Charles Philip "Chappie" Fox (May 27, 1913 – September 12, 2003) was a circus

Circus

A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...

 historian and philanthropist born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...

, who greatly expanded the Circus World Museum

Circus World Museum

The Circus World Museum is a large museum complex in Baraboo, Wisconsin devoted to circus-related history. The museum, which features not only circus artifacts and exhibits, but also hosts daily live circus performances throughout the summer, is owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, and...

 and helped found the Great Circus Parade

Great Circus Parade

The Great Circus Parade is a parade of marching bands, circus wagons, clowns, performers, and animals. Between 1963 and 2009, it has been held 30 times in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and a few times in Chicago and Baraboo, Wisconsin. A fundraiser for the Circus World Museum, the parade typically draws...

 in Milwaukee.

Fox took over the tiny museum, in Baraboo, Wisconsin

Baraboo, Wisconsin

Baraboo is the largest city in, and the county seat of Sauk County, Wisconsin, USA. It is situated on the Baraboo River. Its 2010 population was 12,048 according to the US Census Bureau...

, in 1960, and began to collect and restore antique circus wagons. These wooden wagons had been built in the late 19th and early 20th century, and lay in disrepair across the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. Today, the museum owns over 200 of these wagons.

In 1963, Fox and Ben Barkin, under the sponsorship of the Schlitz Brewing Company

Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company

The Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company was an American brewery based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was once the largest producer of beer in the world. Its namesake beer, Schlitz, was known as "The beer that made Milwaukee famous" and was famously advertised with the slogan "When you're out of Schlitz,...

, began the Great Circus Parade.

A self-trained circus historian, Fox wrote and edited many books about circus animals, advertising and imagery, and also authored many children's stories. He died of heart disease at a nursing home in Baraboo and is survived by his wife Sophie and daughter, Barbara Fox McKellar.

Circus history

• Circus parades, a pictorial history of America's greatest pageant, Watkins Glen, N.Y., Century House, 1953.
• A ticket to the circus; a pictorial history of the incredible Ringlings, Seattle : Superior, 1959.
• A pictorial history of performing horses., Seattle, Superior, 1960.
• The circus comes to town. Milwaukee, Inland Press, c1963.
• The circus in America (with Tom Parkinson). Waukesha, Wis., Country Beautiful, 1969.
• American circus posters in full color (editor). New York : Dover, 1978. ISBN 0-486-23693-5.
• The great circus street parade in pictures (with F. Beverly Kelley). New York : Dover, c1978. ISBN 0-486-23571-8.
• Old-time circus cuts : a pictorial archive of 202 illustrations (editor). New York : Dover, 1979. ISBN 0-486-23653-6.
• Circus baggage stock, a tribute to the Percheron horse. Boulder, Colo. : Pruett, c1983. ISBN 0-87108-625-5.
• Billers, banners, and bombast: the story of circus advertising (with Tom Parkinson). Boulder, Colo. : Pruett, c1985. ISBN 0-87108-609-3.
• Horses in harness (edited by Jean Van Dyke). Greendale, WI : Reiman, c1987. ISBN 0-89821-080-1.
• The great circus street parade in pictures (with F. Beverly Kelly, 2nd ed.). New York : Dover, 1990. ISBN 0-486-26201-4.
• America's great circus parade: its roots, its revival, its revelry. Greendale, WI : Reiman, c1993.
• Horse drawn wagon collection at the Circus World Museum, Baraboo, Wisconsin (editor). Milwaukee : Great Circus Parade, c1994.
• The circus in America (with Tom Parkinson). Santa Monica, CA: Hennessey & Ingalls, 2002. ISBN 0-940512-33-5.

Children's books

• Frisky, try again. Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1959
• Come to the circus. Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1960.
• A fox in the house. Chicago : Reilly & Lee, 1960.
• Mr. Stripes the gopher. Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1962.
• Birds will come to you. Chicago : Reilly & Lee, 1963.
• Mr. Duck's big day. Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1963.
• Snowball, the trick pony. Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1964.
• When autumn comes. Chicago, Reilly & Lee, c1966.
• Opie Possum's trick. Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1968.
• Sweet Sue's adventures (story by Sam Campbell). Brushton, N.Y. : TEACH Services, c2002. ISBN 1-57258-210-3.