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
Nellie Coupe
1media/spc_204_007nelliecoupe_thumb.jpg2021-03-14T14:52:11-07:00Angela Yon72f2fd7a28c88ceeba2adcf2c04fee469904c6f1382942plain2021-03-14T14:57:21-07:001890Media is provided here for educational purposes only.Angela Yon72f2fd7a28c88ceeba2adcf2c04fee469904c6f1
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12021-03-25T07:54:10-07:00Nellie Coupe8Biographyplain10399142021-04-23T12:47:08-07:00A world of its own, the Main Band was a place of great pride in the circus. A field of work dominated by men, one woman stood alone with a cornet in hand. Nellie Coupe was a famous cornetist who performed in many halls and was even praised by the current President of the United States for her skills. Being in such a male dominated field had its challenges, but Nellie used her exceptional skill to become the star of the big band, having her name advertised on its own and in more prominent text than the rest of the band.
Nellie is listed alongside other prominent female brass soloists in the article, "Soft lips on cold metal: female brass soloists of the 19th and early 20th centuries."29 She helped lead the way for other female soloists in the circus such as Maud Hayward, an equestrienne and fellow cornetist with three different circuses.
