July 19-Aug. 4, 2024: “White City Murder” at the Phoenix Theatre (Indianapolis)

Murder! Mischief! Dark Comedy! White City Murder, a macabre and hilarious tale of infamous serial killer H.H. Holmes at the 1893 World’s Fair, is playing at the Phoenix Theatre in Indianapolis from July 19 to August 4, 2024. Featuring original music by Ben Asaykwee, the show promises a blend of laughter and chills. In two acts, the play includes over 30 characters, all played by two actors as they sing and dance their way through the life story one [...]

By Scott|2024-09-22T11:07:50-05:00July 20th, 2024|Categories: EVENTS (past), THEATER|Tags: |0 Comments
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Jul. 9, 2014: “Race-making in the Americas From Columbus to the 1893 World’s Fair” (Chicago)

The Adult Education program at the Newberry Library will offer a course on "Race-making in the Americas: From Columbus to the 1893 World’s Fair" weekly on Tuesdays from July 9–30, 2024. Led by Breanna Escamilla, an anthropologist from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the seminar will begin by analyzing the journal of Christopher Columbus and expand into the archival materials of religious missionaries in the Western Hemisphere, before turning toward the racial project of chattel-slavery in the Americas. Finally, [...]

By Scott|2024-09-22T11:08:10-05:00June 4th, 2024|Categories: EVENTS (past), Uncategorized|Tags: , |0 Comments
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May 14, 2024: “L Car No. 1 First Look” (Chicago)

The Guild of the Chicago History Museum will host an exclusive first look at the newly renovated elevated train car that took visitors to the 1893 World’s Fair. Attendees will peruse World’s Fair artifacts with curators, meet historic figures who made headlines at the Fair, and hop aboard the L car for a tour as it reopens after its restoration. Period musicians, 19th-century costumes, and a luncheon straight from 1893, will offer Guild members a glimpse of the wonder [...]

By Scott|2024-06-04T09:22:28-05:00April 27th, 2024|Categories: EVENTS (past)|Tags: , |0 Comments
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May 10, 2024: “MEET ME AT THE FAIR!: Music from the Great World’s Fairs” (Clarks Summit, PA)

Paragon Ragtime Orchestra will present MEET ME AT THE FAIR!: Music from the Great “World’s Fairs” on May 10, 2024, in Clarks Summit, PA. 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 new Paragon Ragtime [...]

By Scott|2024-06-04T09:22:46-05:00April 26th, 2024|Categories: AUDIO, EVENTS (past)|0 Comments
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May 7, 2024: DREAM CITY musical (Chicago)

A new musical about the 1893 World’s Fair takes the stage at Theater Wit in Chicago for one night only. Dream City, with book and lyrics by June Finfer and music by Elizabeth Doyle, will be offered as a staged reading on May 7, 2024, at 7:30 PM. Finfer and Doyle’s musical is a revision of Burnham’s Dream: The White City, staged in 2018. This new version featured five new songs, two new characters (including a villain), and no [...]

By Scott|2024-06-04T09:23:08-05:00April 22nd, 2024|Categories: EVENTS (past), THEATER|Tags: , , , , , , |0 Comments
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Apr. 12-Aug. 11, 2024: Arte Diseño Xicágo II-From the World’s Fair To The Present Day (Chicago)

The National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago is hosting an exhibit that explores art from the time of the 1893 World’s Fair. Arte Diseño Xicágo II (Art Design Chicago II) runs from April 12 through August 11, 2024. This exhibition examines the 1893 World’s Fair as a platform for expressions of cultural identity and reveals how many Chicago and Mexican artists had similar objectives. The exhibition features 19th-century works of art from both Chicago and Mexico by some [...]

By Scott|2024-09-22T11:08:37-05:00March 22nd, 2024|Categories: EVENTS (past), EXHIBITS (past)|Tags: |0 Comments
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Apr. 14, 2024: “The Enthronement of Merchandise with the Aura of Amusement” (Online)

The Farm House Museum at Iowa State University in Ames is hosting an online talk on the grandiose displays of manufacturers at late 19th- and early 20th-century world’s fairs, including the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. World's fairs scholar Ethan Robey of the University of California, Irvine, will present "The Enthronement of Merchandise with the Aura of Amusement" on Sunday, April 14, 2024, from 2- 3 PM (US Central) via Zoom. Using the link above to register for this free [...]

