Collection of Bernard Kobel circus sideshow photographs with catalog
Overview
Photographs of circus sideshow performers, performers with disabilities and animals with unusual physical features, as well as a catalog of mail-order photographs of people with disabilities and unusual animals.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1906-1985
Creator
- Kobel, Bernard (Person)
Condition Description
In good condition.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research. This collection is shelved offsite at the Harvard Depository. Retrieval requires advance notice. Readers should check with Houghton Public Services staff to determine what material is offsite and retrieval policies and times.
Extent
.25 linear feet (1 box)Photographs contain images of circus sideshow performers and animals. The catalog advertises mail-order photographs of people with disabilities and unusual animals.
Many of these photos contain images of performers with disabilities showcased in sideshows because of their disability or physical difference. Sideshows, more commonly known as "freak shows" in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, were common American entertainment. In some cases, people with disabilities performed in the circus under their own volition as a means of employment; however, performers were often exploited by circus managers and showcased against their will.
Sources: "Freak show", https://www.britannica.com/art/freak-show, "Freak Shows in the United States (1840-1940)", https://disabilityhistory.org/2021/12/29/freak-shows-in-the-united-states-1840-1940/ and Wikipedia.
Biographical / Historical
Bernard Kobel was a photographer in the mid-twentieth century. He was known for his photographs of tattooed people, female boxers, circus performers with disabilities, and unusual animals. He died in 1985.
Arrangement
Collection is arranged as received.
Physical Location
Harvard Depository
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2024MT-27. Purchased from Bray & Co. Auctions with the Richard C. Marcus Theatre Fund, 2023 October 2.
Processing Information
Collection minimally processed and rehoused. Katherine Gaburo, 2023.
Creator
- Kobel, Bernard (Person)
- Title
- Kobel, Bernard. Collection of Bernard Kobel circus sideshow photographs with catalog, circa 1906-1985 (MS Thr 2309): Guide.
- Status
- completed
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard University.
- Date
- 2024 January 4
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- hou03638
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.
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