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1893 World’s Fair buildings were “a counterfeit and a sham”

The excerpt below comes from a profile of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition published in the Pittsburg Dispatch in the summer of 1891, near the start of construction on the fairgrounds. The writer questions the use of staff as the main material for the facades of buildings. At this time, the decision had to yet been made to have all the buildings in the Court of Honor painted white. A bird’s eye view of the proposed fairgrounds of the [...]

By |2024-10-22T14:30:49-05:00October 23rd, 2024|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: |0 Comments

Nov. 17, 2024: “MEET ME AT THE FAIR!: Music from the Great World’s Fairs” (Overland Park, KS)

Paragon Ragtime Orchestra will present MEET ME AT THE FAIR!: Music from the Great “World’s Fairs” on November 17, 2024, in Overland Park, KS. This concerts is a spectacular musical celebration of the legendary world’s fairs, including the 1876 Centennial Exhibition, the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, and the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition. Music played a key role in these international festivals, launching both hit songs and the illustrious careers of many American musicians. This [...]

By |2025-01-15T18:47:06-06:00October 17th, 2024|Categories: AUDIO, EVENTS (past)|2 Comments

Oct. 23, 2024: Columbian Exposition food and lecture (Sewickly, PA)

The Sewickly Valley Historical Society (SVHS) in Sewickly, Pennsylvania, will host an evening of 1893 World’s Fair events on October 23, 2024. “A Bite of History: Chicago Columbian Exposition Edition” and a lecture on “From the Steel City to the White City” are part of their 2024–2025 Program Series. The evening will start at 5:30 pm with SVHS Executive Director, Amanda Schaffer as she introduces the foods being offered and their history with the 1893 Fair and beyond. Attendees [...]

By |2025-01-15T18:47:25-06:00October 15th, 2024|Categories: EVENTS (past)|0 Comments

Oct 15, 2024: “Tiffany Chapel: 25 Years at the Morse” (Winter Park, FL)

The Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company (1892–1902) exhibited a magnificent chapel interior as the centerpiece of its display for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Since 1999, the chapel has been on view at the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art in Winter Park, FL. In celebration of the chapel’s 25th anniversary at the Museum, the Morse will exhibit Fathers of the Church, a glass mosaic on long-term loan from The Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass in [...]

By |2024-10-10T14:32:12-05:00October 11th, 2024|Categories: EXHIBITS (current), NEWS|Tags: |2 Comments

Oct. 21, 2024: “An Author’s Journey” (Geneva, IL)

On Monday, October 21, 2024, the Geneva Public Library is hosting Folo Watkins, author of By Whale Road to the World's Fair. He will share his experience researching and writing about the journey of the Viking ship to the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. This presentation is offered in conjunction with the exhibit of the dragon head (newly named "Freya") from the Viking ship. Watkins’s presentation is from 1–2 pm, in person at the Geneva Public Library District 2nd [...]

By |2025-01-15T18:47:42-06:00October 10th, 2024|Categories: EVENTS (past)|Tags: |0 Comments

Oct. 9, 2024: “Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893” adult learners course (Manchester, MI)

The Adult Learners Institute of Michigan will take participants to the 1893 World’s Fair on Wednesday, October 9, 2024. John Hauger will offer a class on “The World's Columbian Exposition of 1893” from 2–4 pm at the Manchester District Library (912 City Rd. in Manchester, Michigan). The Chicago World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, marking the 400th anniversary of Columbus landing in the New World, was a landmark event in United States history. Never before had this nation undertaken so [...]

By |2025-01-15T18:48:03-06:00September 24th, 2024|Categories: EVENTS (past)|2 Comments

Sep. 28, 2024: “The Viking Ship and the ‘Discovery’ of America” (online)

The Viking Ship is one of the most impressive relics from the 1893 World's Fair. Learn about the "Viking Ship and the 'Discovery' of America" at a webinar by Timothy Boyce hosted by the Swedish American Museum. This free costs $10 will be held online on Saturday, September 28, 2024, at 10 am. To register, visit: https://swedishamericanmuseum.org/product/33525

By |2025-01-15T18:48:30-06:00September 22nd, 2024|Categories: EVENTS (past)|Tags: |0 Comments

Autumn on the Wooded Island in Jackson Park

"An Autumn Scene on Wooded Island" [Image from the Chicago Inter Ocean Sep. 30, 1893; digitally colored.] “Once a barren strip of sand protesting against the surrounding marshes,” the Wooded Island emerged “like a magnificent Turkish rug, rich with varied dyes, flung down upon a crystal floor,” wrote Shepp’s World’s Fair Photographed. “A profusion of flowers of every shade and hue gems the sod; groves of trees and masses of shrubbery lend further charm by the dark green [...]

By |2024-09-22T10:19:33-05:00September 22nd, 2024|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , |0 Comments

Workers Escaping Death at the 1893 World’s Fair

The excerpt below, from The Chicago Record’s History of the World’s Fair, reminds us of the dangerous work that thousands of laborers (mostly immigrants) faced as they built the White City of 1893. The Medical Bureau of the Columbian Exposition officially reported only thirty-two deaths during construction of the fairgrounds. Luckily, the workers mentioned below escaped that fate. [Note: Although the article mentions the first accident happening at the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, the location likely was the [...]

By |2024-08-21T15:43:39-05:00September 2nd, 2024|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

The Chicago Fair of 1893 Will Remain Unexcelled

In the aftermath of World War II—facing staggering military casualties, the atrocities of the Holocaust, and the specter of nuclear weapons—some people sought solace in fond memories of better times. The following reminiscence of visiting the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago as a young boy appeared in the July 6, 1946, issue of the Windsor Star (Windsor, Ontario). The author had grown up in the small town of Morenci, Michigan. The "electric bulbs which outlined the dome [...]

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