramas, and panoramas that presented images in new ways.” As seen in this image- in his program of amusements, Barnum listed a company of dwarfs, a mammoth fat infant, a beautiful circassian girl and glass blowers.

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