Midway Directory · Kinds of listings
Museums and collections
A museum or public collection about the midway world: circuses, carnivals, mechanical amusements and automata, carousels, sideshows and the history of fairs.
A midway museum keeps the history of circuses, carnivals, coin-op machines and fairs where people can see it. Barnum’s American Museum, bought in 1841, was the first to mix spectacle with instruction; today Circus World in Baraboo and San Francisco’s Musée Mécanique carry that line on.
What it is
These are museums and public collections about the midway world: circus wagons and posters, mechanical amusements and automata, carousels, sideshow banners, fair history.
History, era by era
- 1841–1865
- P.T. Barnum bought the American Museum in New York in 1841. For a quarter, visitors got sensational displays mixed with lectures and natural history, a pattern later commercial amusements followed.1
- 1891
- Barnum paid for the building in Bridgeport, Connecticut, that now houses the Barnum Museum and its collection of more than 60,000 artifacts.2
- 1933
- The Musée Mécanique collection began in 1933; it was shown at the Sutro Baths and the Cliff House before moving to Pier 45 in 2002.34
- Today
- Circus World in Baraboo, Wisconsin, a Wisconsin Historical Society site, fills the old Ringling Bros. winter quarters with circus wagons and posters.5
The midway connection
A midway museum is where the rides and games go when they stop travelling. Circus World keeps the wagons that once carried the show from town to town.5
Wherever people walk a row of booths, the midway is there in some form: the full kind, with rides, games of skill and food joints, or the quieter kind, with craft tables, home baking and a booth like ours. That walk, with family and friends and something to look at every few steps, is what this directory is about.
One fact worth knowing
- Circus World holds what it believes is the last remaining circus bell wagon, the Ringling Bros. Bell Wagon.5
Questions people ask
What was Barnum’s American Museum?
A New York museum Barnum bought in 1841 that mixed sensational shows with instruction, for a 25-cent admission.1
Can you play the machines at the Musée Mécanique?
Yes; it is a working collection of coin-op games run by the founder’s family.3
Sources
- The Lost Museum, American Social History Project (CUNY): The story of Barnum's American Museum. Read on · reference
- The Barnum Museum: About the museum. Read on · official
- Musée Mécanique: Musée Mécanique. Read on · official
- National Park Service, Golden Gate: Vestiges of the Cliff House. Read on · government
- Circus World Museum (Wisconsin Historical Society): Circus World. Read on · official
How these listings work
Listings are free and factual; nobody pays to be here. Every line on a listing points to its source, official pages first, and each source shows the day we read it. What we couldn't confirm is listed on the page, not guessed. Each page sits under its city and province or state, next to the fairs nearby.
California, United States
The Midway Mailbag
New fairs, festivals, midways and attractions as we add them to the directory. About twice a month in fair season, less in winter.
All kinds of listings · Midway Directory
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