Apart from the bigger story they help to tell, the scrapbooks are also full of smaller stories, curiosities and pictures that we started to notice. This page gathers some of the stories that got the volunteers' attention, and more will be added as we keep working with the material and with your help!
A poster for Panoptikum in Cologne, Germany
"An example of how a different Music Hall - Panopticon in Germany operated. Its programme can be analysed and compared to Britannia Panopticon and the shows it offered. Also, the idea and history behind the term 'panopticon' can be traced, is the term used to describe similar/different institutions?" (Spotted by: Sandra Kempele)
BP14.47 Scrapbook page
Newspaper cuttings about general music hall and entertainment news and business; notably Alexander Livesy who walked over 1000 miles between Ayr and…
Old Man's Feat: Ayr to London and back
A newspaper article about Alexander Livesey, who walked 1000 miles from Ayr to London and back pushing a wheelbarrow.(Spotted by: Gillian Moynagh)
BP19.07- Kaiser
Newspaper ad for Pickard's shows in the first month of the First World War, promising "millions of freaks, including the Kaiser"
MILLIONS OF FREAKS, including THE KAISER
Newspaper advert taking advantage of the war fever. Regular freaks the elephant man, the human skeleton and Rose Foster (nature's greatest wonder), are joined by Kaiser Willhelm, "apostle of peace". (Spotted by Kenneth Shand)
Message in a bottle
A White Star Line ticket for A. E. Pickard, travelling from Liverpool to New York in 1904. On the back, Pickard has written a promise to reward the finder of the ticket. Next to it is a handwritten note from someone who found it in a bottle on the beach in April. (Spotted by: Gillian Moynagh)
Auctioning the Zoo
The Scottish amusement caterer EH Bostock had had a zoo in Cowcaddens since 1896, and in December 1908 he decided to renovate his premises and get rid of the zoo. Although there was a campaign to get the city council to build a public zoo, the animals ended up being auctioned on the 27th of April, 1909. The catalogue lists hundreds of animals from all over the world and its prices. Pickard has annotated one of the copies, probably because he was very interested in buying some of the animals for the menagerie section of the Panopticon.
Buy Jingo
Small article about a lucky charm Buy Jingo, the germ of luck. (Spotted by: Gillian Moynagh)
BP05.64 Scrapbook page
Newspaper cuttings about roller skating and a photograph of Fred Scott, Allen Mitchell, Mabel Gandy, Oriol Bray, and Charles Day, skating instructors…
Staff of the Victoria Skating Rink, Glasgow
An unusual photo of the skating instructors at the American Roller Skating Rink in Glasgow, apparently quite satisfied with their trendy job! Roller skating was a short-lived but intense fad in 1909-1910. The skating rinks offered various attractions including music and films, and many of the venues abandoned by skaters after that went on to become cinemas.