“Eternal Light: The Sacred Stained-Glass Windows of Louis Comfort Tiffany” at the Driehaus Museum features items exhibited at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.
Several women played significant roles in making the 1893 World’s Fair a spectacularly grand affair. Chicago Architecture Center (CAC) docent Kathleen Carpenter will introduce you to these remarkable women artists, activists, and achievers in a video lecture "Women of the 1893 World's Fair" at 1 pm on Saturday, April 18, 2020. The program will be hosted on Zoom; registered guests will receive an email directly from Zoom on the day of the program with details about how to access [...]
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Experience the murder, magic, and madness at the fair that changed America on a 4-hour bus tour offered by the Chicago History Museum on Saturday, May 9, 2020, starting at 1 pm. Inspired by Erik Larson’s best-selling book (soon to be a miniseries), this tour will take you back to 1893 with historian Al Walavich, to follow the trails of Daniel Burnham and the devilish doings of H. H. Holmes. Visit the historic fairgrounds, the Garden of the Phoenix in Jackson Park, [...]
Our seasonal newsletter includes a “Palmer Puzzler” exclusive to those who subscribe. (You can sign up here.) The first person to send us the correct answer wins a small prize. The Spring 2020 Trivia Question Who was the "Tiger King" of the 1893 World's Fair? A. George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. B. Francis Millet C. P. T. Barnum D. Carl Hagenbeck E. George R. Davis Many readers knew that the correct answer is Carl Hagenbeck, proprietor of Hagenbeck’s Wild [...]
In honor of World Poetry Day, we offer this whimsical verse from the pen of popular newspaper poet Nixon Waterman, published in the December 1892 issue of Illustrated World's Fair. THE MAN IN THE MOON by Nixon Waterman The man in the moon, as he sails through the sky, Can't help but to turn an admiring eye, And linger a while as he passes the site Of that perfectly wonderful City of White. And he says to himself, "All [...]
The 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago was home to many firsts, including the first postcard printed as a souvenir in the United States. The McHenry County Historical Society and Museum will offer a program on the history of postcards on Monday, March 23, 2020, at 4 pm. Katherine Hamilton-Smith, former director of cultural resources for the Lake County Forest Preserves in Libertyville and founding curator of the Curt Teich postcard archive, will provide a talk on “Picture Postcards: [...]
Experience the murder, magic, and madness at the fair that changed America on a 4-hour bus tour offered by the Chicago History Museum on Saturday, April 11, 2020, starting at 1 pm. Inspired by Erik Larson’s best-selling book (soon to be a miniseries), this tour will take you back to 1893 with historian Al Walavich, to follow the trails of Daniel Burnham and the devilish doings of H. H. Holmes. Visit the historic fairgrounds, the Garden of the Phoenix in Jackson Park, [...]
“The World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 was a spectacle that has no real equivalent today: Think of a theme park where you can also listen to TED Talks, or the most cutting-edge trade show ever, held in obsessively manicured fairgrounds …” read the full article “The World’s Fair That Ignored More Than Half the World” by Rachel B. Tiven at JSTOR Daily.
At their meeting on Saturday, April 11, 2020, the Chicago History Book Discussion Group will discuss three important research books about the 1893 World’s Fair: An Early Encounter with Tomorrow by Arnold Lewis (University of Illinois Press, 1997) The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson (Crown, 2003), and The Fair Women by Jeanne Madeline Weimann (Chicago Review Press, 1981). The discussion, sponsored by the Edgewater Historical Society and [...]
