Weird and Wonderful: The Dime Museum in America

Weird and Wonderful chronicles the evolution of the dime museum from its eighteenth-century inception as a "cabinet of curiosities" to its death at the hands of new amusement technologies in the early twentieth century. From curio halls housing upwards of ten thousand exhibits to meager converted storefronts displaying petrified wood and living anomalies, this study vividly reanimates the array of museums, exhibits, and performances that make up this entertainment institution. Tracing the scattered legacy of the dime museum from vaudeville theatre to Ripley's museum to the talk show spectacles of today, Dennett makes a significant contribution to the history of American popular entertainment.