Virtual Exhibitions

One of the most interesting artifacts in the museum is undoutably Pa-Ib/Rose the mummy.  There have been many mysteries surrounding her over her hundred plus years at the museum and some of them are still on going.  Although such mysteries as her gender, and whether or not she belongs to her coffin have been answered, where exactly she comes from remains a mystery.  Thus far the only absolute certainty is that she was donated by P.T. Barnum's second wife, Nancy Fish.

Recently, however, an article was discovered that may or may not prove that the mummy came from Nancy's second husband Demetri Callias Bey.  The article, which announces their wedding, claims that they met in Egypt in the winter of 1893/1894 where he "presented Mrs. Barnum with a mummy for the Historical society of this city"1. The problem lies in the words "this city" because the article's byline reads New York, implying the mummy went to the New York City Historical Society and is therefore not Pa-Ib.  However, another article, which is about Nancy donating a mummy she purchased to the Bridgeport Scientific Society, puts her acquisition of Bridgeport's mummy at around the same time that she recieved a mummy from Demetri Callias Bey.2

So the question remains, did Pa-Ib come from the second husband, or did Nancy Fish Barnum come back from Egypt with multiple mummies for multiple museums?

1 "Mrs. P.T. Barnum Weds." Trenton Evening Times 8 Aug. 1895: 2. America's Historical Newspaper's. Web. 8 July 2011.

2 "Mrs. P.T. Barnum's Gift." New Haven Register 16 Aug. 1894: 1. America's Historical Newspapers. Web. 8 July 2011.