Agency through Otherness: Portraits of Performers in Circus Route Books, 1875-1925Main MenuIntroductionIntroduction to the book and information about ways to navigate the content.The American Experiment: Circus in ContextCircus performers and American history timelineRouting the Circus: The Things They CarriedCircus Routes Map, 1875-1925Ethnological Congresses and the Spectacleby Rebecca FitzsimmonsOutsiders in Demand: Chinese and Japanese Immigrant Performersby Angela Yon and Mariah WahlShattering Gender Roles: Women in the Circusby Elizabeth HarmanSide Show Sounds: Black Bandleaders Respond to ExoticismAnnexed Circus Musicians by Elizabeth C. HartmanNative Performance and Identity in The Wild West Showby Mariah WahlShowmen's Rests: The Final CurtainCircus Cemetery Plots by Elizabeth C. HartmanList of PerformersPerformers covered in this exhibitBibliography & Further ReadingsBibliography and readings for each chapterAcknowledgementsAngela Yon72f2fd7a28c88ceeba2adcf2c04fee469904c6f1
Ida Williams
12021-03-14T15:02:44-07:00Angela Yon72f2fd7a28c88ceeba2adcf2c04fee469904c6f1382943Ida Williams in the Official Route Book of Ringling Brothers' World's Greatest Shows Season of 1893.plain2021-03-18T02:21:21-07:001893Media is provided here for educational purposes only.Angela Yon72f2fd7a28c88ceeba2adcf2c04fee469904c6f1
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12021-02-26T07:54:28-08:00Ida Williams4Biographyplain2021-03-17T11:38:56-07:00A young woman in her twenties, Ida Williams was a very popular fat woman in the circus. Over the years she was employed, from 1884-1895, she traveled with three different circuses: Sells Bros. Circus, Ringling Bros. Circus, and the Great Wallace Shows. They used many different names to introduce her in their programs, ranging from “Monster Girl” to “Fat Lady” to “Mastadonic Fashion Plate”.
Though the circus used such boisterous names to title her, Ida was described as an unusually beautiful and attractive woman with a happy disposition. She was also well known for her elaborate costumes and jewelry. Little is known about her personal life, but according to the Great Wallace Shows route book in 1895, she had a husband and a daughter who came to visit her at the circus.
