With an impressive collection of memorabilia and artifacts related to the legendary elephant, the go-to person for anything related to Jumbo is Steve Peters.
And the public will be able to tap into that knowledge this Saturday as Peters is the guest speaker at An Afternoon with Jumbo at the Elgin County Heritage Centre.
The special event is part of Jumbomania, which opened last July to mark the 140th anniversary of the death of Jumbo in St. Thomas.
Peters outlines the focus of his presentation on Saturday afternoon.
What most people were unaware of was that P.T. Barnum, the owner of Jumbo, had made arrangements to have Jumbo stuffed and mounted. So a taxidermist arrived on Sept. 16 from Rochester, New York, and undertook the process of taxidermy. But before that process started, photographers flocked to the city.
The photographers were joined by thousands of curiosity seekers who made their way to the scene of the tragedy.
A focal point was one of Jumbo’s tusks, which had been broken in the collision with the train.
Seeing the marketing potential in Jumbo’s untimely death, P.T. Barnum went to work embellishing the truth somewhat.
While the memory of Jumbo is immortalized in the statue at the west entrance to St. Thomas, his name is firmly embedded in our daily language.
For those planning to attend the presentation, Peters encourages visitors to come early and tour the Jumbomania exhibit.
He adds, “They’ll have the ability to look at the collection and look at it in real detail. But also I’m going to try and add some little jumbo tidbits, a bit of other things that you don’t normally read or hear about the life of jumbo. But as I said, with a particular focus on those photographs that were taken the day after jumbo was killed.”
It all takes place at the Elgin County Heritage Centre, 460 Sunset Drive.
The museum is open from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., with the Steve Peters presentation scheduled for 2 p.m.
Bring your questions and be prepared to be entertained.
Admission is free; donations are appreciated.
Written by Ian McCallum
