“Celebrating the Black History of Jackson Park” Video

The Obama Foundation has released a five-minute video titled “Celebrating the Black History of Jackson Park” that features the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Introduced by President Obama, the video touches upon the Haitian Pavilion, Frederick Douglass, and “Colored American Day” with historical perspectives from Chicago History Museum Assistant Curator Julius Jones, Associate Professor of History at the University of Chicago Adam Green, and President of the Jackson Park Advisory Council Louise McCurry.

By Scott|2024-08-23T09:32:46-05:00February 29th, 2020|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: , , |0 Comments
Read More

WGN-TV Documentary Explores “Hidden History” of African Americans at the 1893 World’s Fair

In honor of Black History Month WGN-TV aired a new half-hour documentary show titled “Hidden History” that included a segment on the experience of African Americans at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. WGN News anchor Micah Materre opened the six-minute segment reminding viewers that “African Americans have a long and storied history in Chicago,” with one important moment of African Americans influence on the world taking place in and around the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago’s Jackson Park. Historian [...]

By Scott|2024-08-23T09:30:45-05:00February 29th, 2020|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: , , , |0 Comments
Read More

Tiffany & Co. at the 1893 Columbian Exposition

“Tiffany & Co. at the 1893 Columbian Exposition” is the subject of an informative new article from Spencer Marks Ltd. “The unique masterpieces made by Tiffany and sent to the fair,” they write, “were designed and executed to be shown in a spectacular setting and sold to their very best clientele.” The Tiffany & Company and the Gorham Manufacturing Company displayed their stunning pieces in their gorgeous pavilion within the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building. Tiffany and Gorham [...]

By Scott|2020-02-04T08:01:45-06:00February 6th, 2020|Categories: NEWS|Tags: , |0 Comments
Read More

Updates on Plans for the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park

The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition emerged from an idea to a White City on the lake in a little more than three years. Building the Obama Presidential Center (OPC) along one edge of Jackson Park certainly will take much longer—if it materializes in that location at all. “The Obama Foundation first announced its site in Jackson Park back in 2016 and hoped to break ground in late 2018 after gaining city approvals that spring.” reports Curbed Chicago. “Two years [...]

By Scott|2020-01-31T16:20:49-06:00February 2nd, 2020|Categories: NEWS|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments
Read More

Utah Women Raise Money for the 1893 World’s Fair

A new podcast highlights the work of Margaret Salisbury and women in Utah, who raised funds for their state displays in the Woman’s Building and in the Utah Building of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The Zion’s Suffragists podcast from the Deseret News explores how Utah pioneered voting rights for women in the United States. Episode 3, “Woman will be restored,” features Salisbury, who served on the Board of Lady Managers as one of its vice-presidents and [...]

By Scott|2020-01-31T14:06:48-06:00January 31st, 2020|Categories: AUDIO, NEWS|Tags: , , , |1 Comment
Read More

Vienna Beef History Museum Closes

UPDATE (1/26/2020): The Vienna Beef History Museum will be closing on February 1, 2020, with no plans for reopening, according to reporting by Block Club 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 [...]

By Scott|2023-04-09T08:56:39-05:00January 26th, 2020|Categories: EXHIBITS (past), NEWS|Tags: , , , |0 Comments
Read More

Season’s Readings: World’s Columbian Exposition Books from 2019

2019 brought several additions to the World’s Columbian Exposition bookshelf.

By Scott|2022-04-15T09:06:05-05:00December 11th, 2019|Categories: FICTION, NEWS, PRODUCTS, RESEARCH|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments
Read More

Ride the “Midwest Time Machine” to the 1893 World’s Fair

The Newberry Library of Chicago has launched a “Midwest Time Machine,” and one the destinations in the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Four first-hand accounts--coming from letters, diaries, and rare books in the Newberry's collections—include a diary of Errett McLeod Graham as he visits the World’s Fair in Chicago between June 24 and July 17, 1893. Hop around a map of the fairgrounds to browse journal entries about smells the Ceylon Building, tastes at the Big Tree Restaurant, sounds in [...]

By Scott|2025-05-28T09:17:34-05:00November 24th, 2019|Categories: NEWS|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments
Read More

A trip back in time to the World’s Columbian Exposition with the Chicago Reader

In his article “A Trip Back in Time to the World’s Columbian Exposition," published in the November 20, 2019, issue of the Reader, Jeff Nichols has curated an interesting set of travel tips for visitors coming to Chicago for the 1893 World’s Fair. The suggestions, drawn from travel guidebooks and newspapers from around the world, include such sage advice as this, from the Washington Star: “There is nothing more disagreeable than the dude at the fair. He is entirely [...]

