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COLLECTION Identifier: MS Thr 2140

Photographs of circus performers from the Gary Bart Collection

Overview

Tintypes, cabinet cards, ambrotypes, and cartes-de-visite of circus performers collected by Gary Bart.

Dates

  • Creation: circa 1850-1899

Creator

Condition Description

The case for the ambrotype is broken and fragile; it and the tintypes need preservation review.

Conditions Governing Access

Restricted: fragile; consult curatorial staff.

Extent

.08 linear feet (1 box)

Collection of photographs of circus performers. Images include: an ambrotype of performer walking tightrope; portraits of clowns and other costumed performers; interior view of circus stage in Buenos Aires; and a carte-de-visite of Sargano Alicamousa, an animal trainer.

Biographical / Historical

Gary Bart (1946- ) is the founder of Weight Watchers locations in Orange and San Diego Counties in California as well as a film producer, now retired. His interest in the circus grew from the experience of his great-uncle Zishe Breitbart, a circus and vaudeville performer; Bart produced "Invincible" (2001), a film based on Breitbart.

Arrangement

Collection arranged by format.

Custodial History

The collector Gary Bart previously owned these photographs and sold them via an auction house in this transaction.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

2022MT-13. Purchased from Potter and Potter Auctions Inc. with the Rose and Marian Hannah Winter Fund, 2021 June 18.

Processing Information

Minimally processed, 2021 August (Melanie Wisner). Processed, 2022 August (Lilli Keaney).

Creator

Subject

Title
Bart, Gary, collector. Photographs of circus performers from the Gary Bart Collection, circa 1850-1899 (MS Thr 2140): Guide
Status
completed
Author
Houghton Library, Harvard University
Date
2021 September 1
Description rules
dacs
Language of description
eng
EAD ID
hou04553

Repository Details

Part of the Houghton Library Repository

Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.

Contact:
Harvard Yard
Harvard University
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2440