The McKay Library Special Collections of Brigham Young University-Idaho has mounted an exhibition “See the Fair; Exploring the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition 125 Years Later” during the Fall 2018 semester. With many items coming from the personal collection of Andrea Radke-Moss, a professor in the History Department, the exhibit showcases books, photos, stereoview cards, pamphlets, and other World’s Fair memorabilia, along with a display of period clothing.
The exhibit runs from September 25 through December 14, 2018. BYU-Idaho is located in Rexburg, Idaho.
On October 25-26, 2018, the university held a symposium on the 1893 World’s Fair. Faculty presentations included:
“Representations of Africans and Africa at the Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893” by David Pigott (History)
“Chicago: The Inevitable City” by Michael Madsen (Geography)
“‘Books do not merely recount history; they make it’: Darnton’s ‘Communication Circuit’ and Print Culture at The Chicago World’s Fair” by Emily Gilliland Grover (English)
“Who gets to join the ‘World Religions’ Club and How do you get an invitation? Vivekananda, Hindu Nationalism, and the 1893 Parliament of World’s Religions” by Tyson Yost (History)
“Those Fair Women: How the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition Engaged Women of the Nation and the World” by Andrea Radke-Moss (History)
“The Krupps’ Gun: Nobody does it better” by Michael Lenhart (History)
“‘The Key to All’: Buffalo Bill’s Wild West at the Gates of the Chicago World’s Fair” by Jeff Slagle (English)
“The Evolving Aesthetic—Gustav Stickley and Arts and Crafts Movement” by Gerald Griffin (Art)
“The wiggles in your walls, how a madman genius got power into your house starting at the Chicago World’s Fair.” by David Oliphant (Physics)
On Thursday, October 25, the BYU-Idaho Department of Music offered a concert of music composed for the World’s Columbian Exposition, with pieces by Amy Beach, Clara Schumann, John Philip Sousa, and Antonin Dvorak, accompanied by historical commentary from World’s Fair historian Andrea Radke-Moss.
The Idaho State Building, lithograph by the Poole Brothers. [Image from Vistas of the Fair (Poole Bros., 1894).]