One last hurrah!

For my final class project, I am creating a circus museum in Second Life using Special Collections objects including a number of photos and rare posters. Special Collections is located in Milner Library at Illinois State University. The Gamma Phi circus is going to perform on campus this April. Illinois State is one of two universities that has an 'in-house' circus training program, which is what Gamma Phi is. Florida State University is the other university that has a circus. I was doing some research for an NEH grant as part of my graduate assistant duties when I discovered this information. I was researching the history of ISU in order to discover when Art, Theater and Music history started to be taught. In order to do that I had to begin with the earliest course catalogs, which start almost with ISU's charter in 1857.

Physical education was introduced very early in the university curriculum and began with a YMCA facility in Bloomington/Normal. It was also considered important for women to "have a healthy complexion" fostered by 'appropriate' physical exercise. I believe this is clear indication of a specific sort of rhetoric aimed at the "fairer sex".

On campus, last week, I saw a poster that advertised the upcoming performance. The visual rhetoric of the image included a picture of a scantly clad female circus perform. Based on my review of hundreds of posters and photos from the ISU collection (mostly from the 1920's, 30's, and 40's) times have not changed much as far as what is used to 'sell' the circus.

I was not able to find an electronic version of the current poster. However, you can see an image from the past (or is it present?).