The American Museum

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American Museum, The (New York). Originally opened in Chambers Street in 1810 by John Scudder, it found, even in its early history, that its lecture room was given over frequently to variety performers, and entertainment quickly vied with the regular exhibits for popularity. The idea that it was a museum and the entertainment was “moral lectures” allowed many otherwise puritanical citizens to patronize the establishment. The Museum was moved several times and was housed at Broadway and Ann Street when P. T. Barnum took charge in 1842. Although Barnum never changed the institution's name, it quickly became accepted simply as Barnum's Museum. He also retained the practice of presenting variety acts, but added evenings of minstrelsy and drama as well. For the most part, the plays he mounted were claptrap popular melodramas or classics, frequently in curious productions. Thus the Bateman sisters, child prodigies, appeared playing principal Shakespearean roles. In mid‐1850 Barnum remodeled the lecture room into a full‐fledged theatre seating nearly three thousand. The opening attraction at the renovated auditorium was The Drunkard, which ran for more than a hundred performances, setting a long‐run record for the time. The theatre and museum were destroyed by fire in July 1865. Barnum quickly opened a new combination playhouse and museum, only to sell it a year later. The newer building was also destroyed by fire in 1868. Apart from the somewhat freakish success of The Drunkard and olio appearances by the likes of Tom Thumb, the theatre of the American Museum contributed little to the course of drama in New York. Yet, possibly because of Barnum's name, it continues to be remembered as “one of the most celebrated playhouses in the city's history.” P[hineas] T[aylor] BARNUM (1810–91) is best remembered as a colorful circus impresario and for his statement “there's a sucker born every minute.” He first made his name by running a touring troupe of freaks and curiosities. In addition to presenting melodramas at the American Museum, Barnum brought famous European artists to America, most memorably the singer Jenny Lind. He is recognized as the first American master of ballyhoo, promoting his attractions with little care for honesty or the truth. He was the subject of the popular musical Barnum (1980). Autobiographies: Autobiography, 1854; The Humbugs of the World, 1865; biography: P. T. Barnum: The Legend and the Man, A. H. Saxon, 1989.

American Museum, The (1787–92), monthly magazine published and edited at Philadelphia by Mathew Carey. At first it contained mainly reprinted materials, although original contributions came from Francis Hopkinson, Franklin, Benjamin Rush⧫, and the Connecticut Wits. In 1790 the subtitle Universal Magazine was added, and the policy was altered to include more belles lettres and original writing.