White City Archaeologist Featured in January 2019 issue of Chicago Magazine

The January 2019 issue of Chicago magazine features an article about the first official archaeological dig at the site of the 1893 World’s Columbian exposition. In “Stories in the Dirt,” Anne Ford interviews Rebecca Graff, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Chair of the American Studies Program at Lake Forest College. Graff reflects on her personal connection to the 1893 World’s Fair and surmises on the historical artifacts possibly buried beneath the future site of the Obama Presidential Center. [...]

By |2019-01-03T16:48:45-06:00January 3rd, 2019|Categories: NEWS|Tags: , |0 Comments

“The Fairest of Them All” in the Fall/Winter issue of The Newberry Magazine

The Fall/Winter 2018 issue of the Newberry Magazine, a publication of the Newberry Library in Chicago, features an article on the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. “The Fairest of Them All” by Alex Teller describes impressions of the 1893 World’s Fair by visitors and the use of images to promote and remember the Fair, as featured in the Library’s fall exhibition, “Pictures from an Exposition: Visualizing the 1893 World’s Fair.” The Newberry Magazine is sent to members of the Library [...]

By |2022-12-10T09:55:26-06:00January 2nd, 2019|Categories: NEWS|Tags: |0 Comments

Native Americans, the 1893 World’s Fair, and Chicago As We Know It

The Red Man’s Greeting, 1494-1892 (C. H. Engle, 1893) from the collection of the Newberry Library. “Without native Americans, would we have Chicago as we know it?” asks Jesse Dukes in an interactive “Curious City” feature for WBEZ-Chicago. One part of this fascinating look at the histories of Native Americans and the settlers of Chicago is the story of Simon Pokagon, a prominent member of the Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi who spoke at the 1893 World’s [...]

By |2018-12-16T18:10:41-06:00December 16th, 2018|Categories: NEWS|Tags: , , |0 Comments

Happy Turkey Day to our readers!

We wish you and yours a joyous Thanksgiving! We give thanks for the wonderful friends and Columbian Exposition enthusiasts whom we have met through worldsfairchicago1893.com this past year and look forward to continued exploration of the fairgrounds with you in the coming months. Speaking of turkey ... our monthly newsletter puzzle for November asked readers: Which of the Great Buildings in the White City featured a ring of ornamental turkey sculptures on its roof? The answer can be found [...]

By |2018-11-25T10:46:35-06:00November 22nd, 2018|Categories: NEWS|Tags: |0 Comments

Election Day is Tuesday, November 6. Remember to Vote.

Just a friendly reminder from worldsfairchicago1893.com to exercise your right to vote this election day, November 6, 2018. "Miss Chicago Up to Date" showing a suffragette posing as the Statue of the Republic from the 1893 World's Fair. [Image from the August 11, 1913, issue of The Chicago Examiner.]

By |2018-11-04T20:33:35-06:00November 5th, 2018|Categories: NEWS|Tags: |0 Comments

“World’s Fairs and the Death of Optimism”

Darran Anderson’s essay “World’s Fairs and the Death of Optimism” (citylab.com, October 3, 2018) addresses the fading luster of World’s Fairs and uses some examples from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago to illustrate his point. “World’s Fairs fell from grace,” writes Anderson. “Who could blame nostalgia towards witnessing the Crystal Palace, the head of the Statue of Liberty in a Parisian park, the extra-terrestrial Trylon and Perisphere, or the Tower of the Sun? This was bolstered by [...]

Pictures from “Pictures from an Exposition”

“Pictures from an Exposition: Visualizing the 1893 World’s Fair” has opened at the Newberry Library. “Pictures from an Exposition: Visualizing the 1893 World’s Fair” has opened at the Newberry Library in Chicago. The exhibition of nearly two hundred items from the World’s Columbian Exposition fills two galleries in the Library’s newly renovated main floor. Displays are organized into sections on: • Introduction • Construction • Maps and Bird’s Eye Views • Staff and Sculpture • Publicity and [...]

Why Couldn’t New York Build the White City for Real?

“History is happening in Manhattan and we just happen to be In the greatest city in the world!” --"The Schuyler Sisters” from Hamilton The White City of the World’s Columbian Exposition was the undeniable center of the world for six months in 1893, but it was also a theatrical illusion -- a Dream City. Behind the scenes, a famous rivalry played out between the real cities of Chicago and New York to lay claim to title of the greatest [...]

By |2018-09-23T08:14:08-05:00September 26th, 2018|Categories: NEWS|Tags: |0 Comments

History and Change in Jackson Park

The 2018-2019 class of Obama Foundation Scholars recently convened in Chicago. On one beautiful summer day, the scholars -- coming from places as far flung as Cameroon, India and Vietnam -- were provided with a history tour of Chicago’s South Side that included a visit to the former fairgrounds of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park. The Obama Presidential Center hopes to move into the western side of the Lagoon. An Obama Foundation Scholar viewing a [...]

By |2023-08-05T08:33:58-05:00September 24th, 2018|Categories: NEWS|Tags: , |0 Comments

“From the Midway” a new 1893 World’s Fair podcast from the Chicago Tribune

The Chicago Tribune recently launched a new podcast series called “From the Midway” that explores the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition on its 125th anniversary year. Host Colleen Connolly, digital news editor at the Trib, promises to offer listeners stories about “the legacy left behind by the fair, including the remnants that can still be viewed today, the cultural legacy of the fair, the evolution of the Ferris wheel and products that made their debut at the exposition, and still [...]

By |2022-04-29T18:39:22-05:00September 22nd, 2018|Categories: AUDIO, NEWS|Tags: , , , |0 Comments
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