RECENT POSTS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION’S BUILDING, FAIRGROUNDS, EXHIBITS, EVENTS, AND PEOPLE.
Apr. 28-July 9, 2021: “ReIMAGINE Aunt Jemima” exhibit (Chicago)
A new exhibit in Chicago explores an advertising campaign launched at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and only recently ended. ReIMAGINE Aunt Jemima is on display in the lobby of the Carter G. Woodson Regional Library (9525 S Halsted Street in Chicago) from April 28 to July 9, 2021. ReIMAGINE Aunt Jemima on display at the Carter G. Woodson Regional Library in Chicago. The exhibit centers on the Chicagoans and "living trademarks" Nancy Green and Edith Wilson, who portrayed Aunt Jemima for public events. The display features several historical images and documents relating to the 1893 World’s [...]
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 time in Chicago, where he transformed himself from a traveling salesman into a promotor of store window decorating, into an [...]
“Frederick Law Olmsted” podcast from Cream City Windy City
Wendy Bright’s podcast Cream City~Windy City explores interesting connections between Milwaukee and Chicago. Episode #10, “Frederick Law Olmsted,” (released April 21, 2021) focuses on the “Father of Landscape Architecture.” In 1869, Chicago hired the firm of Olmsted, Vaux & Co. to design a park system on the South Side. Twenty-two years later, Frederick Law Olmsted and his associate Henry Codman redesigned Jackson Park and the Midway Plaisance to serve as the fairgrounds for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Around that time, the Milwaukee Park Commission hired Olmsted to design a system of three parks for their city: Lake Park, [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
THIS IS A LOAN from Isabella Stewart Gardner
A new Netflix documentary This Is a Robbery: The World's Biggest Art Heist reveals the grievous but fascinating story of a 1990 art theft from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Two paintings from the collection (thankfully not stolen!) were loaned by Mrs. Gardner to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago and exhibited in the Palace of Fine Arts. Hanging in the Swedish display in Gallery 70 was Anders Zorn’s Omnibus (1892). Mrs. Gardner purchased this 49 5/8-by-34 5/8-inch oil painting from the artist at the World's Fair in June of 1893. About Zorn and his work, [...]
116. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Sedan Chair Carriers
THE SEDAN CHAIR CARRIERS.—There was a partial return to the ways of our forefathers at the Fair, though the fad was not introduced as the result of any spasmodic whim of society, but by fez-wearing men from the Orient. The concession for the Sedan chairs belonged to the Turkish Village people and near this, at one side of the Plaisance, the Sedan bearers, sturdy Turks as one could wish to see, stood soliciting custom and getting a great deal of it, for who, among those intent on "doing " all the novel experiences thoroughly, would neglect such opportunity for [...]
The Windy Cities Historians Podcast visits the Columbian Exposition
The Windy Cities Historians Podcast has been working its way chronologically through Chicago history and has now reached the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Episodes 19-21, “The Third Star,” are a three-part look at the event now represented in Chicago’s municipal flag. Co-hosts Chris Lynch and Patrick McBriarty interview Paul Durica, the Director of Exhibitions at the Newberry Library and co-editor of the annotated Chicago by Day and Night, and historian and writer Jeff Nichols. The show’s deep dive into the Exposition, clocking in at 3:15 hours, is enriched by the hosts’ infectious enthusiasm for the topic. Part I (released [...]
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 [...]
The women of Effingham, Illinois, go the 1893 World’s Fair
Many small towns sent their best for the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. "Effingham County [Illinois] had much to be proud of in its contributions to the exhibits in the Woman’s Building at the Columbian Exposition in 1893," writes Delaine Donaldson. "It’s women were achieving success in a variety of ways and were vital to shaping the course of the county’s history and future." See "A Yearlong Celebration" in the the Effingham Daily News (Mar 15, 2021). The Woman's Building at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. [Image adapted from Picturesque World's Fair. W.B. Conkey, 1894.] [...]