Clowns in the Mountain West Digital Library

Clowns! Does the idea of clowns fill you with happy thoughts of your childhood visit to the circus, or do you have Coulrophobia or the fear of clowns? Are the clowns in the MWDL happy or terrifying? Let's find out!

It will be no surprise that the Mountain West Digital Library has photographs of rodeo clowns.

This Rodeo Clown from the late 1930s is carrying a doll. From the Uintah County Library Thorne Photograph Collection. 

This clown photo from the Scottsdale Public Library is rather adorable:

Clowns in the 1995 Parada del Sol Parade. From the Scottsdale (AZ) Remembers: Recollections of our Past collection via the Arizona Memory Project

This clown looks very very sad:

Circus Clowns P.1 From the Utah State Historical Society Classified Photograph Collection

Here is a clown musical band!

Clown Musical Band, from the University of Nevada Las Vegas Southern Nevada: The Boomtown Years Collection

What happened to this student at the University of Nevada Reno? Did she make it to Clown College? It looks like she would be a perfect candidate for clown-related higher education.

Betty Dittmer, business major who planned to attend Clown College, from the University of Nevada Reno Campus Images collection

Have we inspired any clown related Halloween costumes? What's your favorite clown photo from a digital collection?

Happy New Year from the Mountain West Digital Library!

The MWDL has plenty of fun digital collections that highlight New Year's celebrations! Take a trip to Kyoto and see some of the New Year's customs documented in the Marriott Library's Lennox and Catherine Tierney Photograph Collection. UNLV has a variety of New Year's Eve Dinner menus to browse.
UNLV Reno Special Collections has a great circa 1906 New Year's postcard from their Reno Postcards collection.

Featured Image: New Year's Dinner at the Feast House, by Rosamond Spicer, from the Arizona Memory Project and Arizona State Library's Tohono O'odham Photographs collection.