LOOK: Visions of a bygone circus era
Men drive camels and a circus wagon during a parade for the Sells Floto Circus and Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in Denver, Colorado, between 1913 and 1916. (Denver Public Library/Western History Collection/Z-7566)
The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus is back in Denver, so we dove into the Denver Public Library’s Western History Collection as we tend to do on Thursdays to look at circuses in days of yore.
The only shot of Barnum and Bailey we could find featured a perhaps problematic photo of a one “Col. Tim McCoy and his Indian Line Up” that we thought might be in poor taste to blast around the internet. Instead, here are some other images of a bygone era which, true to form, still feature conventions that might prove uncomfortable to a modern sensibility.
If an image of a monkey in chains or a show elephant rubs you the wrong way, remember progress is actually a thing. This May Ringling Brothers’ elephants performed their last show.
(Left to right) A Cowboy with the Sells Floto Circus and Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show stands with his hands tucked under his arms. Between 1910 and 1917. (Denver Public Library/Western History Collection/Z-7443) || Two women circus performers, in costume, pose beside an elephant at the Sells Floto Circus and Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Between 1910 and 1917. (Denver Public Library/Western History Collection/Z-7503) || Charles Orville Walters, a member of Devlin's Zouaves, stands in costume on the grounds of the Sells Floto Circus and Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Between 1910 and 1917. (Denver Public Library/Western History Collection/Z-7437)
Native American (tribe unknown) men who are dressed as giraffes pose near a circus tent, Sunflower (Flower) Carnival, Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado. 1898. (Horace Swartley Poley/Denver Public Library/Western History Collection/P-2231)
A monkey and puppy, with the Sells Floto Circus and Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, sit on the ground next to each other. The monkey rests its hand on the head of the puppy. The monkey wears a chain around its neck connected to a ring on the bottom of a circus trailer. Between 1910 and 1917. (Denver Public Library/Western History Collection/Z-7434)
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