General & Miscellaneous American Art, Carnivals & Sideshows, United States History - Social Aspects, United States History - General & Miscellaneous, Popular Culture - United States, United States History - Historic Preservation, Art Conservation, Restora

Weird and Wonderful

Name: Weird and Wonderful
Author: Andrea Stulman Dennett
ISBN: 9780814718858

by Dennett, Andrea Stulman

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Overview

Weird and Wonderful chronicles the evolution of the dime museum from its eighteenth-century inception as a "cabinet of curiosities" to its death at the hands of new amusement technologies in the early twentieth century. From curio halls housing upwards of ten thousand exhibits to meager converted storefronts displaying petrified wood and living anomalies, this study vividly reanimates the array of museums, exhibits, and performances that make up this entertainment institution. Tracing the scattered legacy of the dime museum from vaudeville theatre to Ripley's museum to the talk show spectacles of today, Dennett makes a significant contribution to the history of American popular entertainment.

About the Author, Andrea Stulman Dennett

A teacher, actor, and director, Andrea Stulman Dennett received her Ph.D. in Performance Studies from New York University. She has written on many aspects of popular entertainment from television talk shows to disaster spectacles at the turn of the century.