By Scott|2025-01-20T09:41:02-06:00March 21st, 2024|Categories: EVENTS (past)|0 Comments
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Apr. 12–14, 2024: Chicago Steampunk Exposition

What do you get when you combine a World’s Fair with retro-futuristic imagination? Come to the 2024 Chicago Steampunk Exposition to find out! Throughout the weekend of Apr. 12–14, 2024, the Expo will host talks, workshops, activities, and shopping for steampunk enthusiasts who enjoy imagining an alternate World’s Columbian Exposition with Gilded Age gothic adventures. The weekend includes live-action role-playing games, an afternoon tea, and an Artists’ Alley & Printers’ Row marketplace. Be on the lookout for gas lamps, [...]

By Scott|2024-04-14T21:39:31-05:00March 20th, 2024|Categories: EVENTS (past)|0 Comments
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Mar. 27, 2024: “Love and Laughter: An Evening of Song” (Chicago)

A concert at the University of Chicago on March 27 will include music from a notable 1893 World’s Fair participant. “Love and Laughter: An Evening of Song,” featuring acclaimed baritone Kenneth Overton and internationally recognized pianist Casey Robards, will be a celebration of the rich artistic contributions of Black American composers and poets. The program will include a special performance of a song cycle composed by Anthony Patterson, Robards’ husband, set to the poignant and evocative texts of renowned [...]

By Scott|2024-04-14T21:39:44-05:00March 18th, 2024|Categories: AUDIO, EVENTS (past)|Tags: |0 Comments
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Mar. 17, 2023: Hyde Park Historical Society Open House (Chicago)

The Hyde Park Historical Society will host their monthly Open House on Saturday March, 17, 2023, with a theme of the 1893 World Columbian Exposition. Visitors are invited to stop by the headquarters at 5529 S. Lake Park Avenue to learn more about the 1893 World’s Fair that took place in nearby Jackson Park. On display will be books, posters, and coloring book pages. You can also test your knowledge of World’s Fair Trivia (and possibly win a prize!) [...]

By Scott|2024-03-28T18:02:41-05:00March 13th, 2024|Categories: EVENTS (past)|2 Comments
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Mar. 7, 2024: “Chicago: City of Influence — Amusement Parks” (Chicago and online)

Chicago for Chicagoans is hosting a presentation on the history of Amusement Parks for the next offering in their “Chicago: City of Influence” lecture series. On Thursday, March 7, speaker Sam Prestigiacomo will discuss the 1893 World’s Fair as the birthplace of many inventions and the inspiration for many entertainment entrepreneurs. The lecture can be attended in person at a hidden speakeasy in Lakeview (Shhhh! It’s Room 13 at the Old Chicago Inn ... but you need a password [...]

By Scott|2024-03-13T08:53:36-05:00March 6th, 2024|Categories: EVENTS (past)|0 Comments
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Mar. 23, 2024: “The Remarkable Women Who Helped Build Chicago” (Glen Ellyn, IL)

Women such as Bertha Palmer played a pivotal role in building the 1893 World’s Fair … and building Chicago. The Glen Ellyn Historical Society will host presentation by Laurie Russell on “Behind the Stars: The Remarkable Women Who Helped Build Chicago” on Saturday, March 23, 2024. The stars on the Chicago flag represent four major events that changed Chicago forever (Ft. Dearborn Massacre, Chicago Fire, World’s Columbian Exposition, and Century of Progress World’s Fair.) This presentation examines how women [...]

By Scott|2025-02-24T18:01:19-06:00February 23rd, 2024|Categories: EVENTS (past)|0 Comments
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Feb. 27, 2024: “Fantastical Dreamscapes: Architectural Wonders and Innovations at World Expos, 1851 to 1911” (Online)

The Farm House Museum at Iowa State University in Ames is hosting an online talk on the architectural designs and building innovations that shaped the first sixty years of international expositions, including the 1893 World's Fair. University of Arizona Professor of Architectural History Lisa D. Schrenk will present "Fantastical Dreamscapes: Architectural Wonders and Innovations at World Expos, 1851 to 1911" on February 27, 2024, from 5- 6 PM (US Central) via Zoom. Using the link above to register for [...]

By Scott|2025-01-20T09:40:43-06:00February 22nd, 2024|Categories: EVENTS (past)|0 Comments
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Feb.-Oct., 2024: “World’s Fairs, Expositions, & Centennial Celebrations of the Victorian Era” (Ames, IA)

The Farm House Museum at Iowa State University in Ames is hosting an exhibition on “World's Fairs, Expositions, & Centennial Celebrations of the Victorian Era” from February through October, 2024. This exhibition illustrates through objects and narrative the earliest World’s Fair in 1851 London, through several in Paris, and the Centennial and World’s Columbian Exhibitions in the United States. The University Museums’ permanent collection includes several objects that were souvenirs of some of the fifteen major World’s Fairs or Expositions [...]

