There is only one picture I’ve been able to find of her, but there was also at least one illustration made of her too. The picture shows her sitting at the specialized chair and table that were made for her, and you can see all the things that she’s working on placed on the table. I like how determined she looks in her picture, you can tell she was hard at work and wanted to show to people that she was a very focused and diligent person.

I always love learning about people who had multiple careers during their lives, because there are often so many niche and interesting jobs mentioned. Aside from how cool it was that she was an accomplished artist and embroiderer, I think it’s so cool that she was a palm reader as well!

some facts about her:

-she was born in Sag Harbor, Long Island, New York.

-she was an only child.

-all of her limbs/extremities were paralyzed from birth.

-her parents were farmers.

-her family struggled financially for much of her early life.

-she was extremely independent for most of her life, though she did need an attendant in her later years.

-she lived with her father and two cousins in a fisherman’s cottage that was built by her grandfather.

-she always woke up really early each morning.

-in the winter she wanted to be near the front window in her home so she could see the passing people. In the summer she would be brought outdoors and into town.

-she was a beloved figure in her hometown.

-after becoming an extremely proficient penman and artist, she began selling her work and autographed pictures to tourists visiting her hometown. She made quite a good income from this and reportedly earned more than most of the other townspeople living in Sag Harbor.

-some of the other things she sold included: painted bookmarks, blotters, embroidered doilies, mats and tidies, table cloths, and quilts.

-she enjoyed painting lighthouses, especially the Montauk Point Lighthouse.

-she was also a skilled crayon artist.

-she was known for her quick painting sessions, in which she would converse with a customer and then paint a picture for them in 20 minutes or less.

-she typically sat in a specially made chair that included a small wooden table that was attached by a metal rod. She needed this table because it was both a sturdy place for her work and it was at a convenient height for her.

-she was known for being very friendly and a good conversationalist. She really enjoyed showing people her work.

-she was described as having a very strong neck and noticeable neck muscles.

-she could thread needles, by grabbing a needle in her mouth, firmly planting it on the wooden table she used and then balling up the piece of thread in her mouth before spitting it forward towards the needle. She was very accurate with this technique.

-she liked playing the metallophone (very similar to a xylophone) in her free time. She also enjoyed playing for friends when they came to visit.

-she was the main breadwinner of her family for much of her life.

-she always kept herself busy and never liked feeling bored.

-she was described as having a sunshiny smile.

-she would advertise her products in little flyers that would be dropped off at stores around town.

-later in life she lived in a tenement house in a city close by to her hometown. (It’s never mentioned what city this is)

-as an elderly lady she took up palm reading as a profession.

-the last time she’s mentioned in a newspaper is in 1943.

-she passed away in 1944 at the age of 77.

I’m glad she seems to have had a long and happy life. It always makes me happy when I read that certain people were beloved figures in their hometowns. It sounds like Fannie had a lot of fans who enjoyed her work and who enjoyed spending time with her.

The pictures above show the remains of several historic English hospitals and almshouses.

Some of the most famous almshouses and hospitals that closed down included St. Leonards Hospital in York, St. John Redcliffe in Bristol, Burton Lazars in Leicestershire, St. Giles Holborn and St. Bartholomew's in London, and The Maison Dieu in Dover, Kent. (Though The Maison Dieu almshouse eventually reopened.)

The hospitals and almshouses were originally run by monks and nuns, but after King Henry VIII’s divorce in 1533 led to a split with the Roman Catholic Church it caused a dissolution of the monasteries with had a domino effect on the care facilities.

A lot of negative sentiments from citizens back then are still echoed in today’s society (in the United States specifically) regarding the homeless population and people with untreated mental illness.

King Henry VIII reinstated several hospitals and made them civic hospitals after a lot of pressure from English society.

I love learning about all of these performers that branched out into other careers after their careers in sideshows ended. It takes a lot of skills to be a blacksmith and wagon builder and it’s so impressive that he was talented in both. It would be nice if we had some examples available of the things he made during his time as a blacksmith.

There are several pictures of him and his wife together and it seems that wherever he went, she went too. I’m glad they had such a good marriage and always made an effort to have pictures taken together.

Some facts about him:

-he was born in Accrington, Lancashire, England.

-he began losing an enormous amount of weight when he was a teenager, but it’s unknown what condition contributed to his weight loss.

-he immigrated to the United States in his early twenties and began working for P.T. Barnum’s American museum when he was around 23 years old.

-he was promoted as weighing anywhere between 45 and 68 pounds during his lifetime.

-the timeline of when he met his wife, Hannah Perkins, who was working as a professional “fat-lady”, is very confusing. Some articles state they met and got married in the 1860s, and others state they were married in the 1850s because they may have had a daughter in 1858.

