Handbill for Barnum's American Museum, featuring the Christmas and New Year holiday entertainments possibly for December 1863 to January 1864. A handbill is similar in concept to a modern day flyer. Featured on the handbill are a great "living whale" from off the coast of Labrador; a "living hippopotamus" brought from the Nile River; 200 "educated" white rats; an aquarial garden; and the "happy family" of prey and predators; as well as "monster snakes", and a trained seal. The seal mentioned is likely Barnum's famous attraction, Ned the Learned Seal, who performed a wide variety of tricks. The handbill also promotes dramatic performances, and Odina’s Bower of Beauty, which was an elaborate set of automations and mechanical scenery. Illustrations include a beluga whale and a hippopotamus, along with the "Bower of Beauty" scene or "Home of the Fairies" depicting "Nymphs in the Air." The admission price is noted as 25 cents for adults, and 15 cents for children under ten years of age. The black and white handbill was printed by Wynkoop, Hallenbeck & Thomas, Book and Job Printers, 115 Fulton Street, N.Y. No date is printed on the paper, however the date 1864 is pencilled in at the bottom. Barnum's museum was located at the corner of Broadway and Ann Street in New York City. In December of 1841 he purchased what had been Scudder's Museum, and opened it as Barnum's American Museum in 1842. The displays in the museum ranged from dioramas of places such as Niagara Falls and the American plains; live animals including whales, seals, hippotami; wax figure tableaux; inventions; scientific specimens; artwork; and historical and curious artifacts. The museum also presented lectures and "people in the news," theatrical performances, and concerts. Among the thousands of displays, Barnum included a few of what were then called humbugs, or hoaxes, but always invited the public to decide for themselves if the displays were genuine or not. The most famous of these was the FeJee Mermaid. The American Museum and its contents were destroyed by fire in 1865, with Ned the Learned Seal being the only non-human attraction to survive. Barnum moved to 539-541 Broadway and reopened in the fall of 1865, but that building too was destroyed by a fire in March of 1868. Barnum did not attempt to open a third museum building, however, in his subsequent enterprises with traveling shows, he always included a "museum" in addition to the menagerie (wild animals) and circus.
