“A character of its own”: The Chicago Public Library of 1893

Celebrate libraries! April 3 is National Library Giving Day and April 6 is National Library Day. Consider making a donation to the Chicago Public Library or another of your choice. Dr. Emil G. Hirsch, President of the Board of Directors of the Chicago Public Library, spoke with pride about his institution at the 1893 World’s Fair. He addressed the Congress of Librarians—which merged with the annual meeting of the American Library Association as part of the Congress on Literature, [...]

Fair of the Future—Chicago’s International Exposition, A.D. 2000: Third Prize

Fair of the Future—Chicago’s International Exposition, A.D. 2000: Third Prize “Yesterday at the Exposition [From the Times-Herald, June 27, 2000]” by L. Frank Baum Continued from: Introduction First Prize: “Chicago’s World’s Fair, A.D. 2000” by Percival Owen Second Prize: “Greatest of All” by Mary F. Arnold Yesterday was a busy day at the exposition. The pneumatic cars[1] were discharged from the Lake Front Station at intervals of one minute the entire day, and every carriage was packed. One car, [...]

By |2024-03-30T09:20:54-05:00March 31st, 2024|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: |0 Comments

Fair of the Future—Chicago’s International Exposition, A.D. 2000: Second Prize

Fair of the Future—Chicago’s International Exposition, A.D. 2000: Second Prize “Greatest of All” by Mary F. Arnold Continued from: Introduction First Prize: “Chicago’s World’s Fair, A.D. 2000” by Percival Owen They were smartly clad in knickerbockers and silk jackets, the latter slashed and trimmed with soft brown leather, buttoned to their throats. Each wore a belt, leggings and shoes of the brown leather and a brown sailor hat. The girl wore, also, a short silk skirt reaching to her [...]

By |2024-03-29T10:07:36-05:00March 30th, 2024|Categories: REPRINTS|0 Comments

Fair of the Future—Chicago’s International Exposition, A.D. 2000: First Prize

Fair of the Future—Chicago’s International Exposition, A.D. 2000: First Prize “Chicago’s World’s Fair, A.D. 2000” by Percival Owen Continued from: Introduction The exposition was held on Lake Michigan. It was at first proposed to stand Lake Michigan on end, as was done with Lake Cayuga at the Ithaca fair of 1992.[1] The sail to Mackinaw would then have been a feature, as Hudson’s Bay and the Rocky Mountains would have been in sight; but space for buildings would then [...]

By |2024-03-30T09:20:25-05:00March 29th, 2024|Categories: REPRINTS|0 Comments

Fair of the Future—Chicago’s International Exposition, A.D. 2000: Introduction

Fair of the Future—Chicago’s International Exposition, A.D. 2000: Introduction “If you don’t think about the future, you cannot have one.” —English novelist John Galsworthy To celebrate the upcoming opening of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, the American Press Association solicited prognostication by notable people as they looked one hundred years into the future. The series, which ran in newspapers in early 1893, included essays by distinguished thinkers of the day such as populist politician William Jennings Bryan, industrialist George [...]

By |2024-03-30T09:19:50-05:00March 28th, 2024|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

Edward Bellamy Looks Backward to the 1893 World’s Fair

America’s favorite futurist fustigated the Fair. “The underlying motive of the whole exhibition, under a sham pretense of patriotism is business, advertising with a view to individual money-making,” wrote Edward Bellamy (March 26, 1850 – May 22, 1898) about the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Bellamy’s 1888 novel Looking Backward: 2000–1887 was among the most popular and influential writings of the Gilded Age. His protagonist Julian West falls asleep in 1887 and awakens in 2000, when the United States has [...]

By |2024-03-18T17:33:06-05:00March 26th, 2024|Categories: REPRINTS|0 Comments

162. Picturesque World’s Fair – On the Short of the North Lagoon

ON THE SHORE OF THE NORTH LAGOON.—There were many charming bits of scenery in the great Exposition grounds, and many novel views which could be enjoyed only from a boat or from points not generally sought by the mass of visitors. One of these views is represented in the accompanying picture, the observer being close to the south shore of the North Lagoon and just east of the strait leading to the bodies of water further south. On the [...]

The most admired and the most criticized of the sculpture at the 1893 World’s Fair

Daniel Chester French’s Statue of the Republic … “was the most admired and the most criticized of the sculpture at the World’s Fair—admired because of its magnificent proportions and criticized by many artists because they claimed to see nothing artistic in a female figure with both arms raised. Its fate as a work of art was sealed when some unkind critic saw in the rear elevation of the figure the semblance of a washerwoman hanging out clothes.” Ouch. [...]

By |2024-02-21T15:52:49-06:00February 21st, 2024|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , |0 Comments

161. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Golden Door, from the Wooded Island

THE GOLDEN DOOR, FROM THE WOODED ISLAND.— Among the great number of photographs, taken from different points of view, of the famous "Golden Door" it is doubtful if any surpassed in charming effect that from which the accompanying illustration is taken. The point afforded on the Wooded Island seems to have been at just the right distance from the Transportation Building and in just the right direction to allow of an absolute presentation of detail, while, at the same [...]

160. Picturesque World’s Fair – Entrance to Fisheries Arcade

ENTRANCE TO FISHERIES ARCADE.—The Fisheries Building, because of the peculiar form of the site to which it was relegated, consisted of a rectangular central structure connected by curved arcades with circular pavilions on either side. The view here given is that of an entrance to one of the connecting arcades, and affords an excellent idea of the graceful and novel decoration resorted to in this structure, together with an example of mechanical duty performed too well. The columns of [...]

By |2024-01-30T17:49:09-06:00January 28th, 2024|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , |0 Comments
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