Over 50 years, a model maker built a 3,800-square-foot miniature circus by hand; it now anchors Florida’s Ringling Circus Museum

In Sarasota, Florida, a miniature circus covers more than 3,800 square feet, according to The Ringling's Circus Museum teacher guide. The Ringling Circus Museum describes the Howard Bros. Circus Model as a historically accurate rendition of an early twentieth-century circus, made up of more than 42,000 pieces. It is the centerpiece of the museum's Tibbals Learning Center. One man made it. Howard Tibbals, a circus lover and philanthropist, built pieces for the model across most of his adult life, and his gifts helped pay for the building that houses it. The story covers how the model grew, how it reached Sarasota, and what else the Tibbals family left the museum.Tibbals built wooden circus toys from 1948 and began the Howard Bros. model in 1956His passion predates the model itself. As Jennifer Lemmer Posey, Tibbals' curator of the circus, said in her 2024 interview with Florida State University News, he had loved circuses since childhood and was fascinated by their logistics and storytelling. According to The Ringling Circus Museum Teacher Guide, Howard Tibbals began working on his circus model at age 17, which would be about 1953. Nevertheless, the official project occurred a bit later. As Sarasota Magazine wrote in March 2022, Tibbals began working on the model in 1956, when he was 19 or 20. According to Sarasota Magazine, Tibbals spent more than 60 years building the model, which NC State Magazine says contains over 45,000 pieces. Howard Tibbals died on March 20, 2022, at the age of 85, according to Sarasota Magazine. NC State Magazine, describing Tibbals as an alumnus of the class of 1959, explained the naming of the model. Though the model is a replica of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, the organization refused to use its name; hence, it was named Howard Bros. Circus.The model covers more than 3,800 square feet; counts range from 42,000 to 45,000 piecesThe museum's page describes the model as made up of more than 42,000 pieces in more than 3,800 square feet, while NC State Magazine reports more than 45,000 pieces. The information on the Ringling page states that visitors can witness the engineering involved in moving the entire “tented city” of the circus from town to town every day, as well as have a backstage look into the life of those who worked in the circus. Florida State University News calls the model a bird’s-eye view of a circus of the early twentieth century.Tibbals collected circus materials for more than 60 years to keep the model accurateAccuracy drove his collecting. Patch, reporting on a news release from The Ringling, said Tibbals gathered materials documenting circus history for more than 60 years to make sure the model was historically accurate. The digital archive collections on The Ringling's site list parts of what became the Tibbals Circus Collection, including a collection of heralds from The Ringling Circus Archives. One series, the Tibbals Circus Collection of International Newspapers, has been used to build a virtual clipping collection drawn from more than 150 newspapers dating from 1685 to 1907, most of them British. A separate set of Barnum & Bailey, Ringling Bros., and Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey programs covers 1899 to 2013, so the two collections overlap only from 1899 to 1907.The model premiered at the 1982 Knoxville World's Fair and moved to a center that opened in 2006The model did not begin in Sarasota. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported that it premiered at the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee. A profile of Janice Tibbals on The Ringling's site says she and Howard married in 1991 and worked together to install the model in venues around the country. It further indicates that their donations were made in 2000 and 2008, respectively, with the state matching their donations to fund construction of the two phases of the Tibbals Learning Center. Additionally, the Tibbals Endowment was formed by their gift, providing funds for the preservation of the circus collections and staffing and programming. According to The Ringling's tribute to Tibbals, he and his wife, Janice, donated $6.5 million to fund the initial building and endow the circus program. The center opened in 2006. The Florida State University News states that Tibbals gave his name to the museum's building, catalogued his collection of circus memorabilia, and helped install the model.The Circus Museum dates to 1948 and added a modern-era gallery in April 2024The model was added to the collection in the museum with a rich history behind its establishment. As seen in the above-mentioned museum page, The Ringling's first director, A. Everett "Chick" Austin, established the unique Museum of the American Circus in 1948. The museum's historic galleries feature circus wagons, a sideshow bannerline and a private turn-of-the-century Pullman railcar of John and Mable Ringling called the Wisconsin.The museum continues growing and developing. According to Florida State University News, The Greatest Show on Earth Gallery opened on April 6, 2024, with Posey as the head curator. The museum's page mentions that the gallery focuses on the period that started in 1967 when Irvin Feld bought Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey and lasted for fifty years under the supervision of the Feld family. Additionally, Florida State University News provides more information about The Ringling as the State Art Museum of Florida and a part of Florida State University, and adds that Posey collaborated closely with Tibbals while studying as a graduate student and working for more than twenty years at the museum.Tibbals died on March 20, 2022, and the model remains the museum's centerpieceOnce Tibbals had passed away, Sarasota Magazine reported the executive director of the museum stating that the model and the Tibbals Circus Collection were going to be his enduring legacy. As she mentioned during her speech in 2024, the passion of Tibbals was part of what she was doing. This legacy is apparent on the museum premises. A personal hobby that began with wooden toys back in 1948 and became an official project in 1956 now takes up the first floor of a building paid for by his family members in a museum that has operated a circus collection since 1948. The description provided by The Ringling itself states that it is a historically accurate depiction of an early twentieth-century circus, and it still is the highlight of any visitor's experience.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.