What’s Left of the World’s Columbian Exposition?

“On its 125th birthday, what’s left from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition?” asked the Chicago Sun-Times this week. They note four remnants: the Palace of Fine Arts (rebuilt and now the Museum of Science and Industry); the Wooded Island; an original ticket booth now standing in Oak Park; and the 1918 “Golden Lady” statue, which is a reduced replica of the original 65-foot “Big Mary” Statue of the Republic. Their map of Jackson Park, allowing you to slide between 1893 and [...]

A Google Doodle for the Columbian Exposition’s 125th Anniversary?

During the centennial of the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1993, Google did not exist. How times have changed. The main Google search page usually features a “Google Doodle.” These temporary re-designs of the iconic Google logo commemorate people, events, holidays, and other notable anniversaries of the day. Clicking the image takes browsers to more information on the subject of the doodle. Since the practice began in 1998, Google has honored several people associated with the 1893 World’s Fair. Doodles [...]

By |2018-04-20T21:24:01-05:00April 20th, 2018|Categories: NEWS|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments

Artifacts of the 1893 World’s Fair Unearthed in Jackson Park

The Chicago Tribune reports that archaeologists have unearthed artifacts of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park. In late 2017, researchers working for the Illinois State Archaeological Survey excavated seven sites in the area of the proposed Obama Presidential Center (OPC). Dig locations were on the west side of Jackson Park as well as in the eastern edge of the Midway Plaisance, where a parking garage for the OPC was at the time planned but has since been scrapped. [...]

Mar. 16, 2018-Apr. 28, 2019: World’s Fair “Mummies” at the Field Museum

Mummies that were on display at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition are back in Chicago after a 6-year national tour. The exhibition "Mummies" opens at the Field Museum on Friday, March 16, 2018, and showcases artifacts from ancient Egypt and ancient Peru. Some of the ancient mummy artifacts on display at the 1893 World's Fair. [from The Catalogue of the Cliff-Dwellers Exhibit (H. Jay Smith Exploring Company, 1893).] After the close of the 1893 World’s Fair, mummies that had [...]

By |2023-04-09T08:51:13-05:00March 11th, 2018|Categories: EVENTS (past), EXHIBITS (past), NEWS|Tags: , , |0 Comments

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

Chicago: City of the Century (2003)

News of the passing of David Ogden Stiers on March 3 has garnered tributes to the actor’s unforgettable role on M*A*S*H and his voice performances for several animated film from Disney Studios. Mr. Stiers also played a small but valuable role in the history of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, serving as the narrator of one of the first documentaries about the great fair. Chicago: City of the Century, based on the 1996 book of the same title by [...]

Souvenir Music from the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893

March, waltz, polka, and hoochie koochie your way back to the 1893 World’s Fair with Souvenir Music from the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, a new recording of vintage sheet music from Lake Forest College Press. Donald C. Meyer, Professor of Music at Lake Forest College, has assembled a fascinating collection of 18 pieces of music written for or about the Columbian Exposition. A trio of musicians (pianist Chris White, violinist Kate Carter, and baritone Brad Jungwirth) perform the [...]

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 [...]

Dominating Objects of Interest: Olmsted and Obama

“How much should the maxims of a 19th-century park designer tie the hands of a 21st-century president?” asks Edward McClelland in his piece “Olmsted vs. Obama: Inside the Pushback Against the Presidential Library” published this week by Chicago Magazine. A whimsical illustration by Graham Roumieu that accompanies the article shows of a ghostly zephyr of Frederick Law Olmsted, landscape architect of the 1893 World’s Fair, fretting over the fate of his beloved Jackson Park. The article summarizes the positions [...]

By |2019-01-22T18:42:33-06:00February 9th, 2018|Categories: NEWS|Tags: , , |0 Comments
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