The "National Baby Show" was one of the American Museum's most popular competitions. The first baby show in June 1855 attracted more than 60,000 patrons eager to view the 143 contestants who were to be judged "especially on the crowning merit of their being genuine original American stock" (omitting from the competition infants deemed too poor or "foreign" in appearance). Following up on his success in New York, Barnum quickly staged baby shows in several other cities. Despite Barnum's attempts to portray the shows as grounded in scientific inquiry (contestants answered questions about hygiene, diet, and exercise), many middle-class observers questioned the propriety of displaying mothers and children for commercial gain.

The Baby Show poster hanging on the wall of the main salon in The Lost Museum is a composite of images and text from primary sources.

Cartoons and illustrations from contemporary publications about the "National Baby Show."

Press coverage and letters about the "National Baby Show."

Advertisement in the New York Tribune, May 1863
Letters to the New York Tribune, May 1855
"The Baby Show Again," New York Herald, June 10, 1855
"Diapers and Dimples," U.S. Democratic Review, April 1855
"The Baby Show," New York Times, June 6, 1855
"The Baby Show," New York Times, June 7, 1855
"The Baby Show," New York Tribune, June 6, 1855
Baby Show Advertisement, Boston Evening Transcript, August 28, 1855
"Baby Shows," Godey's Lady's Book, December 1855
"Young America in Long Dresses -- Great Excitement in Babydom," Doesticks, 1855
"The Approaching Baby Show," Vanity Fair, May 31, 1862 (Making of America Collection)
"The Baby Bazaar," Vanity Fair, June 14, 1862 (Making of America Collection)

Bluford Adams, "Barnum's Long Arms: The American Museum," in E Pluribus Barnum: The Great Showman and the Making of U.S. Popular Culture (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997).