# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/p-t-barnum
# Generated: 2026-08-31T13:51:40.180Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/p-t-barnum"
name: "P. T. Barnum"
slug: "p-t-barnum"
description: "He sold tickets to a mermaid made of fish parts and monkey torso, launched a nobody Swedish soprano into an American mania, and turned the word \"humbug\" into a compliment. Barnum built an empire not on truth but on the edge where spectacle meets credulity — and people paid him for it."
tagline: "American showman and politician (1810–1891)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/P._T._Barnum_-_02176a_(cropped).jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "United States"
  isoCode: "US"
category:
  name: "Politicians"
  slug: "politicians"
profileType:
  name: "Politician"
  slug: "politician"
birthDate: "1810-07-05"
deathDate: "1891-04-07"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           64.83
  momentum:             0
  historical:           25.750892
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "FALLING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Executives"
    slug: "executives"
  - name: "Business Professional"
    slug: "business-professional"
  - name: "Entrepreneurship"
    slug: "entrepreneurship"
  - name: "Politics"
    slug: "politics"
  - name: "Stand Up"
    slug: "stand-up"
  - name: "Literature"
    slug: "literature"
  - name: "Journalism"
    slug: "journalism"
  - name: "United States"
    slug: "united-states"
sources:
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q223766"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._T._Barnum"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/P.%20T.%20Barnum"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://am.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%8D%8A%E1%8A%95%E1%88%B3%E1%88%B5_%E1%89%B4%E1%8B%AD%E1%88%88%E1%88%AD_%E1%89%A0%E1%88%AD%E1%8A%93%E1%88%9D"
    title: "ፊንሳስ ቴይለር በርናም"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ang.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Taylor_Barnum"
    title: "Phineas Taylor Barnum"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://an.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._T._Barnum"
    title: "P. T. Barnum"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A8%D9%8A_%D8%AA%D9%8A_%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%86%D9%88%D9%85"
    title: "بي تي بارنوم"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A8%D9%89_%D8%AA%D9%89_%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%86%D9%88%D9%85"
    title: "بى تى بارنوم"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Taylor_Barnum"
    title: "Phineas Taylor Barnum"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://azb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%81%DB%8C%D9%86%DB%8C%D8%A7%D8%B3_%D8%AA%DB%8C%D9%84%D9%88%D8%B1_%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%86%D9%88%D9%85"
    title: "فینیاس تیلور بارنوم"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fineas_Teylor_Barnum"
    title: "Fineas Teylor Barnum"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bar.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Taylor_Barnum"
    title: "Phineas Taylor Barnum"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bcl.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._T._Barnum"
    title: "P. T. Barnum"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A4%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8A%D1%81_%D0%91%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BD%D1%8A%D0%BC"
    title: "Финиъс Барнъм"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bi.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._T._Barnum"
    title: "P. T. Barnum"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://br.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Taylor_Barnum"
    title: "Phineas Taylor Barnum"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bs.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._T._Barnum"
    title: "P. T. Barnum"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._T._Barnum"
    title: "P. T. Barnum"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ceb.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._T._Barnum"
    title: "P. T. Barnum"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://co.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Taylor_Barnum"
    title: "Phineas Taylor Barnum"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Taylor_Barnum"
    title: "Phineas Taylor Barnum"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._T._Barnum"
    title: "P. T. Barnum"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/P.T._Barnum"
    title: "P.T. Barnum"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._T._Barnum"
    title: "P. T. Barnum"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._T._Barnum"
    title: "P. T. Barnum"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikiquote.org/wiki/Phineas_Taylor_Barnum"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/P._T._Barnum"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://eo.wikiquote.org/wiki/P._T._Barnum"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://et.wikiquote.org/wiki/Phineas_Taylor_Barnum"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://he.wikiquote.org/wiki/%D7%A4%D7%99._%D7%98%D7%99._%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%9D"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Barnum ran a general store and a newspaper before moving to New York in 1834 and pivoting to entertainment: first a variety troupe, then a museum stocked with hoaxes like the Fiji mermaid and human curiosities like General Tom Thumb. In 1850 he gambled on an unknown Swedish singer named Jenny Lind, paid her $1,000 a night for 150 shows, and made her a sensation. The 1850s brought bad investments, lawsuits, and collapse; he crawled out lecturing on temperance. He served two terms in the Connecticut legislature, argued for the Thirteenth Amendment, then became mayor of Bridgeport, where he fixed the water and founded a hospital. At sixty he launched the traveling circus that still carries his name. His first wife died in 1873 after forty-four years of marriage; he remarried months later to a woman forty years younger and stayed with her until a stroke killed him in 1891.