Friday, June 6, 1919

Cloudy day. Rain in A.M. and at intervals all day. Around college in A.M. Saw parade. Poured. To circus in P.M. Same Show. To library in evening. Walked around. To bed 10:30.

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The parade Stanford refers to must be the circus parade that preceded the show Stanford went to later in the day.  This was of course the great Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, touring the U.S. that year after taking a year off during the great influenza epidemic of 1918. According to one website, the circus was indeed scheduled to be in Schenectady on June 6, 1919.

Stanford must have witnessed quite a parade, since according to one historical account, the combined Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circuses "required 100 railroad cars to transport them and their animals, including 55 elephants." In fact, 1919 was the first year the two circuses performed together; though merged in 1907, they were touring separately until their joint appearance at Madison Square Garden March 29, 1919. Below is a poster that may have been used to advertise their show at Schenectady:

The springing tiger poster was designed in 1914 by Charles Livingston Bull, who was well known at the time for his paintings of wildlife. It is thought to be one of the best of its kind and continues to be used by the circus to advertise their shows.

Interestingly, the city of Schenectady suffered a circus fire in May, 1910. No one was killed, luckily, but residents must have remembered it every time the circus came to town.