One of the things that made me the happiest in the course of putting together the Circus and the City exhibition was being able to earmark some hugely important but sorely neglected pieces for conservation. Perhaps the most significant of these was an enormous 1843 poster at the Shelburne Museum for what was variously billed as the “New York Circus” and “Sage’s Great American Circus.” When I first viewed the poster, it was a crinkled and folded mess, and in nine separate pieces. The Bard Graduate Center was able to fund its conversation for the exhibition, though some admittedly poor measurements and math by myself meant that we had to situate it somewhat awkwardly in a stairwell rather than in the main gallery. It is a masterpiece of early American printing and its story calls attention to the transnational legacy of the American circus. For a high-quality zoomable view and more, see my essay here.
