104. Picturesque World’s Fair – A South Sea Island House

A SOUTH SEA ISLAND HOUSE.—The South Sea Island Village included among its inhabitants natives of various islands in the Polynesian Archipelago, though so superior to all the rest were the Samoans that they soon attracted most attention, and the place was as often alluded to as the Samoan Village as otherwise. The houses were of Samoan construction, and the largest of them was a building of repute, having once stood for ten years in the village of King Mataafa, [...]

By |2020-10-18T13:31:28-05:00August 16th, 2020|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , |0 Comments
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103. Picturesque World’s Fair – Soloman Joseph and Ta-Ra-Ra Boom-De-Aye

SOLOMON JOSEPH AND TA-RA-RA BOOM-DE-AYE.—As a group of uncompromisingly rapacious and mannerless patronage-seekers the donkey boys of a Street in Cairo were probably never surpassed, and of these Solomon Joseph was admittedly the chief brigand. He was noisy, persistent and altogether intolerable in soliciting people to ride upon his dwarfish beasts, and was always grinning and good-natured. Of the two, the donkey shown in the picture had probably the greater number of lovable qualities, though even " Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-aye," [...]

By |2020-08-02T03:03:17-05:00August 2nd, 2020|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , |0 Comments
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The Voyage of “The Viking” Ship to the 1893 World’s Fair

“The presence of the Viking ship in one of our ports and her subsequent visit to Newport and New York and the trip up the Hudson, through the Erie Canal down the Great Lakes to Chicago and the ‘White City’ marks a historical event of no small importance.” —The Chautauquan, August 1893. The Viking from Norway at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. [Image from Scientific American, Aug. 19, 1893.] Few attractions at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition [...]

By |2023-12-08T08:48:25-06:00July 12th, 2020|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , |1 Comment
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1776, 1861, and 1893

At a banquet held in Chicago on January 10, 1891, Chief of Construction Daniel Burnham made this patriotic appeal to the architects of the World’s Columbian Exposition: “Gentlemen, 1893 will be the third great date in our country’s history. On the two others, 1776 and 1861, all true Americans served, and so now I ask you to serve again!" [from Martin, Justin Genius of Place: The Life of Frederick Law Olmsted. Hachette Books, 2011.] On August 14, 1891, Prof. David [...]

By |2020-07-04T06:24:47-05:00July 4th, 2020|Categories: REPRINTS|0 Comments
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102. Picturesque World’s Fair – Medicine and Plenty Horse, Sioux Indian Chiefs

MEDICINE" AND " PLENTY HORSE," SIOUX INDIAN CHIEFS.- The typical Indian Village on the Plaisance was not so much of a novelty as a study for American visitors to the Fair. They had seen Indians enough, but they had never seen members of widely separate tribes grouped together and so affording opportunity for comparison. To foreigners all were interesting, as savage races from abroad were to us, but to the American the contrast was the curious thing. It was [...]

By |2020-06-28T11:21:57-05:00June 28th, 2020|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , |0 Comments
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101. Picturesque World’s Fair – Nizaha, A Woman of Nazareth

NIZAHA, A WOMAN OF NAZARETH.— Hardly what one would expect in appearance was Nizaha, a woman with the Bedouins, who came from the locality reverentially considered by all the Christian world as the birthplace of Christ. It will be observed that in sitting for her photograph Nizaha did not forget her hands and handkerchief and that, with the left hand especially, as it is spread out against her side, a somewhat startling effect is produced. The rings are shown [...]

By |2020-06-28T10:56:09-05:00June 28th, 2020|Categories: REPRINTS, Uncategorized|Tags: , |0 Comments
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Transported to the Land of the Fairies: A Ride on the Ferris Wheel

The great Ferris Wheel on the Midway Plaisance of the World’s Columbian Exposition opened to the public on June 21, 1893. The following account comes from Mrs. Julia Waugh, whose letter describing her ride on the Ferris Wheel was published in the July 7, 1893, issue of the Crawfordsville (IN) Weekly Journal. She notes that her “memorable trip” was taken the second day after the opening of the attraction, when 1,000 tickets were purchased in the first two hours. [...]

By |2020-06-13T14:39:34-05:00June 21st, 2020|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: |2 Comments
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Speaking of Whales

The excerpt below, from The Century World’s Fair Book for Boys and Girls by Tutor Jenks (Century Co., 1893), describes the whaling bark Progress exhibited at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The authentic whaling ship from New Bedford, Massachusetts, was moored in the South Pond and served as a floating museum of the fading whaling industry. A view of the Anthropology and Ethnology exhibits along the South Pond of the 1893 World's Fair, showing the whaling [...]

By |2021-02-13T08:33:01-06:00June 15th, 2020|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: |0 Comments
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The 1893 World’s Fair, a Glorified Park

June 8, 1893 was “Princess Eulalia Day” at the World’s Columbian Exposition. Attendance swelled to around 169,000 visitors—the largest yet. Most were eager to catch a glimpse the Infanta from Spain as she toured the fairgrounds. A report from that day reprinted below (originally published in the July 12, 1893, issue of Garden and Forest) makes only a passing mention of the royal guest. Instead, the author focuses on the natural and man-made beauty of the 1893 World’s Fair, while [...]

By |2020-06-05T21:21:25-05:00June 8th, 2020|Categories: REPRINTS|0 Comments
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