Charles Eisenmann

In the 1860s, a photographer named Charles Eisenmann photographed thousands of circus freaks. (Yes, somehow there were thousands of them back then.) The performers came to him for resume photos (head shots) they could send around to procure work as circus freaks (which is about the only work you can get if you had four legs in 1868). The Syracuse University Library's Ronald G. Becker Collection has hundreds more of Eisenmann's shots, but here are some of our favorites. Via IO9 ...