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
The Allen County Museum in Lima, Ohio, will host a talk about the Woman’s Building at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition on August 29, 2024. Dr. David Strittmatter, Ohio Northern University Assistant Professor of History will present on “The Women’s Building at the Chicago World’s Fair.” This talk is part of a lecture series accompanying The Art of Domesticity, a temporary exhibition focusing on the decorative arts from the 19th and 20th centuries as well as works by contemporary [...]
The Glessner House is offering a "Walking the White City" tour of the former fairgrounds of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition on Sunday, September 15, 2024, from 10 AM to noon. Architect and historian John Waters will guide participants on a walking tour of Jackson Park to see the sites of landmarks of the 1893 World's Fair, explore the fascinating vestiges, and learn how the Fair influenced the design of Jackson Park as we know it today. The tour [...]
The Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center in Enid, OK, is hosting an exhibition about 1893 Oklahoma and their relation to national events such as the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. “A Broader View: The 1893 Land Run in an Era of American Change” runs from August 13 through November 2, 2024, in the Mabee Foundation Gallery. Travel back in time through this immersive exhibit that offers a broader perspective surrounding the 1893 Land Run and other events taking place [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
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!) [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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
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 [...]
