Sep. 6, 2026–Jan. 3, 2027: Art Institute of Chicago exhibits the ghost of Mary Cassatt’s lost mural from the 1893 World’s Fair

Few works of art exhibited at the 1893 World’s Fair have generated as much scholarly interest, controversy, and speculation as Mary Cassatt’s lost mural Modern Woman. The Art Institute of Chicago centers the absent painting inside the new exhibition, Mary Cassatt: After Impressionism. The only known surviving color image of Mary Cassatt’s monumental mural Modern Woman is a reproduction in William Walton’s Art and Architecture of the World’s Fair, on display at the exhibition Mary Cassatt: After Impressionism. [...]

By Scott|2026-09-07T08:53:22-05:00September 6th, 2026|Categories: EVENTS, EXHIBITS (current)|Tags: , , |0 Comments
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Aug. 8-Nov. 2, 2025: “Swedes at the Fair” (Swedish American Museum, Chicago)

The Swedish American Museum in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood is running a special exhibit on “Swedes at the Fair” from August 8 through November 2, 2025. The exhibit highlights Swedes and Swedish-American participation in the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition with displays about the Swedish Pavilion, the Swedish Restaurant [including an image from our post "Tales from the Swedish Café"], Sweden Day, the American Union of Swedish Singers, the Royal Swedish Commission, Pehr Samuel Peterson’s tree nursery, the Lapland Village, and [...]

By Scott|2025-08-12T16:20:11-05:00August 13th, 2025|Categories: EXHIBITS (current), NEWS|Tags: , , , |4 Comments
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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 Scott|2024-10-10T14:32:12-05:00October 11th, 2024|Categories: EXHIBITS (current), NEWS|Tags: |2 Comments
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May 26, 2023: “Chicago’s Legacy Hula” opens

A limited-time exhibition “Chicago's Legacy Hula” opened on May 26, 2023, at the Field Museum. Set inside the entrance to the Regenstein Hall of the Pacific, the exhibit includes the story of a Hawaiian musical group that made their way to the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. Queen Lili‘uokalani sent Hui Lei Mamo, a royal chorus and Hula troupe, from the island kingdom to perform at the Columbian Exposition. Soon after, pro-American forces in Hawaiʻi overthrew the Queen. The [...]

By Scott|2024-11-21T09:26:46-06:00May 29th, 2023|Categories: EXHIBITS (current)|Tags: , |0 Comments
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Dec. 2, 2022 – Feb. 1, 2023: A Columbian Exposition quilt on display (Woodland, CA)

“Expressions in Cloth,” a new exhibition at YoloArts’ Gallery 625 in Woodland, California, includes a beautiful quilt by artist Sherry Werum that features images inspired by the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. World's Fair enthusiasts might see Louis Sullivan's iconic Golden Door entrance to the Transporation Building or William Le Baron Jenney's stunning glass dome of the Horticultural Building among Werum's intricate design. “Expressions in Cloth” runs from December 2, 2022, to February 1, 2023, at Gallery 625 [...]

By Scott|2022-12-04T09:04:02-06:00December 4th, 2022|Categories: EXHIBITS (current), NEWS, Uncategorized|Tags: , |0 Comments
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Oct. 8, 2021: “City on Fire” opens at the Chicago History Museum

Embers of the Great Chicago Fire continue to smolder. Stories of tragedy and triumph from October 8–10, 1871, and the years of rebuilding that followed have been cause for somber remembrance and jubilant celebration throughout the years, including at “Chicago Day” held at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Fire, the Chicago History Museum has opened a new permanent exhibit, “City on Fire: Chicago 1871." Several displays and artifacts connected to the 1893 [...]

By Scott|2022-08-11T15:27:02-05:00October 16th, 2021|Categories: EVENTS (past), EXHIBITS (current)|Tags: , |0 Comments
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A visit to the Elmhurst History Museum

We had the pleasure of visiting the  Elmhurst History Museum's new exhibit, “Worlds of Wonder: Remembering Chicagoland’s Amusement Parks”, which we described here. The story of amusement parks in Chicago begins at the great 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and continues through today. The exhibit is free and runs through August 18, 2019.

By Scott|2019-06-09T19:17:15-05:00June 9th, 2019|Categories: EXHIBITS (current), NEWS|0 Comments
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Finding the Fair at the Field

In terms of quantity and quality, one of the greatest collections of objects from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition resides in the Field Museum in Chicago. The permanent collection is a treasure trove of unique and fascinating items from the 1893 Exposition. We visited the museums several times recently to take in some of the temporary exhibits having World’s Fair materials on display and share a few photos here. Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Shape the Nation ran from July [...]

