Recently Discovered Ringling brothers Pictures.

Old Pictures | Today | Brainhose

[gorush]

My wife did some accounting for the Steam Train organization a few years back...very interesting. We used to go over to Rock Springs for fish fry on Friday nights when I was a kid, then later to some teen dances at the community center...and to see the inevitable spring flooding of the Baraboo.

[PennsylvaniaMom]

Wow...are those great!!! Thanks for the kewl post!

[Lokibob]

Not that you would want to ( I wouldn't) but they probably would bring $150 + ( I just looked).

[tractorman]

I’ll get the old photo albums out and see what I can do.
From the stories I remember being told, the sister was quite the wild one, even more so than her brothers.

[PennsylvaniaMom]

For 1910 the guy on the far right is waaaay ahead of his time...wearing the orginal Nike Swoosh?

[lonestar]

How neat! Thanks for sharing these.

[Brainhose]

Many thanks. the only thing missing from the time line is: 'And on the 8th day god created bowling'.

[tractorman]

Now I’m going to really test your memory.
Remember the annual event in Rock Springs called "the big doings"?

[RightWhale]

Are all those pictures in the same town? Sure looks familiar.

[moonhawk]

The originals will last a long time in a cool dark place and stored in archival plastic sleeves...preferably in a metal cabinet as opposed to wood, which can put out destructive gases. Your local photo supplier can help you with this.

Meanwhile, have them scanned...no matter what you do, film, paper, and dyes will eventually fade. Ones and zeroes will last forever.

Great Pix!

[MediaMole]

Any idea where these were shot? .. or when?

The Circus World Museum in Baraboo, WI would certainly be interested in these images.

[gorush]

"Now I’m going to really test your memory. Remember the annual event in Rock Springs called "the big doings"?"

I fear that I have failed the test miserably...I do recall seeing "Every Mother's Son", the one hit wonders (C'mon Down to my boat baby...) at the Community Center.

[facedown]

bump

[TC Rider]

For 1910 the guy on the far right is waaaay ahead of his time...wearing the orginal Nike Swoosh?

I don't think my snap is from 1910, just something I googled.

In the early 60s, we lived for a while in Willamantic, Conn.

I know they still had duck pins there, with manual pinsetters.

[tractorman]

"The Big Doings" was the carnival set up on main street in the summer with bands and exhibits but mostly penny arcade games and games of chance. Things like ring toss and darts and a lot of hand crank kaleidoscopes which were mostly benign but a few somewhat risqué.

[Trajan88]

I haven't been to a circus in years - early 70s (when I was 6 or 7) in Morristown, NJ - it was under a big top (it rocked). I remember one of the circus members spinning plates on sticks, the trapeeze show, the smell of popcorn and animals. Everything was pretty cool until one of my classmates threw up - too much fun I guess.

Speaking of Ringling Bros., my grandmother lived in Somers/Purdys, NY. There is a statue in front of an old multi-story building - the statue has a small elephant perched atop; I believe it honored Ringling &/or Barnum.

Trajan88

p.s. I beieve it is time to rent Eastwood's "Bronco Billy" &/or Chuck Heston's "Greatest Show on Earth."

[AnAmericanMother]

Great site! I got into the Southern mountain fiddle tunes immediately. Them boys played kinda scrapey fiddle but they sure went to town.

[Brainhose]

Thank you very much! It is time consuming, but well worth it!

[Brainhose]

Yeah Pretty neat.
Even though I'm only 42 yrs old I can still remember the cobblestone streets of Maine and the great and simple life I enjoyed there, (Heavy sigh) Unfortunately those days are gone forever.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Men quit wearing hats in the 1960s. One of the biggest style changes in history. (Maybe it was in reaction to Kennedy's inauguration.) The French now only produce 78,000,000 berets per year as opposed to many times that in the 1950s.