Phineas Taylor Barnum

P.T. Barnum (1810-1891) was an American showman, businessman, and politician. He founded Barnum's American Museum in New York City, brought Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind to America for a national concert tour, and co-founded the circus that became Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. He served in the Connecticut legislature and was elected mayor of Bridgeport. He lost his fortune in the 1850s and rebuilt it within four years. "The Art of Money Getting" was his lecture on the principles of wealth-building, delivered as a paid speaking engagement and later published as a pamphlet. It remains one of the most widely circulated texts on personal finance from the nineteenth century.