RECENT POSTS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION’S BUILDING, FAIRGROUNDS, EXHIBITS, EVENTS, AND PEOPLE.
97. Picturesque World’s Fair – Fettome, A Bedouin Woman
FETTOME, A BEDOUIN WOMAN.—Much as has been written about the Arabs and their wild life upon the North African plains, descriptions have been, as a rule, confined mostly to the men and how the woman of the desert lives, moves and has her being has been left largely to the imagination. So it came that the Bedouin women, at the Columbian Exposition, were looked upon with a good deal of curiosity and were found to be by no means uninteresting creatures. They were quite as intelligent as their lords, were by no means bad-looking and manifested the utmost good [...]
Columbian Exposition Poetry: “The Man in the Moon”
In honor of World Poetry Day, we offer this whimsical verse from the pen of popular newspaper poet Nixon Waterman, published in the December 1892 issue of Illustrated World's Fair. THE MAN IN THE MOON by Nixon Waterman The man in the moon, as he sails through the sky, Can't help but to turn an admiring eye, And linger a while as he passes the site Of that perfectly wonderful City of White. And he says to himself, "All next summer I'll see The Fair without paying a penny, he, he! And I won't have to peep through a [...]
96. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Forestry Building
THE FORESTRY BUILDING.— None among the many department structures on the Fair grounds was built with more regard for what was symbolic of its uses than the Forestry Building. It stood very near the southeastern corner of the grounds and its eastern frontage was upon Lake Michigan. Its dimensions were five hundred by two hundred feet, and it had a central height of sixty feet. It was made entirely of wood, not even a nail being used but wooden pegs substituted instead. The roofed colonnade surrounding the building, which shows well in the illustration, was upheld by pillars each [...]
Mar. 23, 2020: History of Postcards at the McHenry County (IL) Historical Society and Museum
The 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago was home to many firsts, including the first postcard printed as a souvenir in the United States. The McHenry County Historical Society and Museum will offer a program on the history of postcards on Monday, March 23, 2020, at 4 pm. Katherine Hamilton-Smith, former director of cultural resources for the Lake County Forest Preserves in Libertyville and founding curator of the Curt Teich postcard archive, will provide a talk on “Picture Postcards: The Happy Invention” as part of the society's 34th Annual Sampler Series. The program will be held at the McHenry [...]
CANCELLED Apr. 11, 2020: Devil in the White City Bus Tour
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, April 11, 2020, starting at 1 pm. 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 ($45 for CHM members) and available for purchase [...]
The World’s Fair That Ignored More Than Half the World
“The World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 was a spectacle that has no real equivalent today: Think of a theme park where you can also listen to TED Talks, or the most cutting-edge trade show ever, held in obsessively manicured fairgrounds …” read the full article “The World’s Fair That Ignored More Than Half the World” by Rachel B. Tiven at JSTOR Daily.
POSTPONED Apr. 11, 2020: Chicago History Book Group Discusses Three Columbian Exposition Titles
At their meeting on Saturday, April 11, 2020, the Chicago History Book Discussion Group will discuss three important research books about the 1893 World’s Fair: An Early Encounter with Tomorrow by Arnold Lewis (University of Illinois Press, 1997) The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson (Crown, 2003), and The Fair Women by Jeanne Madeline Weimann (Chicago Review Press, 1981). The discussion, sponsored by the Edgewater Historical Society and the Chicago Public Library Edgewater Branch, begins at 10 a.m. in the library’s Betty A. Barclay Community Room, 6000 N. [...]
Autographed Letter about Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and the 1893 World’s Fair Sells at Auction
A letter inviting the International Folk-Lorre Congress of the 1893 World's Fair to attend Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show has sold at auction for $937.50. Heritage Auctions' February 20, 2020, "Americana & Political Signature Auction" included the hand-written letter from Nate Salsbury, manager of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Company. An 1893 letter from Nate Salsbury, manager of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, inviting the International Folk-Lorre Congress at the World's Columbian Exposition to see a performance. [Image from Heritage Auctions.] Dated January 19, 1893, Salsbury writes to the wife of Fletcher S. Bassett, who helped establish the International [...]
Raising the Ante for Midway Playing Cards
A Kickstarter campaign is raising funds for a new edition of Midway playing cards.
POSTPONED March 29, 2020: 26th Annual World’s Fair Memorabilia Show (Elk Grove Village, IL)
This event has been postponed. The 26th Annual World's Fair Memorabilia Show will be held on Sunday, March 29, 2020, from 10 am to 4 pm at the Holiday Inn at 1000 Busse Road (Rt. 83 and Landmeier Rd.) in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. Collectors and dealers will meet to buy, sell, and trade items related to World's Fairs from 1876 to the present. Although the main focus will be on the 1933/34 Chicago World's Fair, there will also be items from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago and other Chicago-related ephemera. More than 15 tables of World's Fair items for [...]