Guest written by The Ringling Archives intern Joy Feagan, this post asks what role historians should play in art museums, and looks at how history impacts every aspect of The Ringling today.
The exhibition "A Child’s Dream" pairs historic circus posters from the Howard Tibbals Collection with 19th and early 20th century toys on loan from the collection of Keith D. Monda.
Ninety years ago, John Ringling made the decision to move the winter quarters of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus to Sarasota, forever intertwining the town’s growth and prosperity to the Ringling circus.
You can now access information on nearly 45,000 objects in the Ringling collection from the comfort of your own home! The Ringling’s recent upgrade of eMuseum has more than doubled the number of object records available to the public.
The Ringling Archives received a grant to digitize circus route books, dating from 1842-1969. Only 400 circus route books are known to exist. Similar to yearbooks, route books contain information about people and events from the show's season.
