Robert L. “Bob” Parkinson
Time period/Baraboo: 1965-1991
Submitted by: Marilyn Parkinson
Robert L. Parkinson found the Library and Research Center at Circus World Museum in 1965. Throughout his 26 years as Library Director, Parkinson guided the acquisition, cataloging and conservation of the Museum’s collection which he built into the world’s largest research archive devoted to circus history.
Parkinson directed the Museum’s magnificent presentations of authentic horse-drawn Circus Parades between 1973 and 1988, recruiting parade units and organizing each annual street march. It was also “Bob” Parkinson who planned and managed the Circus Train logistics – the railroad contracts, the train loading orders, switching instructions, the cater for passengers, security and so much more – beginning in 1965 with the first of the Museum’s Circus Trains.
Bob Parkinson was a military historian who was known for the highly accurate World War II German Panzer Division that he crafted in HO scale. Parkinson’s acclaimed model with over 15,000 piecces has been exhibited at the General George Patton Museum at Fort Knox, Kentucky and at the World War History and Art Museum in Alliance, Ohio.
After his death in 1991, the State Historical Society of Wisconsin dedicated the Circus World Museum facility which he worked so hard to create as the Robert L. Parkinson Library and Research Center.