Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Lowlow Papers, Mss. Collection 2001.26, Kegley Library, Wytheville Community College, Wytheville, VA

Acquisition Information

Donated by Ruth Ann Chitwood in 2001 as part of the W. R. Chitwood Collection.

Biographical Information

John Littlelow was born in Savannah, Georgia in August 1841; he was the son of John and Isabella McKinzie Littlelow. Orphaned as a youth, Littlelow joined the circus company of John Robinson. He spent the next fifty years performing as a singing clown. He married Elizabeth Maria Rose of Cleveland, Ohio on 25 August 1866. They had three sons; William Lowlow, and two who died young. Lowlow changed his name after a spelling mistake on the billboard. John Lowlow died on 18 October 1910 in Cincinnati, Ohio and is buried in Cleveland.

Scope and Content

The collection consists of an 11 September 1941 letter written by Alvina Lowlow, daughter-in-law of John Lowlow, to John A. Whitman of Wytheville, Virginia. Mrs. Lowlow provides biographical information regarding her father-in-law, John Lowlow the clown, in this seven page letter. Also included in a typescript of an obituary of John Lowlow from The Billboard dated 29 October 1910.