In June of 1972, Nicholas Whitman photographed vintage circus posters, many layers deep, in the protected bay of a barn near the intersection of Routes 346 and 22 in North Petersburg, New York. Around 2000 he returned to see what had become of the posters. The barn had been converted to an antique store and just a few fragments of posters remained on the wall. However, a couple of lumps of circus posters, many layers thick and measuring about 3’ by 5’ each, advertising shows in Bennington, Vermont, and other local towns, had been pulled off the barn’s wall and were up in the former hay loft. Whitman became the caretaker and documentor of these delicate slices of local history.

Circus posters were plentiful but ephemeral. Which is why these examples are special. The two multi-layered fragments of circus posters, we now know, originally hung side by side, part of much larger billboard-sized posters dating between 1896 and 1903. Each group was about 20 layers thick in spots, dirty, torn, and tattered. Conservation was possible, but a formidable challenge. Over the last year, with the indispensable guidance and assistance of paper conservator Leslie Paisley, the two bundles were disassembled. Layer by layer was rolled back to unveil bits of horses, bears, lions, monkeys, Native performers, circus impresario Sig Sautelle, and much more.

This exhibit brings together a selection of these poster fragments and Whitman’s photographs, to explore the history of the circus in Bennington and the surrounding region at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.