LINK: Julia Pastrana and Her Tribe by Mark Russell Bell

During the late 1980s I was researching Julia Pastrana, who I had first learned about uponreading one of Frederick Drimmer's books.  I was curious to see what further information was available and obtained photocopies of some of the printed materials about Julia that had been made at the time of her public appearances during the mid-nineteenth century.  I featured the first portion of a Boston playbill in a previous blog article and similar information appears in the Worcester flyer (presented below) that provides a brief account of her life until then.  The Boston playbill also reported about Julia: "She has a thick, heavy skull, and half an inch of flesh over it; a small brain, well-proportioned and capable of being cultivated and improved, like a child's eight years old.  Her disposition is mild and childish."

Read on...