Circus

Resources are listed in alphabetical order. More information can always be found by using our website search bar, or contacting a member of our staff.

Articles

Pages from our Past articles written by Bill Kemp

2 items

Flying Wards in their East Emerson Street practice barn

Circus train wreck takes life of local aerialist Jennie Ward

This week marks the 100th anniversary of the horrific Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus train wreck, one...

Article

‘Pop’ Horton organized campus circus fraternity in 1929

Today marks the 38th anniversary of the death of Dr. Clifford E. Horton, one of the titans of I...

Article

Biographies

5 items

Green, Fred -"The Flying LaVans"

“The Flying La Vans,” were first known by the name the “La Van Brothers” or the “Brothers La Va...

Biography

Green, Harry -"The Flying LaVans"

“The Flying La Vans,” were first known by the name the “La Van Brothers” or the “Brothers La Va...

Biography

a woman is wrapped in a rope dangling far above the floor. She is dressed in a circus costume and has her hands wide out for applause

King, Gertrude “Mickey” Comeau

Mickey King was known as the “Queen of the Air.” This little dynamo rocked the circus world wit...

Biography

Noble, Clyde Van

Clyde Van Noble (1881-1955) became a jeweler’s apprentice as a teenager and had a promising car...

Biography

Noble, Emily Vecchi

Emily (Vecchi) Noble was born on Church Street in London, England on February 4, 1886 to Enrico...

Biography

Blog

2 items

Annual YMCA Circus Downtown Bloomington, March 1938 Part 1

For nearly a century, Bloomington-Normal served as winter training grounds for trapeze artists ...

Blog Post

Gamma Phil Circus March 1947

This unidentified Illinois State Normal University student prepares for the eleventh annual Gam...

Blog Post

Exhibits

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With the Greatest of Ease.. Bloomington's Artists of the Trapeze

America's young and daring aerialists mastered the art of the trapeze soon after it was in...

Exhibit

Finding Aids

Archival collection finding aids (full contents of collections available on site)

1 item

Circus

Circuses had been visiting the area for many years when around 1875 a small wagon circus came t...

Finding Aid

Oral Histories

1 item

Manuel Cordero

Oral History

Videos

Livestreamed and recorded presentations by staff, experts, and community members.

5 items

Artists, Advocates, Acrobats, & More! Women Who Made McLean County History

Video

Fred and Harry Green, The Flying LaVans performed by Rick Jensen and Danny Rice

Video

In the Spotlight: Antoinette Concello presented by Maureen Brunsdale

Video

Lunch & Learn: Artists, Advocates, Acrobats, & More! Women Who Made McLean County History

Video

Richard Shipley performed by Jeremy Stiller

Video

Working for a Living

Digital Exhibit

1 item

Circus Performers

Troupes of circus performers arrived in Bloomington as early as the 1860s. It wasn’t long after...

Digital Exhibit