An Archive of Past Events
Relating to the 1893 World’s Fair
Jan. 18, 2021: “Black History and Arts in Chicago” (Hyde Park Book Club online)
The Hyde Park Book Club of the Hyde Park Historical Society will host an online discussion of books relating to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition at their next meeting honoring Martin Luther King Jr. Day. On Monday, January 18, 2021, at 7:30 PM the Club will offer "Black History and Arts in Chicago with Richard Courage and Christopher Robert Reed" and discuss “All the World is Here!” The Black Presence at White City by Christopher Robert Reed, Roots of the Black Chicago Renaissance: New Negro Writers, Artists and Intellectuals, 1983-1930 by Richard Courage and Christopher Robert Reed (University of [...]
Dec. 19, 2020: Chicago History Book Club discusses the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition (online)
DATE CHANGE The Chicago History Book Club will discuss three books about the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition during their online meeting at 10 am on Saturday, December 19: Robert Muccigrosso's Celebrating the New World: Chicago’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 (Ivan R. Dee, 1993), Erik Larson's best-selling The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America (Crown, 2003), and Jeanne Madeline Weimann's The Fair Women: The Story of the Woman’s Building at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 (Chicago Review Press, 1981). Participants can register through the Chicago Public Library: https://chipublib.bibliocommons.com/events/5fb42dbf4ae047330bc3b7ff [...]
Dec. 16, 2020-July 11, 2021: “Fantastic Fairs: The Fields at the World’s Fairs” (St. Louis)
The Field House Museum in St. Louis is dedicated to preserving the legacy and birthplace of author Eugene Field. A temporary exhibit in the museum’s main entryway showcases objects relating to Eugene Field’s involvement at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago and his wife Julia Field’s position as juror at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. Columbian Exposition books, stereoview cards, tickets, souvenir spoons, and a holograph letter from Mr. Field to Clara Doty Bates fill one display case. Some items from the Chicago World’s Fair are graciously on loan from the Glessner House Museum in Chicago. “Fantastic [...]
Dec. 2 2020: “Building Chicago’s Public Spaces with Julia Bachrach” (online)
The Chicago Public Library, in partnership with the Chicago Architecture Center, will host an online presentation on "Building Chicago’s Public Spaces" by Chicago parks historian Julia Bachrach. The talk on Wednesday, December 2, from 6-7 pm, is free but registration is required: https://chipublib.bibliocommons.com/events/5f9c4a02e085ab5c2caf057d Bachrach will highlight two major architectural themes in park history: the Museum of Science and Industry—built as the Palace of Fine Arts for the World’s Columbian Exposition—and the fieldhouse, an influential building type invented in Chicago. She will discuss the original drawings by architects Daniel H. Burnham and Charles B. Atwood, which have rarely been seen by the [...]
Oct. 10, 2020: “Innovations of the 1893 World’s Fair” online presentation (Chicago Detours)
Chicago Detours will be offering an online lecture on "Innovations of the 1893 World's Fair" on Saturday, October 10, at 1 pm (central time). The event, held via Zoom, will delve into the history of the World's Colombian Exposition of 1893 and share the inventions, engineering feats, and gastronomical exhibits that wowed visitors. Tickets can be purchased for $15 at https://chicagodetours.rezdy.com/406501/wonders-of-the-1893-world-s-fair
Sept. 24, 2020: “Designed to Dazzle and Delight” Olmsted and the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition (online)
On Thursday, September 24, 2020, The National Association for Olmsted Parks will host Chicago parks historian Julia Bachrach, who will offer a lecture "Designed to Dazzle and Delight" about landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. The special program will be help at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time using Zoom. Advance registration is required.
Sept 18, 2020 and after-1893 World’s Fair Walking Tours (Chicago Architecture Center)
Beginning September 18, 2020, the Chicago Architecture Center (CAC) is offering "1893 World's Fair" family walking tours. Although the World’s Columbian Exposition fairgrounds were located south of downtown Chicago and in mostly temporary buildings, there are sites downtown—still standing today—that date from the Fair and highlight its impact. For $99 per family, enjoy a safe walking tour experience lasting 45−60 minutes with one of the CAC’s expertly trained Education Guides. The CAC also offers a regular "White City Revisited" tour in and around Jackson Park.
Sept. 15, 2020: World’s Fair Auction #37 closes
Columbian Exposition collectors may be interested in World’s Fair Auction #37, now open for preview. Online bidding closes on Tuesday, September 15, 2020. The auction catalog can be viewed at: http://www.worldsfairauction.com/cgi-bin/catalog.cgi. Lots 22 through 57 are items related to the 1893 World’s Fair, and include several products commemorating various building of the White City: numerous Columbian Exposition coins and medals; a colorful box for the Picture Puzzles of the "Mines Building"; a letter on Illinois Board of World's Fair Commissioners stationery dated Feb. 6th, 1894; a complete set of 12 Koehler postal cards; and much more. World’s Fair Auction [...]
Aug 27, 2020: “Wonders of the 1893 World’s Fair” online presentation (Chicago Detours)
Chicago Detours will be offering a virtual tour of the World's Columbian Exposition fairgrounds on Thurs, August 27, starting at 6 pm (central time). The 50-minute virtual tour led via Zoom shares the inventions, engineering feats, and gastronomical exhibits that wowed visitors to the 1893 World’s Fair. Tickets for the online event can be purchased for $15 at https://chicagodetours.rezdy.com/406501/wonders-of-the-1893-world-s-fair
Aug. 11, 2020: “Britannia Visits the White City”: the Peter family and the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 (Washington D.C.)
What was it like to attend the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago? A first-hand account from Martha Washington’s great-grandchild is the basis of “Britannia Visits the White City,” a lecture sponsored by the DAR Museum in Washington on August 11, 2020. Washington descendant Britannia W. Kennon, a seventy-eight-year-old owner of the Georgetown estate of Tudor Place, spent a week with her family at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. Her surviving letters and postcards in the archives of Tudor Place Historic House & Garden will be the basis of this talk by curator Grant Quertermous. “Britannia Visits the [...]