By Scott|2019-11-23T15:25:02-06:00November 23rd, 2019|Categories: NEWS|0 Comments
Read More

A 360-Degree View of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition (Sneak Peek)

The Chicago 00 Project has released a sneak peek of their upcoming an augmented and virtual reality experience, The 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, to be published in early 2020. A partnership between the Chicago History Museum and filmmaker Geoffrey Alan Rhodes, the Chicago 00 Project has been producing a series of interactive multimedia experiences using historical images of important sites and events in Chicago. Their augmented reality app allows participant to overlay historic photos with real-time views at the site [...]

By Scott|2019-11-11T08:11:50-06:00November 11th, 2019|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: |2 Comments
Read More

“The Current War” offers only a dimly lit view of the 1893 World’s Fair

The 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago shines on the big screen, if only for a few minutes. The Current War (2017, released 2019) tells the story of the rancorous rivalry between inventor Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch), who adamantly championed direct current (DC) technologies to electrify and illuminate American cities, and George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon), who banked on alternating current (AC). The legendary “war of the currents” has these titans of the electrical industry setting their sights on powering the Columbian [...]

By Scott|2025-01-30T18:40:44-06:00October 30th, 2019|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments
Read More

Sean Masterson’s Magic from the Midway

A story about the Midway Plaisance of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition weaves its was through a Chicago magic show. Sean Masterson’s Timeless Magic  blends expert sleight-of-hand trickery, quirky humor, and a personal detective story centering around a World’s Fair commemorative coin. Masterson shares with his audience his quest to discover the origin of his coin, taking us on a tour of several magicians who worked on the Midway and in Chicago at the time of the Fair. (You’ll [...]

By Scott|2022-03-05T10:53:22-06:00August 30th, 2019|Categories: NEWS, THEATER|Tags: , |0 Comments
Read More

World’s Columbian Exposition Secretary Howard O. Edmonds’ Presentation Set Sells for $21,600

The Howard O. Edmonds presentation set sold by Heritage Auctions in August 2019. [Image from Heritage Auctions.] Heritage Auctions offered a rare Columbian Exposition presentation set at their August 2019 “ANA World's Fair of Money US Coins Signature Auction.” The group consisting of a medal, pin and two ribbons that had once belonged to Howard O. Edmonds, secretary of the Exposition, sold for $21,600. The Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) had certified the medal set in the spring of [...]

By Scott|2022-03-05T10:54:47-06:00August 23rd, 2019|Categories: ANTIQUES, NEWS|Tags: , , , |0 Comments
Read More

Tiffany Clock from the 1893 World’s Fair Sells for $150,000

(Left) The “Louis XV Clock” on display in the Tiffany Pavilion within the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building. [Image from Bancroft, Hubert Howe The Book of the Fair. The Bancroft Company, 1893.] (Right) The Tiffany clock today. Note the plain lower panel, compared to the image of the clock from 1893. [Image from Sotheby’s.] A magnificent clock manufactured by Tiffany & Company and exhibited at the 1893 World’s Fair sold by Sotheby's at their June 4, 2019, auction [...]

By Scott|2022-03-05T10:53:23-06:00August 22nd, 2019|Categories: ANTIQUES, NEWS|Tags: , |0 Comments
Read More

All the World is Beer

A HAPPY PROSPECT. Sing a song of wondrous things A city full of sights: Common folks and queens and kings Enjoying the delights. When the fair is opened, And all the world is here, We'll have a jolly time throughout the Exposition year. (from The Illustrated World’s Fair, May 1892) For a jolly time throughout the current year, consider a taste of “All the World is Here,” a new beer inspired by the 1893 World's Fair from Temperance Beer [...]

By Scott|2019-08-18T10:21:42-05:00August 21st, 2019|Categories: NEWS, PRODUCTS|Tags: , , |1 Comment
Read More

Night and Day Differences at the 1893 World’s Fair

The October 2019 release of the film The Current War will offer many people their first view of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. A recent trailer offered a tantalizing peak at how the special effects team has recreated the White City. In an attempt to provide some historical background, BBC History recently published an article on the “real history” of the World’s Fair in Chicago that included this description of the Opening Ceremony: “Grover Cleveland had one of the more straightforward [...]

By Scott|2019-07-30T13:02:14-05:00August 2nd, 2019|Categories: NEWS|Tags: , , |0 Comments
Read More

White City Beautiful

Where can we find remains of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition? All around us! While few buildings of the White City remain, the urban planning movement it ushered in endures. In “A Case for Civic Splendor: Notes on the City Beautiful Movement," Kayla Bartsch, writing for the National Review, opens with a look back at the “gleaming citadel” on the shores of Lake Michigan in 1893. She reminds us of one of the most important enduring legacies of the [...]

By Scott|2019-07-30T10:27:14-05:00July 30th, 2019|Categories: NEWS|Tags: |0 Comments
Read More
Copyright 2026 WorldsFairChicago1893 | All Rights Reserved |
Go to Top