P.T. Barnum Presentations
Mo. Humanities Council Chautauqua 2009
by Anne Shadwick
Title: P.T. Barnum Presentations (Mo. Humanities Council
Chautauqua 2009)
Topics: Curriculum; Instruction; History; Biography
Date: 6/17/2009
Time: 9:00 am—12:00 pm
Location: Southwest Center
Audience: All Educators
Facilitator: Jeffrey Smith
Member Fee: None
Non-Member Fee: None
Description: Famous for Being Famous—From Donald Trump to Paris
Hilton to reality television personalities, people sometimes think
that those who are celebrities by design are a recent creation. Yet
modern celebrities stand on the shoulders of P.T. Barnum. This
discussion will explore the ways that Barnum actively created a
public persona, that is in large part, the popular perception of
him today and compare his celebrity status and antics with more
modern descendents. American Spectacles—Perhaps no one in the
nineteenth century understood human nature quite the way Barnum
did. His traveling shows of both bogus and legitimate acts were
nothing new in nineteenth-century America; it was his way of
creating excitement and attention—“buzz,” in modern parlance—that
revolutionized modern advertising and entertainment. This program
will discuss not only the spectacles but also the ways Barnum
shaped modern advertising and entertainment. New.
