Collections : [Bridgeport History Center, Bridgeport Public Library]

As a major repository for P.T. Barnum related material, the Bridgeport History Center has amassed a large collection of circus material. This has included amassing circus route books, which list the performance locations and show details for each show in a given year.

Raymond W. Fletcher is perhaps best known as a local Bridgeport artist, self-taught and extremely prolific. His deep connection to Bridgeport also meant that from an early age, Fletcher was surrounded by the circus. Bridgeport was the home of Barnum and Bailey's winter quarters, as well as the adopted city of P.T. Barnum himself. As a result, Fletcher maintained a healthy interest in the circus all his life. In addition to being a member of the Bridgeport Barnum Festival and the Circus Model Builders, he collected circus material. This includes the material that makes up this collection.

Founded in 1973 by Ruth Gregory and Hellen Wallat, the Equal Access Concerns for the Handicapped (EACH) focused on the needs of wheelchair users and others with mobility limitations in Fairfield County. The collection's comprehensive scrapbooks created by Gregory show the slow but steady progress the group made towards greater accessibility prior to the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

In 1986, the City of Bridgeport celebrated 150 years of incorporation. This collection features the merchandise that was created by the committee to commemorate the event, along with some event ephemera including advertising supplements that were included in the New York Times and the Bridgeport Post.

Fifth year Yale University American Studies doctoral candidate Amanda Rivera conducts oral histories to facilitate her research on the bilingual education movement in Bridgeport as led by Puerto Ricans in the 1970s. Rivera interviews community members about this topic in both Bridgeport and New Haven from 2023-2024. Rivera's interviews are now part of the History Center holdings as an oral history collection.

The Norwood Collection of Circus Photographs featured a wide array of images from mostly the 1900s to the 1940s, documenting circus life. It focuses primarily on the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus, and shows not only animal and human performers, but features behind the scenes images that give a greater view into what was life for those who traveled with the group every year.

Bridgeport has been the home of a number of theatres over the centuries. Being the backyard of theatre mogul Sylvester Z. Poli contributed heavily to that fact, as did the popularity of theatre in the late 19th and early 20th century, as well as Bridgeport's proximity to both New York City and New Haven. The Bridgeport Theatre Collection contains various programs, tickets, and photographs from the hey-day of many now-closed venues within the city.

During World War I, Bridgeport's many industries helped supply the war effort. Residents also participated in events such as war bond drives and created organizations to support servicemembers from the city. This artificial collection represents the latter, and includes some of the material of the Minute Women, along with material relating to the Red Cross and other organizations, as well as newspaper clippings.

Bernard Riley, best known as Bud, was a Bridgeport native born in 1911. A mostly self-taught artist, he gained renown in the mid-20th century for his work. This collection documents the creation and initial promotion of his piece Bridgeport's Great Historical Mural which is a part of the second floor reference room in the Burroughs-Saden building at 925 Broad Street, Bridgeport, Connecticut.

The thesis of Amy Heller and corresponding research notes explores the complicated history of the United Electrical, Radio and machine Works of America local 203, Bridgeport as the tensions between right and left wing factions erupted in 1944 to 1950.