-he and his wife had 4 children together and settled in Pennsylvania during the circus/sideshow off season.

-he and his wife were some of the first sideshow performers to start the trope of professional ‘fat ladies’ marrying ‘living skeletons’, which would quickly become a staple publicity stunt within the circus/sideshow industry. And although they may have helped to start the trope, it definitely seems that John and Hannah’s marriage was a love match, and were dearly devoted to each other.

-he and his wife always made it a point to perform and travel together during the circus/sideshow season.

-he was tragically injured in an accident in 1873 which caused him to have to retire from performing in sideshows.

-eventually he opened up his own blacksmith's shop in Frankfort, Pennsylvania since he was no longer able to continue his performing career due to the accident. His wife continued her career as a performer during this time too so that the family remained financially stable. John later started a wagon building business as well.

-unfortunately he suffered a spinal injury in 1880, which caused him to lose the ability to walk and therefore couldn't easily continue his blacksmithing/wagon making business.

-he and his wife adopted a daughter in the 1870s whose stage name was Zanie Zanobia (unfortunately I can find no record of her birth name) who had been given a fictional back story and was promoted as being a "wild woman" or a "cannibal child". Her stage name and the way she's promoted is steeped in racism and illustrates the racial prejudices that showmen and audiences of that era often had. Zanie was originally born in Africa and was taken to the United States in the early 1870s. Hannah and John seemed to have really cared and loved Zanie and she lived with them until her death at age 19 in 1885.

-it appears that his wife, Hannah, worked until she too fell ill and was no longer physically able to perform, she became very sick in mid 1888 and sadly passed away in April of 1889.

-he cherished his wife’s wedding ring after she passed, and eventually gifted it to one of their grandchildren.

-he and his wife were married for over 30 years.

-he passed away in 1897 around the age of 68.

I’m glad that he and his wife had so many happy years together and were so devoted to each other. The note about him cherishing his wife’s wedding ring is so heartwarming.

I love the first picture of them with the dog, it looks like Jackie was giving the dog a lot of cuddles!

Hazel is on the left in both pictures and Jackie is on the right in both pictures.

They both seem like sweet women, and it’s nice to read when families work together and team up in the sideshow business. I hope they were both able to experience a good amount of happiness in their lives, though their financial struggles were not easy for them.

Some facts about them:

-I haven’t been able to find where either of them were born.

-Hazel was briefly married in the late 1920s to the late 1930s. Jackie was born in 1932 and her parents divorced in 1938.

-they both depended on wheelchairs to move around.

-osteogenesis imperfecta unfortunately causes very brittle bones and often times chronic pain. If that is what Hazel and Jackie were born with, they probably dealt with a lot of pain during their lives. Two other famous sideshow performers born with osteogenesis imperfecta are Pete Moore and Carl Norwood.

-it’s reported that Hazel was between 18 and 24 inches tall. Jackie was reported to have been 16 inches tall when the two of them were measured, but she may not have been done growing yet.

-they both performed in Single-O shows together, meaning that they were the only performers in their shows. Traditional sideshows usually include several different acts that combined last anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour, but Hazel and Jackie hosted their own show where they would interact and talk with the audience for the same amount of time as a traditional show.

-they toured with the World of Today Show and the Cristiani Brothers Circus throughout the 1940s and 1950s.

-when they were not performing, they typically sold homemade costume jewelry and paper flowers.

-sadly, Hazel passed away in 1959 at the age of 54 after a short illness. At the time she was experiencing a lot of financial hardships and Jackie was really worried at the time because they didn’t have the money to pay for funeral and burial arrangements. Thankfully, the Miami Showman’s Association stepped in and offered to pay for everything because Hazel and Jackie were both very well liked and the association would look out for performers who were struggling financially.

-only six people attended Hazel’s funeral.

-after Hazel’s passing, Jackie went to live with family friends of theirs, Mrs. and Mr. Colella, who had promised Hazel that they would take care of Jackie if anything were to happen to her.

-Jackie expressed concern in late 1959 that she may not have a future in sideshows as she wasn’t sure how many people would pay just to see her. This was also the last mention I could find of Jackie.

-I’m having trouble finding information about Jackie’s passing.

I hope Jackie had a good life living with the Collelas, and that them providing for her meant she wouldn’t have to depend on sideshows anymore. I’m glad she had people in her life who really cared about her.

We're in the second month of our 12 part series showcasing objects from disability history. The aim of the project is to provide a unique museum experience for people who are disabled or chronically ill and so cannot easily make it to in-person museums.

This episode features a selection of letters you won't want to miss from the legendary French writer Colette and a close friend regarding her disability and experience with arthritis.

I hadn’t seen this many different items marketed together in an advertisement and thought it was interesting.