By Scott|2019-02-12T08:07:01-06:00February 10th, 2019|Categories: EXHIBITS (current), EXHIBITS (past), NEWS|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments
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Meat Free Since ’93: National Vegetarian Museum tours Chicago

Did you know that Chicago became an epicenter for vegetarianism in the late 1800s? This question open the display of the National Vegetarian Museum exhibit currently touring the Chicago region. Did you also know that it happened at the 1893 World’s Fair? In early June of 1893, vegetarians from around the world gathered in Chicago, "hog butcher for the world," as part of the World's Congress program of the Columbian Exposition. “Fresh countenances and sturdy frames characterized most of [...]

By Scott|2018-05-31T09:44:08-05:00May 31st, 2018|Categories: EXHIBITS (current), NEWS|Tags: , , |1 Comment
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Vienna Beef History Museum opens in Chicago

We have not yet reached the dog days of summer, but Chicago is already celebrating its most famous dog, with the opening of the Vienna Beef History Museum. The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition launched the careers of many now-famous food items, including shredded wheat, Aunt Jemima pancake mix, chili, brownies, and one of Chicago’s iconic bites: the hot dog. The Vienna beef hot dog made its debut at the World’s Fair at a stand operated by Austrian-Hungarian immigrants Emil [...]

By Scott|2023-04-09T08:56:33-05:00May 31st, 2018|Categories: EXHIBITS (current), NEWS, Uncategorized|Tags: , , , |3 Comments
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Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry Celebrates the 1893 World’s Fair

The Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) in Chicago is housed in one of the few buildings remaining from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition: what was then the Palace of Fine Arts. To commemorate the 125th anniversary of the World’s Fair, the Museum has mounted two displays commemorating the historic event. Lego Ferris Wheel Adam Reed Tucker installing his LEGO Ferris Wheel model. [Image from the Museum of Science and Industry.] The original 264-foot Ferris Wheel left Jackson [...]

By Scott|2018-03-09T19:02:08-06:00March 10th, 2018|Categories: EXHIBITS (current), NEWS|Tags: , , |0 Comments
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Presidential Painting

A painting of a young Abraham Lincoln, reported to have been on display at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, was unveiled on February 9, 2018, at the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois. The Young Abraham Lincoln by William Morton Jackson Rice [Image from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.] The Young Abraham Lincoln, a 56-by-85-inch oil painting by William Morton Jackson Rice (1854-1922), depicts Lincoln sitting in front of a tree he has just chopped [...]

By Scott|2022-03-05T10:06:57-06:00February 19th, 2018|Categories: EXHIBITS (current), NEWS|Tags: , , , |0 Comments
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Mar. 23-Aug. 29, 2018-Exhibit Showcases Mexicans at the 1893 World’s Fair

An upcoming exhibit at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago features the early artistic involvement and influence of Mexican immigrants in Chicago beginning with the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893. Arte Diseño Xicágo: Mexican Inspiration from the World's Columbian Exposition to the Civil Rights Era opens on Friday, March 23, 2018, with a reception from 6–8 pm, and continues through August 19, 2018, in the Main Gallery. One of the earliest proponents of holding a world’s fair to [...]

By Scott|2024-03-22T09:36:36-05:00February 10th, 2018|Categories: EVENTS (past), EXHIBITS (current)|Tags: , , |1 Comment
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Meadows Museum displays BEACH AT PORTICI from 1893 World’s Fair

The Meadows Museum on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas has announced their acquisition of Beach at Portici, a work that was on display at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago and the final painting of 19th century Spanish artist Mariano Fortuny y Marsal (1838-1874). The American Exhibit of art occupied 24,000 square feet of space in the northeastern part of the Palace of Fine Arts at the Columbian Exposition. One section was devoted to foreign masterpieces owned [...]

By Scott|2018-09-02T18:33:59-05:00February 4th, 2018|Categories: EXHIBITS (current), NEWS|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments
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Illinois Executive Mansion to display artifacts of the 1893 World’s Fair

The Illinois Executive Mansion in Springfield, home to Illinois governors and their families since 1855, is undergoing a $15 Million renovation. Funded entirely by private donors, the restoration includes a renewed visitor’s center and historic exhibits, including a room displaying rare artifacts from the 1893 World’s Fair held in Chicago. Occupying the mansion during the Columbian Exposition was John Altgeld, the first Chicago resident and first foreign-born citizen to have been elected governor. He served from January 1893 to January [...]

By Scott|2023-04-09T08:49:17-05:00January 27th, 2018|Categories: EXHIBITS (current), NEWS|Tags: , , , |2 Comments
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Chicago History Museum WCE display updated

The World's Columbian Exposition exhibit at the Chicago History Museum The Chicago History Museum blog post "New Additions to an Old Favorite" reports that the museum's permanent exhibition Chicago: Crossroads of America made some updates this past summer to the section on the 1893 World's Fair, including: an expanded section on activist and author Ida B. Wells, showing her 1893 pamphlet “The Reason Why The Colored American Is Not in the World’s Columbian Exposition,” a new video that includes excerpts from [...]

By Scott|2023-11-04T19:07:04-05:00October 30th, 2017|Categories: EXHIBITS (current), NEWS|Tags: , , |0 Comments
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