Milner Circus Collection Photos Featured in New Pictorial History

Hundreds of photographs from Milner Library's Circus and Allied Arts Collection are featured in the new pictorial history, The Circus: 1870-1950, by the German publisher Taschen.  The oversized, 670-page book chronicles the people, animals and acts that made the traveling circus a popular attraction in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  Essays accompanying the photos are in English, French and German.

In gratitude for the use of the photographs, the book's editors donated several copies of The Circus for inclusion in Milner Library's Special Collections area.

Of the more than 900 images in the book, more than one-third of them are from Milner Library's Circus and Allied Arts Collection.  The collection is one of the largest and best special collections of its type in existence, with an emphasis on circuses and related arts such as carnivals, carousels, conjuring, music halls, and vaudeville. The collection's book holdings of over 6,000 volumes make it among the most comprehensive and in-depth circus and allied arts book collections anywhere. In addition to book items, the Circus and Allied Arts Collection includes photographs, circus posters, programs, route books, correspondence, business records, band scores, videotapes and audiotapes.