Hold Your Horses The Circus is Coming

July 15- November 8, 2009 

With the difficult task of promoting a performance available for one day only, American circuses of the early twentieth century had to pull out all the stops in their advertising campaigns. The heart of circus marketing efforts was the printed poster – colorful papers would blanket a town weeks before the show arrived. Large, multi-sheet posters gave their audiences a sensation of the excitement they could experience at the show. Attractions from under the big top were usually the subjects of the posters and among the most popular acts were those that included horses. The dynamic interaction of the human performer with the horse, the very foundation of the modern circus, is depicted in a collection of multi-sheet posters from American circuses of the early twentieth century. The exhibition Hold Your Horses will be on display in the Circus Museum’s Tibbals Learning Center.