Edinburgh, Murray Fields. Colour illustration of polar bears on steps above brown bears and animal trainer on the right hand side. Printed by W. E. Berry Ltd Bradford.

Circus programmes and VHS tapes from Billy Smart’s Circus and Chipperfields’s Circus collected during the 1970s and early 1980s by the TV producer, Christopher John Palmer. There are also a number of promotional photographs of artistes and other ephemera related to the circus.

This collection consists of a large library of books and journals, as well as archival material including posters, programmes, photographs, films, handbills, research material, scrapbooks, original artwork and many other items of ephemera relating to British, Irish and European circuses

Archive of the Digger Pugh family including newspaper cuttings, photographs, negatives, business records, programmes, research material, posters and films.

Amateur and commercial films on multiple formats, focusing mainly on Circus but also including transport, fairs, fairground rides and other types of travelling entertainments.

Please notice that 178D24.4 contains scenes of animal cruelty and human fatalities. Copies of films on DVD format showing performers at various circus around the world, travelling scenes, scenic views, performers behind the scenes, film sets. Black and white and colour, sound.

Compilation of monographs, articles, manuscripts and a range of research material about circus companies and performers in the United Kingdom, Europe and other parts of the world by various authors, the research was mainly compiled by Hal Thomas.

A collection of newspaper cuttings on circus, circus proprietors and performers and scrapbooks containing newspaper cuttings, posters, programmes and other items of ephemera, covering mainly British circuses and venues such as Belle Vue and also some international circuses.

Three newspaper cuttings relating to circuses, one part of an article by the clown Whimsical Walker, one about a luxury showman's van built for C.J. Birkmyre of Billy Smart's Circus and one about the animal trainer Alexander Kerr.

A large collection of films entitled Circusama containing amateur and professional films on the themes of circus, performing animals and zoos, and edited clips from commercial Western and comedy films. The films are in a variety of formats including 8mm, Super8, 9.5mm and 16mm and contain related correspondence and notes. This collection also contains some sound reels mainly of fairground music.

Original works of art including artists' prints, drawings, watercolours and paintings, and designs for circus posters.

Black and white and colour photographs, negatives and photographic albums mainly containing images of British circus, circus performers, animals and circus personalities but also some menageries such as Bostock and Wombwell and other associated entertainments and non-British circuses taken by David Jamieson, Lindsay Temple, Den Curtis, Capt. Middleton, Jack Niblett and other photographers.

A wide range of British and international circus and menagerie posters ranging from the 19th to the 21st century including Astley's Amphitheatre, Pablo Fanque, Polito, Bostock and Wombwell, Ducrow, Cooke, Hengler, Sanger, Smart, Gerry Cottle, Bertram Mills, Chipperfield's, Robert Brothers, Fossett, Blackpool Tower, Billy Russell, Belle Vue, Great Yarmouth Hippodrome, Austen Brothers and many more.

Programmes for various British and international circuses including Billy Russell's, Blackpool Tower, Fossett's, Chipperfield's and the Toni Boltini's Circus.

A collection of mainly British and international circus programmes and some variety and music hall programmes containing circus acts.

A range of items of promotion and advertising from a range of circus companies and performers, including artistes' photographs with act descriptions used for seeking employment in circuses and pamphlets advertising independent performances and circus companies' literature and souvenirs for public distribution and promotion including Gerry Cottle's Circus, Belle Vue, Blackpool Tower, Bertram Mills Circus, Gandey's, Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey, Knie and many more.

Various items of circus and film production ephemera.