Calling card: Calling card for P.T. Barnum with additional writing, June 21st, no year
Part of BM-MSS 002 Box 1
P. T. Barnum (created by)
1834 – 1891 (Date manufactured/created)
Calling card featuring P.T. Barnum's name and an additional note from P.T. Barnum to whoever it was who recieved the card. It lists "June 21st" as the date, but no year is given.
The use of calling cards followed a complex set of rules of etiquette. Typically a servant delivered the calling card to the person that his master or mistress wished to visit. The master or mistress would then await a response, also via a calling card. Among the rules of etiquette, cues such as turning down the corner of a card held particular meaning. Calling cards were commonly used by people of wealth and leisure but in the United States also by members of the middle class who aspired to engage in social refinements. Barnum and Stratton may have begun using calling cards when they toured Europe in the mid-1840s, where the practice was a long-standing tradition among the aristocracy.
The use of calling cards followed a complex set of rules of etiquette. Typically a servant delivered the calling card to the person that his master or mistress wished to visit. The master or mistress would then await a response, also via a calling card. Among the rules of etiquette, cues such as turning down the corner of a card held particular meaning. Calling cards were commonly used by people of wealth and leisure but in the United States also by members of the middle class who aspired to engage in social refinements. Barnum and Stratton may have begun using calling cards when they toured Europe in the mid-1840s, where the practice was a long-standing tradition among the aristocracy.
BM-MSS 002 S01 B01F08