RECENT POSTS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION’S BUILDING, FAIRGROUNDS, EXHIBITS, EVENTS, AND PEOPLE.
Living Souvenirs of the World’s Fair of 1893
A visitor to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition sent a letter home to Augusta, Maine, reporting about many sights on the fairgrounds and in Chicago. Author “E. H. J.” concludes with these thoughts: “Our notebooks are full, our pocketbooks are empty, and we're going home to rest and think. We are tired. Not by the hot weather, or walking, or sight-seeing, but by the souvenirs. You can not buy anything in Chicago now that is not a ‘souvenir of the World’s Fair.’ I am going to have an auction when we get home. We have had World’s Fair drinks [...]
Aug. 8-Nov. 2, 2025: “Swedes at the Fair” (Swedish American Museum, Chicago)
The Swedish American Museum in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood is running a special exhibit on “Swedes at the Fair” from August 8 through November 2, 2025. The exhibit highlights Swedes and Swedish-American participation in the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition with displays about the Swedish Pavilion, the Swedish Restaurant [including an image from our post "Tales from the Swedish Café"], Sweden Day, the American Union of Swedish Singers, the Royal Swedish Commission, Pehr Samuel Peterson’s tree nursery, the Lapland Village, and the Viking Ship. Special display items include a beautiful oil painting of the Swedish Villa at the World’s Columbian Exposition [...]
Robert G. Ingersoll on the 1893 World’s Fair
The inaugural issue of Jewell N. Halligan’s monthly periodical The Illustrated World’s Fair listed Robert Ingersoll as a contributor. Known as “the Great Agnostic” and dubbed “Pope Bob” by the Chicago press, Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) was a famous lawyer and one of the foremost freethinkers of the era. “The editor of this journal has been personally promised an article from the pen of Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll,” wrote John McGovern in the October 1891 issue of Illustrated World’s Fair. “The great poet of our Republic has said emphatically that he ‘must do it right’—that is, the article on [...]
Displaying the Dead at the 1893 World’s Fair
The U.S. Government Building at the 1893 World’s Fair housed exhibits from the official host of the Exposition. A display from one federal agency was described as “the grotesque mingling with the horrible, and tender sentiment jostling with the ghastly evidences of tragedies.” [Image from Harper’s Weekly August 26, 1893.] Many visitors to the U.S. Government Building at 1893 World’s Fair claimed that one display from a federal agency was the most interesting exhibit. More engaging than the life-size panorama of the doomed Greeley expedition of Arctic explorers? More captivating than a diorama of California sea lions? More [...]
German Punch Bowl from the 1893 World’s Fair Joins Art Institute of Chicago Collection
A monumental porcelain punch bowl made for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago has returned to this city. On July 11, 2025, the Art Institute of Chicago reopened the Eloise W. Martin Galleries, where 17th-, 18th- and 19th-century European designs are displayed. Among the new works added to the collection is a Rococo punch bowl created by the Royal Porcelain Manufactory (Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur, K.P.M.) in 1892. This item was one of the many wonders exhibited around the “porcelain porch” of the German section of the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building. James B. Campbell described the scene as: “an [...]
Elevate Winter Guard 2025 performs “In All FAIRness”
The World’s Columbian Exposition has been employed as a theme for several ballet works, and in the spring of 2025 a winter guard treated audiences to a trip to the Chicago fair. Elevate of Indianapolis, Indiana, performed a show titled “In All FAIRness,” inspired by the 1893 World’s Fair and featuring the music of “Merry-Go-Round of Life” by Joe Hisaishi. Competing across the country during the winter months, winter guards perform shows lasting about six-minutes long featuring dance and spinning equipment. [Photo from Elevate Performing Arts.] Elevate’s costumes borrowed from fashion elements of 1893, while the floor included [...]
176. Picturesque World’s Fair – An Eskimo Boy
AN ESKIMO BOY.--Not the least interesting objects in the village of the Eskimos, and certainly the most attractive, were the youngsters who rolled about like the seals in the waters of their own cold country. One of the young gentlemen of the group became an exceedingly popular personage with visitors to the odd village of odd people. He had reached the age of about four years, but his general air and bearing indicated that he had little more to learn and, while rather pleased with the world, yet looked upon it affably from a purely objective point of view. [...]
The Swami and the Street Sign
Chicago Public Radio’s Curious City, the long-running series on WBEZ that answers questions from listeners about the city and region, has a episode that does a deep dive into one of the most revered visitors to the 1893 World’s Fair. Hindus around the world learn about Swami Vivekananda’s visit to Chicago and his public lectures during the World’s Parliament of Religions in September 1893. The Curious City episode “Why did an honorary street sign go missing in Chicago?” explores that history and the (seemingly) missing memorial marker to the religious leader’s momentous trip to the Columbian Exposition. [Please consider [...]
1893 World’s Fair Official Cycling Route from Biketropolis
Although wheelmen (with a few notable exceptions) were forbidden from cycling through the fairgrounds of the 1893 World’s Fair, bicyclists today have much to discover as they ride through Jackson Park. The history of the great exposition is hiding in plain sight, thanks to a new cycling route guide published by Biketropolis®. In collaboration with Arcadia Publishing, True North Cafe, Two Wheel Gear®, and Ride With GPS, Biketropolis has curated a bicycle route that connects the dots of history in Jackson Park and surrounding areas. The free downloadable guide offers turn-by-turn directions, with descriptive text, photos, videos, audio narratives, [...]
“Referencing Columbiana” by Steve A. Starlust
Columbian Exposition collectors can rejoice over a new reference book that provides invaluable information about commemorative coins, medals, badges and ribbons, and other related souvenirs from the 1893 World’s Fair. The handsome volume Referencing Columbiana compiled by Steve A. Starlust belongs on any Columbian Exposition bookshelf. The 305-page book, which bears the title World’s Columbian Exposition Chicago on the cover (there is no title page), builds upon and greatly expands Nathan N. Eglit’s seminal reference book, Columbiana; The Medallic History of Christopher Columbus and the Columbian Exposition of 1893. Privately published in 1965, Eglit’s reference book catalogs nearly 600 [...]