Dime museum

Dime museums were institutions that were popular at the end of the 19th century in the United States. Designed as centers for entertainment and moral education for the working class (lowbrow), the museums were distinctly different from upper-middle class' cultural events (highbrow). In urban centers like New York City, where many immigrants settled, dime museums were popular and cheap entertainment. The social trend reached its peak during the Progressive Era (c. 1890–1920). Although lowbrow entertainment they became birthing grounds for the careers of many notable Vaudeville-era entertainers including Harry Houdini, Lew Fields, Joe Weber & Maggie Cline.

In Baltimore, Maryland, Peale's Museum is credited as one of the first serious museums in the country. This type of attraction was continued in the work of the American Dime Museum operated for eight years before closing permanently and auctioning off its exhibits in late February 2007.

Kimball's Museum and Austin & Stones Museum in Scollay Square were both well known attractions, the former having a friendly connection to, and sometimes competition with, P. T. Barnum. Barnum and Moses Kimball even shared "Fee Gee Mermaids" on a regular basis.

Both John James Audubon and sculptor Hiram Powers produced displays for the Western Museum, organized by Dr Daniel Drake in 1818 and continued by Joseph Dorfeuille. "Satan and his Court" wax figures with moving parts and glowing eyes are typical of these displays.

On Canal Street, "Eugene Robinson's Museum and Theater" featured entertainments on the hour and also presented some of its attractions on a nearby riverboat. The common promotion gimmick of a brass band at the front entrance of these Dime Museums featured some of the earliest documented traditional jazz; Robinson's riverboat museum also hired Papa Jack Laine.

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