In a Pickle on Jeopardy

Writers for Jeopardy have been digging into the history of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition for answers to questions in recent weeks. Amy Schneider's incredible winning streak came to end soon after missing a Final Jeopardy question about the Field Columbian Museum on the January 24, 2022, episode. During the episode airing on Friday, February 4, 2022 (Show #8570), the "Dance Party" category held the answer "At the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, the 'Street in Cairo' exhibit helped introduce [...]

By |2023-10-05T09:09:28-05:00March 5th, 2022|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: , , |2 Comments

Final Jeopardy

We've been devoted Jeopardy fans in recent weeks, due to the incredible winning streak of Amy Schneider. The episode that aired on January 24, 2022, included an extra treat: a final Jeopardy about the 1893 World's Fair: The answer question, of course, is "What is the Field Museum?" (then called the Field Columbian Museum), named for benefactor Marshall Field. Although defending champion Amy Schneider bet big but did not come up with the correct question, contestant Joanne Mercer did [...]

By |2023-10-05T09:10:06-05:00January 24th, 2022|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: , |1 Comment

Ida B. Wells documentary airs on WTTW-Chicago

Civil rights activist Ida B. Wells spoke truth to power through her pamphlet The Reason Why the Colored American Is Not in The World’s Columbian Exposition. 10,000 copies were distributed at the 1893 World’s Fair. “With the eyes of the world on Chicago,” explains a new documentary film about Wells, “she would use the international stage to expose the terror of lynching.” On Friday, May 21, 2021, Chicago public television station WTTW will air Ida B. Wells, a one-hour [...]

By |2021-05-20T08:33:50-05:00May 20th, 2021|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: |0 Comments

“Chicago’s White City Devil” on Smithsonian’s MURDEROUS HISTORY

The latest documentary about the evil doings of H. H. Holmes joins a crowded collection of films and television shows about the “devil in the white city” who killed an unknown number of victims around the time of the World’s Columbian Exposition. It is among the best to date. “Chicago's White City Devil,” the second episode of the Smithsonian Channel’s new series Murderous History, features rather cheesy dramatic scenes along with informative commentary by a group of notable Chicago [...]

By |2024-06-30T09:33:11-05:00May 9th, 2021|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: , |0 Comments

THE GREAT CHICAGO QUIZ SHOW serves up some 1893 World’s Fair trivia

The Great Chicago Quiz Show on WTTW in Chicago has host Geoffrey Baer asking contestants (including some famous Chicagoans) trivia questions about their city. No program about Chicago history would be complete without at least a few tidbits from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, and Geoffrey asked contestants several , including: • The world’s first Ferris Wheel was a hit at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park. In fact, it was so popular that immediately after the [...]

By |2021-04-30T16:06:45-05:00April 30th, 2021|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: , , |0 Comments

The Wizard in the White City

L. Frank Baum, so the legend goes, used his experience visiting the White City of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago as inspiration for the Emerald City in his best-selling children's book of 1900, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. A new documentary film exploring the life and times of Baum has been released as part of the American Experience series on PBS. "American Oz, the True Wizard Behind the Curtain" (aired April 19, 2021) includes a segment featuring Baum's [...]

By |2021-04-26T17:10:00-05:00April 28th, 2021|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: |0 Comments

“American Gods” at the 1893 World’s Fair

“In the summer of 1893 on the shores of Lake Michigan, the United States took its place on the global stage, not through war but through technological innovation ….” The television series American Gods paid a short visit to the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago during Season 3, Episode 5 (“Sister Rising”). The episode opens with an action shot of an elongated coin machine—an unusual but effective historical reference to one of so many “firsts” exhibited at the World’s [...]

By |2021-04-02T11:12:43-05:00February 25th, 2021|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|0 Comments

The World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 and the Library of Congress (video)

C-SPAN is streaming a recorded lecture on “The World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 and the Library of Congress.” In this talk, originally presented for the United States Capitol Historical Society (USCHS) on October 13, 2020, art historian Lynda Cooper reconstructs the relationship between the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago and the Library of Congress’s Thomas Jefferson Building (1889–1897) in Washington, D.C. Working from an art history perspective, Cooper describes the influence the exposition had on the artists [...]

By |2022-03-10T18:43:33-06:00November 24th, 2020|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

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

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