An Archive of Past Events
Relating to the 1893 World’s Fair
Mar. 17, 2023: Hyde Park Historical Society Open House (Chicago)
The Hyde Park Historical Society will host their monthly Open House on Saturday March, 17, 2023, with a theme of the 1893 World Columbian Exposition. Visitors are invited to stop by the headquarters at 5529 S. Lake Park Avenue to learn more about the 1893 World’s Fair that took place in nearby Jackson Park. On display will be books, posters, and coloring book pages. You can also test your knowledge of World’s Fair Trivia (and possibly win a prize!) and sample some snacks that fairgoers enjoyed while visiting the Fair.
Feb 7, 2023: The Viking Ship and the Chicago World’s Fair (online)
Learn about the "Viking Ship and the Chicago World's Fair" at a webinar by Timothy Boyce hosted by NorCham Chicago in collaboration with the Friends of the Viking Ship. This free event will be held vis Zoom on Wednesday, February 7, 2023, at 7:00 p.m. Please register at: https://www.norchamchicago.org/events/the-viking-ship-and-the-chicago-worlds-fair-1
Dec. 10-11, 2022: “Sophia Hayden Deserves Better” play reading (Normal, IL)
In 1891 a brilliant 23-year-old woman won an architecture contest to design the Woman’s Building for the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. What should have been the start to a flourishing career in architecture became career-ending. Throughout the two-year process of building the Woman’s Building, the architect quietly endured bullying, micromanaging, and undermining until she finally spoke up. In a time when women were defined as physically and intellectually weaker than men, her concerns were not only not heard, but she was sent to a sanitarium. Diagnosed with melancholia due to overexertion. Silenced. After the fair, her building was [...]
Dec. 3-27, 2022: Joffrey Ballet’s “Columbian Nutcracker” (Chicago)
Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet once again will stage their spectacular production of The Nutcracker, with story set on the fairgrounds of 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Performances run from December 3-7, 2022, at the Lyric Opera House (20 N. Wacker Dr. in Chicago) This ballet by choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, which premiered in 2016, invites the audience to … “journey inside Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair ... when young Marie and her mother, a sculptress who is creating the fair’s iconic Statue of the Republic, host a holiday party, a surprise visit from the charming Great Impresario sets off a Christmas Eve dream [...]
Nov 3, 2022: “MEET ME AT THE FAIR!: Music from the Great World’s Fairs” (Williamsport, PA)
Paragon Ragtime Orchestra will present MEET ME AT THE FAIR!: Music from the Great “World’s Fairs” on November 3, 2022. A spectacular musical celebration of the legendary world’s fairs, including the 1876 Centennial Exhibition, the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, and the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition. Music played a key role in the success of all these international festivals, launching both hit songs and the illustrious careers of many American musicians (including Scott Joplin and Sousa). This new Paragon Ragtime Orchestra program features dozens of stirring world’s fair hits (from rare, original scores) with the continuous [...]
Nov. 3, 2022–Oct. 28, 2023: “The City Beyond the White City” (Charnley-Persky House Museum, Chicago)
A new exhibition explores the history of race and the built environment in Chicago through archaeology connecting the “White City” of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition to the material, spatial, and social histories of two 1892 structures—the Charnley-Persky House and the Mecca Flats—located respectively on Chicago’s privileged Near North and disinvested Near South Sides. The City Beyond the White City: Race, Two Chicago Homes, and their Neighborhoods, sponsored by the Charnley-Persky House Museum Foundation and Society of Architectural Historians Present the Exhibition has two components. A physical exhibition at the Charnley-Persky House runs from November 3, 2022–October 28, 2023, [...]
Oct. 6-20, 2022: “Olmsted in Chicago: Iconic Greenspaces and the 1893 White City” (online seminar)
To mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr, the Newberry Library is hosting a seminar on "Olmsted in Chicago: Iconic Greenspaces and the 1893 White City." The online seminar will run for three Thursday sessions from 6-8pm on October 6, 13, and 20. Hosting the sminar will be Julia Bachrach, consulting historian and preservationist and author of The City in a Garden: A History of Chicago’s Parks, and Rebecca S. Graff, Associate Professor of Anthropology and archaeologist and author of Disposing of Modernity: The Archaeology of Garbage and Consumerism During Chicago’s 1893 [...]
Sept. 11, 2022: “Walking the White City” tour (Chicago)
The Glessner House is offering a "Walking the White City" tour of the former fairgrounds of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition on Sunday, September 11, 2022, from 10 AM to noon. Architect and historian John Waters will guide participants on a walking tour of Jackson Park to see the sites of landmarks of the 1893 World's Fair, explore the fascinating vestiges, and learn how the Fair influenced the design of Jackson Park as we know it today. The tour will meet at the base of sculptor Daniel Chester French’s golden Statue of the Republic on Hayes Drive, which marks [...]
Sept 10, 2022: 1893 Chicago’s Columbian Exposition doc film premiere (Chicago)
A new full-length documenary film 1893 Chicago's Columbian Exposition will have it theatrical premier on September 10th, 2022, at 5 pm. The event is in coordination with the Design Museum of Chicago and will be held at Chicago Filmmakers (1326 W. Hollywood Ave. in Chicago). A $10 donation is requested. Following the screening will be a demonstration on the patio of a World's Fair augmented reality project. For more information on the film, related book and music, and the extended reality project, go to chicago1893.com.
Aug. 20-Dec. 22, 2022: An exhibit of Korean Fashion from the 1893 World’s Fair (Washington, D.C.)
After centuries of relative isolation, Korea opened its borders to international trade and diplomacy in 1876, but for years the country remained little known outside of Asia. Korea’s participation in the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 changed that. Visitors to the Korean pavilion were dazzled by the colorful displays of traditional clothing (hanbok), such as embroidered silk jackets and robes made for the Joseon royal court. South Korea's emergence as a pop culture powerhouse and one of the most fashion-forward nations in the world is revealed in a new exhibit Korean Fashion: From Royal Court to Runway, on view [...]