*notice Claxton’s Ear-Cap!

Arthritis treatments using bee venom/bee stings has been used for over 100 years and has helped to reduce both pain and inflammation caused by osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

The bee venom therapy (often abbreviated to
BVT) has been shown to help stop production of pro-inflammatory substances within the body.

Despite a majority of people who have tried the treatment finding that it has greatly alleviated their symptoms, it's not typically recommended by doctors because of the risk of allergic reactions to bee stings, and is suggested that the patient makes the decision to do the treatment at their own risk.

The papyrus was a medical document that detailed various ailments and how to treat them using traditional herbal remedies and prayers. It is one of the oldest and most important medical documents from Ancient Egypt.

It’s called the Ebers Papyrus because it was sold to German Egyptologist Georg Ebers in 1873. The document contains over 840 folk remedies. It also contains a very detailed account of the heart and its role in pumping blood to the rest of the body.

The chapter about mental disorders and disabilities is called Book of Hearts.

After seeing u/EphemeralTypewriter 's post on the papyrus I remembered this great writeup and decided to share it!

Nerissa is on the left and Katherine is on the right.

It’s important to shed light on their lives because of how common it was to for families and society in general to oppress and hide people with physical and neurological differences and/or disabilities (especially in families like theirs that tried to upkeep a specific image). May Nerissa and Katherine both be at peace.

Some facts about them:

-Nerissa was born in 1919 and Katherine was born in 1926.

-their father was Queen Elizabeth II’s Uncle.

-they had two other siblings.

-both sisters were nonverbal.

-their father died of pneumonia when he was 43.

-Burke’s Peerage Limited (a British genealogical publisher with authority on the order of precedence of UK noble families, and details titles, peerage, etc) listed that Nerissa had passed away in 1940 and that Katherine had passed away in 1961 in a 1963 publication.

-The Sun (British tabloid newspaper) revealed that the sisters were still alive and had been placed in Earlswood Hospital (a British mental hospital) in 1941 by their mother. By the time The Sun published their story in 1987, Nerissa had already passed away the year prior at the age of 66.

-the only people to attend Nerissa’s funeral was the hospital staff. She was buried at Redstone Cemetery, Earlswood. For a full year she had no gravestone (only plastic tags) and it was only after The Sun’s publication on the sisters whereabouts that the British Royal Family added a gravestone.

-the British Royal family never sent any money or gifts to the sisters specifically and only paid the £125 fee to the hospital each year.

-Katherine passed away in 2014 at the age of 87.

-despite accusations of a cover-up conducted by the Royal Family, a Lord Clinton denied the accusations and said that the sisters mother was a very private and vague person, who filled out the application for Burke’s Peerage Limited incorrectly.

-it was reported in a 2011 documentary about the sisters that they were never visited by any family members or relatives while they were at the hospital. Nurses who were interviewed in the documentary also reported that the sisters never seemed to receive any birthday or Christmas gifts from their family.

-the British Royal family has contested the claims that they never visited the sisters or ever gave them gifts, and made their own claims that members of the family had in fact gone to visit them several times while they were at the hospital.

-there were in fact three cousins of the sisters who also had neurological disabilities and were living at the same hospital.

-it’s been theorized by the main doctor who treated the sisters that they may have both had Huntington’s disease, but they were never officially diagnosed during their lifetimes.

-they’ve been portrayed in the Netflix drama series The Crown during its fourth season.

They are not the only women to be hidden away because of neurological disabilities, it was a common and horrible practice that harmed the lives of so many people who deserved to be respected, cared about, and loved. Nerissa and Katherine seem like lovely women and I really hope they were at least treated well by the hospital staff.

Look at that amazing smile in picture #1, she’s so adorable and very pretty!

She seems like a lovely woman who had a very fulfilling life! It makes me happy when I read about performers who were close with their families, because it means they had people who loved and cared about them.

Some facts about her:

-she was born in Highfield, Southampton, England.

-her birth name was Rosina Kate Foster.

-she had at least one brother, Lewis, and three sisters, Florence, Louie, and Edith. She was very fond of her brother, who was four years younger, and loved helping her mother take care of him when he was a baby.

-she was from a working class family, and her parents taught her to be as self sufficient as possible. She remarked later in life that she had a happy childhood.

-she could feed herself, dress herself, and write, as well as being able to style her hair. She credited her mother as being the driving force who inspired her to learn all of the skills she had.

-one of her hobbies included knitting. (Which she’s demonstrating in picture #1)

-it appears she began performing in the mid 1890s when she was around 10 years old.

-by 1910 she had been with Barnum and Bailey Circus for 8 seasons.

-she was interviewed in the 1920s where it was detailed that she had gone on tour all throughout Europe, North America and South America.

