James Taylor is an American writer, publisher, and

sideshow In North America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, traveling carnival, carnival, fair, or other such attraction. They historically featured human oddity exhibits (so-called “Freak show, freak shows”), pr ...

historian. He co-founded Dolphin-Moon Press in 1973 and published books based on his American sideshow history magazine, both titled as volumes of ''Shocked and Amazed!'', from 1997–2002.

Early life and education

Taylor is a graduate of the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...

and the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars.

Career

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Taylor was literary chairman to the Baltimore mayor's advisory committee on art and culture and was a member of the Maryland governor's panel choosing the state's poet laureate. In 1999, he co-founded, with Dick Horne, the American Dime Museum in

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

, a museum that was part Victorian recreation and part homage to circus, carnival and dime museum culture. Taylor dissolved his partnership with Horne in 2003 and began work on re-establishing his own museum attractions in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, inside of the Palace of Wonders, which opened in 2006. Taylor has served as historical consultant to television productions in his capacity as variety arts historian. He has three books of poetry and fiction to date: Tigerwolves, Tricks of Vision, and Artifacture. His ''

Shocked and Amazed! ''Shocked and Amazed! On & Off the Midway'' is both a book and nine-volume magazine of the same name by James Taylor, released from 1995 to 2007, which chronicle the history of sideshows, novelty acts, and variety exhibits of the 20th century, p ...

- On & Off the Midway'' series, published through Dolphin-Moon since 1995, is the world's only journal devoted to novelty and variety exhibition and life in the sideshow; in 2002, Lyons/Globe Pequot Press published a ''“Best Of” Shocked and Amazed!'' He has worked for the state government of Maryland since 1975. For 25 years, beginning in 1984, he was an associate professor of English at the

Dundalk, Maryland Dundalk ( or ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 67,796 at the 2020 census. In 1960 and 1970, Dundalk was the largest unincorporated community in Mar ...

, campus of the

Community College of Baltimore County The Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) is a public community college in Baltimore County, Maryland, with three main campuses and three extension centers. Academics CCBC has more than 100 associate degree and certificate programs in ...

References

"What's Weird Here?"
''Johns Hopkins Magazine'', April 1998.

External links

Palace of Wonders

Shocked and Amazed - On & Off the Midway

Showhistory.com

Sideshow-art.com

Sideshowworld.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, James Living people Year of birth missing (living people) University of Maryland, College Park alumni People from Dundalk, Maryland American male writers