An Archive of Past Events
Relating to the 1893 World’s Fair
Apr. 27, 2021: The Amazing World’s Fairs of Chicago (online)
The Elmhurst Public Library in Elmhurst, Illinois, is offering an online presentation "The Amazing World’s Fairs of Chicago" on Tuesday, April 27, 2021, at 7 PM. Explore the two World’s Fairs that put Chicago on the map. The Columbian Exposition of 1893 was built against incredible odds and with a diabolical killer just outside the gates. The 1933 Century of Progress could not go ahead without first getting rid of Al Capone. Learn about both fairs and their tragedies and triumphs. The live event is free, but requires participants to register to receive the Zoom link. [...]
Apr. 26, 2021-2022: Olmsted 200: Celebrating Olmsted and Parks for All People
2022 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frederick Law Olmsted, social reformer and founder of American landscape architecture. The National Association for Olmsted Parks and partners have launched a year-long celebration to explore Olmsted’s living legacy. Olmsted 200 offers an array of activities and events across the country designed to introduce you to Frederick Law Olmsted and the importance of his work and ideas. One of the "Pillars of the Fair," Olmsted served as chief landscape architect for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. His "Spark of Genius" continues to enrich Jackson Park and the Midway [...]
April 14, 2021: “The (Whole) Story of the 1893 Midway” (online)
Join the Chicago Architecture Center (CAC) for a virtual walk down the Midway Plaisance of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, where visitors saw ice and snow in the summer, heard the clang of Egyptian swords, smelled bratwurst in a German Village, tasted Orange Cider, and felt the ground fall away as they ascended the Ferris Wheel. The CAC will be hosting an online lecture "The (Whole) Story of the 1893 Midway" at noon (Central time) on April 14, 2021. This event will be offered through Zoom and costs $8 for the public (FREE for CAC members and students). To register, go [...]
Mar. 11, 2021: “World’s Fair Archaeology in Jackson Park” (online)
The Chicago Public Library is hosting a presentation about “World's Fair Archaeology in Jackson Park" on March 11, 2021. Rebecca Graff, associate professor of anthropology at Lake Forest College (IL), will discuss her new book Disposing of Modernity and her archaeological digs at the site of Chicago's 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park. This free event takes place online using Zoom from 2-3 PM. Register at least 24 hours before the event at https://chipublib.bibliocommons.com/events/60185f0022fe7d24006eec07 The Ohio State Building, remnants of which lie buried in Jackson Park.
Mar. 3, 2021: Columbian Exposition Museum Auction
Hundreds of items relating to Christopher Columbus and the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago will hit the auction block on March 3, 2021. The collectibles come from the Christopher Columbus Museum in Columbus, Wisconsin, and include 1893 World's Fair books, tickets, stereoview cards, souvenir coins and ribbons, and an amazing one-of-a-kind, hand-made mechanical model of the Ferris Wheel. The sale will be conducted by Beloit Auction and Realty at 534 W. Grand Avenue in Beloit, WI. An online catalog and instructions for bidding can be found at https://www.beloitauction.com/auctions/detail/bw58967 A hand-made mechanical model of the Ferris Wheel. [Image [...]
Mar. 2, 2021: World’s Fair Auction #38 closes
Columbian Exposition collectors may be interested in World’s Fair Auction #38, now open for preview. Online bidding closes at 10:00 PM EST on Tuesday, March 2, 2021. The auction catalog can be viewed at: http://www.worldsfairauction.com/cgi-bin/catalog.cgi. Lots 20 through 92 are items related to the 1893 World’s Fair, and include several products commemorating various building of the White City: a "World's Fair 1893" turquoise art glass creamer, an Agricultural Building china vase, and a Machinery Hall china plate; Machinery Hall cuff links; Columbian Exposition playing cards and an incomplete "Game of 'World's Fair"; a letter from the Department of Publicity and [...]
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 [...]