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Publication Information
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Collection Information
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W0146ST
WHi 23838
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Digital Collections
Explore more than 100,000 collection items online through the Society’s digital collections. For over two decades, we’ve been scanning, photographing, and digitizing materials from our collections, creating a rich and growing digital archive that brings history closer to you.
The Wisconsin Historical Society offers an ever-growing digital collection. Digitized materials reflect the full range of items in the collections including photographs, letters, newsletters, films, posters, architectural drawings, menus, and ephemera.
Attribution
For a credit line: Wisconsin Historical Society, Creator, Title, Unique Identifier.
The Unique Identifier can be found at the top or bottom of the page for each item. The name of a downloaded file is NOT the unique identifier.
For bibliographic citations please consult the UW-Madison Libraries Citation Research Guide to ensure compliance with appropriate style guidelines.
Accessing Collections
The vast majority of the items in our collections are not online. The Society owns thousands of archival collections viewable in our Archives reading room. To view and conduct research in our collections, visit us in person.
Circus Performers and Animals
circa 1875-1940
Fred and Ella Bradna, equestrian director and performer for Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey. There are several other performers and a dog, relaxing in their circus wagon.
Clyde Beatty
1933
Clyde Beatty, with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, sits on a chair outside a circus tent with two young tigers.
Trapeze Artist Erma Ward
circa 1875-1940
Erma Ward, a circus trapeze artist, dangles by one hand from a ring high in a circus tent.
Cole Brothers Side Show
circa 1930-1939
A crowd of circus goers gathers outside the tent of the Cole Brothers Combined Side Shows, with acts announced by a barker standing on a platform.
Circus Wagon
1936
A circus wagon, hitched to a truck cab, is parked across the street from three houses in a residential neighborhood.
Gorilla Man for Ringling Brothers Circus
1942
A man in a gorilla suit stands on the tongue of a wagon, holding his mask. He is an employee of the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus.
