Jay Hyde Barnum was born in 1888 in Geneva, Ohio. He attended the Cleveland Art School and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He also studied in Woodstock, New York with Bellows, Speicher and Kroll. He made his home in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. He was an author and illustrator of books for children and a commercial illustrator. The books he wrote and illustrated are The New Fire Engine, The Little Old Truck, and Motorcycle Dog; he also illustrated books by other authors. Many of his illustrations appeared in Life, Colliers and other well-known magazines. In the 1920s a house was built for him in the neighborhood of Silvermine, Connecticut. In 1947 he received honorable mention in the competition for the Caldecott Medal for his illustration of the book Boats on the River, by Marjorie Flack.
U.S. World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942, about Jay Hyde Barnum. Name: Jay Hyde Barnum. Birth Date: 26 Mar 1888. Residence: Fairfield, Connecticut. Birth: Geneva, Ohio. Race: White. Roll: WW2_2283624.
From The Bridgeport Post, Bridgeport, Connecticut, September 14, 1962: Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, Sept. 14—Jay Hyde Barnum, 74, of 22 Maple Avenue, Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., a founder of The Silvermine Artist Guild in Norwalk, Conn., died yesterday (September 13) in Dobbs Ferry Hospital. Mr. Barnum was a portrait artist and illustrator, known for his illustrations in The Saturday Evening Post, Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, Collier's, and other leading magazines. He illustrated many children's books, and wrote and illustrated several books of his own.
A native of Geneva, Ohio, he attended the Cleveland School of Art and the Chicago Art Institute. He started his career doing illustrations for a Cleveland newspaper syndicate, and later lived in Europe for a few years.
Mr. Barnum sold his Silvermine estate to Lily Pons the opera singer in 1936.
He and his second wife, his former pupil whom he married Valentine's Day, 1941, resided for a time at Rock House road, Easton. His first wife, Kathleen Peterson Barnum, was a former dress designer and model with whom he established his Silvermine Estate in 1939. They had been married in 1932.
He wrote and illustrated "The New Fire Engine" (1952), and "Motorcycle Dog" (1958), and illustrated Carl Carmer's "Too Many Cherries" (1349) and Jane Thayer's "The Horse with the Easter Bonnet" (1953), all works for children.
He is survived by his wife, Hilma Larsson Barnum; three sons, Timothy, Gregory and Eric and a daughter, Amanda.