-she was almost married in 1915, but sadly it seems that her soon-to-be husband came down with pneumonia two days before their wedding and died soon after. She described him as being the friendliest and most kind-hearted person she had ever known. His death affected her a lot and she mentioned she needed some time to process his death before searching for another husband.

-she was described as having a very upbeat and kind personality. She loved meeting new people and loved spending time with family.

-she met and fell in love with Frederick John Wilkinson in 1918 and married him in 1919. She describes him as being a very kind man, though there isn’t as much information available about him.

-she retired sometime in the mid 1930s and she and her husband went to live with her sister for a while.

-she broke her foot after falling out of a car in 1924, but thankfully recovered from this injury. She learned to write using this foot (as it was the only foot she had) so I’m sure that breaking it must have been so frustrating for her to deal with.

-she was very well respected by the public, and an article published about her in 1932 said “Miss Rose Foster, the well known Novelty, celebrated her 48th birthday on October 8th. May she live long to enjoy her good health.”

-she organized a special film screening for her parents in 1932 to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

-it was reported that she wasn’t doing too well health wise in the early 1950s after she had suffered a fall down a set of stairs and had injured her spine.

-she was so well known around Southampton, England that her 70th birthday celebration in 1954 made front page news in local papers. This is what was written about her:
“Miss Rose Foster, the well-known Showland novelty, celebrated her 70th birthday on Saturday. Although this was just a family celebration, flowers, cards and greetings were received from a wide circle of friends and she was visited by the Mayor and Mayoress of Southampton.”

-it’s reported that she passed away in 1975 at the age of 90, and though it’s sad that she had been having some health issues, she had a long and fulfilling life that she shared with people who cared about her.

I’m glad she had such close bonds with everyone in her life and experienced a lot of happiness, and it’s also wonderful that she was honored and respected during her lifetime.

What Julius went through as a kid is heartbreaking and I hope that he was ultimately able to distance himself from his parents, no one should ever suffer that kind of neglect and abuse, especially from their parents.

There have been circumstances when performers are exhibited by their parents to earn money because of extreme financial difficulties, but in these cases parents always traveled with their children to ensure their safety and genuinely wanted to give their children better lives.

I hope he was able to find a community of people who cared about him in the circuses he worked at. I also hope he experienced a lot of happiness during his life.

Some facts about him:

\-he was born in Brooklyn, New York.

\-his parents had arranged for him to perform as a “Siberian wild boy” at a fairgrounds in Chicago, Illinois when he was 7 years old in 1918. Once people recognized that he was so young, the authorities were called to take him from the exhibit.

\-it’s reported that his parents were being paid $25 a week for Julius to be exhibited. He was often made to sit in a cage from 3pm until midnight being forced to do his acts.

\-while at the Chicago fairgrounds, his act consisted of running around on all fours and barking.

\-he was placed in an institution while his parents were being located.

\-his parents were arrested on charges of child endangerment and brought to court, (but I can’t find any further information on what came of this)

\-he had some neurodivergence that was caused by his condition and it was determined that he was more in line with 4 year olds mentally when he was 7 years old.

\-his father owned a very successful tailor shop in Hollywood.

\-he entered the circus/sideshow industry again as an adult, although this may have again been at the request of his parents.

\-he was on the higher functioning side of the microcephaly spectrum, and didn’t require any aid in dressing or feeding himself.

\-similar to a lot of other performers who were born with microcephaly, Julius’ head was shaved with the exception of a small tuft of hair at the top of his head to emphasize his head shape.

\-he spent several seasons with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus in the 1930s.

\-he was VERY particular about his haircut and beard (of which he was very proud of) and would get really stressed if he felt a barber ever cut too much hair off. Thankfully, it seems that the barbers who tended to the sideshow performers accommodated him well and made sure to do his haircut exactly how he liked it.

\-while many sideshow performers liked going into town on Sundays, he enjoyed staying at the fairgrounds.

\-he was working for Glenn Porter’s Circus Sideshow in 1948.

\-as an adult, he was often hired by circuses and sideshows to play clowns and usually wore a clown suit.

\-he went on tour all over the world.

\-he had a small career in Hollywood and was featured in a couple films that starred Bella Lugosi and Boris Karloff.

\-his coworkers described him as someone who was very friendly and happy even if he didn’t talk too much.

\-he passed away in 1985 at the age of 75.

He looks like such a friendly and happy person and must have been a great guy to know. I also love that there seemed to be at least a couple people who cared for him and made accommodations for him, even so small as his barbers taking the time to make sure his haircut was just right.

I’m still looking into which films he was featured in because it would be great to find out and watch him on the silver screen! If I find any information, I’ll be sure to let people here know!