Circus World Museum's library receives hundreds of requests for genealogical and biographical information every year.   This information is provided by a large index of names as they appeared in circus route books, programs, and other newspaper advertisements.   Due to the materials indexed, performers are easier to locate than are other circus employees.   The index provides only a citation to the appearance of a name, not to an article about the person, although there are a few of those in the index as well. 

When you ask us to research a name, we will provide a brief answer by e-mail, or a copy of the index citations by regular mail to all the places the name appears.   We will also provide an estimate of the cost for receiving photocopies of the items on the list. 

In order to make sure your request is able to be answered as quickly as possible, here is what we recommend you put in your e-mail or letter to us.

~*~Include all variations of the name your relative used.  If he went by Will Smith, but you happen to know his full name was Joseph William Smith, please provide both names.   Workers in the circus are often listed only by initials, so this provides help when we check records and discover 50 J. Smiths.

~*~Performers often appeared as part of a larger troupe, leaving their personal names out of the records used to compile our index.  If you have some stage names or troupe names in your records, please provide them.  I might not have Will Smith by himself, but if he worked as an acrobat with the Amazing Jones Toupe, citations for that troupe might provide the information you need. 

~*~Any known dates that will help us limit a search might speed up the search.  A birth or death date for Will Smith will help eliminate the 1950 Will Smiths from the 1890 Will Smiths.  Remember, our index covers about 200 years and 300,000 names.

~*~Please don't ask us for the same information you are simultaneously requesting from another organization.  The Circus Historical Society has a wonderful website with a message board that answers questions  { www.circushistory.org/Query.htm }   If you post a note there, please wait for answers before posting a note for CWM's library.  That will keep you from getting the exact same information twice, and help you receive a better answer faster from CWM.   Please feel free to start with us or with them, but both organizations would prefer not to do the same work simultaneously.

~*~Many circus families intermarried, creating large webs of genealogical linkages.  If this is the case in your family, please limit your request to one branch of the family at a time.  Our index includes occasional birth, death, and marriage citations, and can include dozens of citations to a single person or troupe.  Please limit the number of names you are requesting information about to no more than five at one time. 

Although Circus World Museum's staff is small, we attempt to answer every question we receive as quickly as possible.   We are sorry that we need to request your patience when questions cannot be answered quickly.

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