An Archive of Past Events
Relating to the 1893 World’s Fair
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 [...]
Aug. 19-21, 2022: “Sangamon Songs” Musical Play Tells of Illinois Boy Who Visited the 1893 World’s Fair (Skokie, IL)
A diary written by a 16-year-old Illinois boy who visited the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago is the source material for Sangamon Songs: A Musical Play by Tom Irwin and John W. Arden. The show will be performed at the Skokie Theatre for Performing Arts on August 19-21, 2022. After discovering Harry Glen Ludlam’s journal in his family farmhouse, Tom Irwin began composing an acoustic song cycle about late-nineteenth-century life of a teenager in a small town in Central Illinois. Irwin's 2012 album Sangamon Songs collects twelve of the pieces, including one titled “Hurrah for the World's Fair.” John [...]
June 25, 2022: Devil in the White City Bus Tour (Chicago)
Experience the murder, magic, and madness at the fair that changed America on a 4-hour bus tour offered by the Chicago History Museum on Saturday, June 25, 2022. Inspired by Erik Larson’s best-selling book (soon to be a miniseries), this tour will take you back to 1893 with historian Al Walavich, to follow the trails of Daniel Burnham and the devilish doings of H. H. Holmes. Visit the historic fairgrounds, the Garden of the Phoenix in Jackson Park, and discover what has become an iconic Chicago story. Tickets are $55 ($44 for CHM members.) and available for purchase through the Chicago History [...]
June 17-18, 2022: Celebrate Olmsted 200 in Chicago
April 26, 2022, marks the bicentennial of the birth of Frederick Law Olmsted, social reformer and visionary founder of American landscape architecture. In June, the Olmsted 200 celebration reaches Chicago with a Olmsted Bicentennial Gala from 7– 9 PM on Friday, June 17, at the Glessner House (1800 S Prairie Ave. in Chicago). On Saturday, June 18, at 10 AM, an "Inspired by Olmsted" carillon concert at the Rockefeller Memorial Chapel (5850 S. Woodlawn Avenue in Chicago) and the adjoining the Midway Plaisance will include the premier of a new work dedisated to the Olmsted legacy. The Olmsted 200 [...]
Limited-time 1893 World’s Fair menu at Next Restaurant (Chicago)
The award-winning Next restaurant in Chicago’s West Loop explores gourmet cuisine with menus and dining experiences that change completely a few times a year. Their Spring 2022 epicurean offering is a World’s Fair menu that explores the world of impossible innovations. “Light bulbs and Ferris wheels. Confidence and gumption—the pillars to the global ingenuity of 1893.” For a visual sampling, check out their video. Next (953 W. Fulton Market in Chicago) offers prix fixe meals ($165–$275 per person) by reservation only.