Tom Thumb and his mother
Case (open): 4 3/4 × 7 1/2 × 3/8 inches (12.07 × 19.05 × 0.95 cm)
Case (closed): 4 3/4 × 3 3/4 × 5/8 inches (12.07 × 9.53 × 1.59 cm)
Charles Sherwood Stratton, pictured here with his mother, was a circus performer known as “General Tom Thumb.” Rumored to be only 25 inches tall, Stratton became an international celebrity, recognized for both his size and his talent. The famed showman P.T. Barnum arranged for Stratton to perform in his American Museum in New York City at the age of four. Barnum gave Stratton his stage name, lied about his age, and taught him to sing and dance. Stratton toured with Barnum throughout the United States and Europe.
Charles Stratton;
Female 4th cousin of Charles Stratton (b. 1890), Oswego, New York; [1];
By descent to her daughter;
Purchased at her sale, Photographs, Christie's, New York, April 8, 1998, lot 103 by Jim Alterman, 1998;
Purchased from Jim Alterman at his sale The Jim Alterman Collection of Daguerreotypes, Christie's Los Angeles, December 11, 1998, lot 636 by Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, MO, 1998;
Given by Hallmark Cards, Inc., to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2005.
[1] She was born in 1890 in Oswego, New York. Her maiden name was Card. Her mother's family, the Wards, were in banking and were relateed to Harriet Ward Beecher Stowe and to the Strattons.