By Scott|2025-01-20T09:41:05-06:00February 22nd, 2024|Categories: EVENTS (past), EXHIBITS (past)|0 Comments
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Feb 7, 2023: The Viking Ship and the Chicago World’s Fair (online)

Learn about the "Viking Ship and the Chicago World's Fair" at a webinar by Timothy Boyce hosted by NorCham Chicago in collaboration with the Friends of the Viking Ship. This free event will be held vis Zoom on Wednesday, February 7, 2023, at 7:00 p.m. Please register at: https://www.norchamchicago.org/events/the-viking-ship-and-the-chicago-worlds-fair-1

By Scott|2024-02-10T08:49:43-06:00February 4th, 2024|Categories: EVENTS (past)|Tags: |0 Comments
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Jan-Dec, 2024: Dress worn at the 1893 World’s Fair on Display (Ripon, WI)

The small city of Ripon, Wisconsin, sent 1,375 of its citizens to experience the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. This was one-third of the city’s population at that time, reports the Ripon Press. A dress worn by one Ripon visitor to the World's Fair is a part of the collection at the Ripon Historical Society and is on display through the end of 2024 as part of its “The Stories We Wear” exhibit. The Society, located at 508 [...]

By Scott|2025-01-15T18:49:29-06:00January 28th, 2024|Categories: EVENTS (past), EXHIBITS (past)|0 Comments
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Feb. 10, 2024: “S. S. Christopher Columbus with Todd Gordon” (Plymouth, WI)

A program on the S.S. Christopher Columbus whaleback steamer, used to transport visitors to and from the 1893 World’s Fair, will be sponsored by the Sheboygan County Historical Research Center on Saturday, February 10, 2024. Part of the Center’s “Second Saturdays — Journeys Into Local History” series, “S. S. Christopher Columbus with Todd Gordon” will explore the history of the steamer that was built to ferry passengers from downtown Chicago to the fairgrounds. The only passenger whaleback ever built, [...]

By Scott|2024-03-13T08:54:10-05:00January 12th, 2024|Categories: EVENTS (past)|Tags: |0 Comments
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Dec. 2-27, 2023: Joffrey Ballet’s “Columbian Nutcracker” (Chicago)

A festive Ferris Wheel, a Dream City, a flurry of snow, dancing dragons, dancing nuts, and dancing rats! It's that time of the year for Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet to stage their spectacular annual production of The Nutcracker, with story set on the fairgrounds of 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Performances run from December 2-7, 2023, at the Lyric Opera House (20 N. Wacker Dr. in Chicago) This ballet by choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, which premiered in 2016, invites the audience to [...]

By Scott|2023-12-28T10:39:24-06:00November 4th, 2023|Categories: EVENTS (past), THEATER|Tags: , |0 Comments
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Sep. 14, 2023 – Jan. 13, 2024: Harriet Monroe & the Open Door (Chicago)

The temporary exhibition Harriet Monroe & the Open Door at the Poetry Foundation in Chicago showcases the fascinating line connecting today’s world-renowned poetry magazine back to a poem written for the 1893 World’s Fair. Archival documents and photographs on display with accompanying descriptive texts tell the story of Harriet Monroe, her “Columbian Ode” poem, and the landmark copyright lawsuit that helped launch Poetry magazine. Part of the exhibition display for Harriet Monroe & the Open Door at the [...]

By Scott|2024-02-10T08:51:15-06:00October 15th, 2023|Categories: EVENTS (past), EXHIBITS (past)|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments
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Nov. 12, 2023: “Collectibles from Chicago’s Two World’s Fairs” (Chicago)

The Glessner House in Chicago is hosting an event showcasing collections from both the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and the 1933-34 Century of Progress. On Sunday, November 12, 2023, "Collectibles from Chicago's Two World's Fairs" will bring together several World's Fair collectors who will exhibit a portion of their collections, ranging from guidebooks, postcards, tickets, and commemorative coins to wall hangings, glass and ceramic tchotchkes, plates, and silver spoons. We will be bringing some items from our collection and [...]

By Scott|2023-12-28T10:39:51-06:00October 5th, 2023|Categories: COLLECTING, EVENTS (past)|Tags: , |0 Comments
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