Top of page

Archive: August 2022 (1 Post)

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Tom Thumb’s Wedding Cake…Still at the Library, 159 Years Later

Posted by: Mark Hartsell

Among the oddest items in the Llibrary of Congress is a slice of cake from the glamorous wedding of General Tom Thumb (Charles Stratton) and Lavinia Warren, at New York's Metropolitan Hotel in 1863. The wedding was the social event of the season, with thousands in attendance. Stratton was, at the time, a major star for promotor P.T. Barnum, drawing on his dimunitive height of 35 inches as an attraction. The Library still has the the slice of cake, now nearly 160 years old.