The Fiji mermaid / Feejee mermaid exhibition tradition

Record summary

The Feejee Mermaid was a fabricated composite animal associated with P. T. Barnum’s 1842 exhibition and subsequent touring displays. Its supposed Pacific origin made it relevant to nineteenth-century ideas about anomalous nature, colonial collecting and public belief, while later examination identified it as a hoax rather than an unknown mermaid. The artefact is valuable for comparison because it demonstrates how geographic labels and exhibition practices manufacture an anomalous place connection. Researchers should reconstruct ownership, display chronology and the different specimens marketed under the same name.