RECENT POSTS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION’S BUILDING, FAIRGROUNDS, EXHIBITS, EVENTS, AND PEOPLE.
World’s Fair Merch from the Driehaus Museum
While visiting “Eternal Light: The Sacred Stained-Glass Windows of Louis Comfort Tiffany” at the Driehaus Museum, we spotted some 1893 World’s Fair products in the third-floor gift shop. A few came home with us. The iconic Ferris Wheel is featured on a T-shirt ($24) that comes in two colors, an enamel pin ($10) and a pair of earrings. Some Oolong Tea ($9.99) from the Oliver Pluff & Co. comes in a special tin featuring Charles Graham’s lovely artwork of the Midway Plaisance. The Driehaus Museum Store is located on the third floor of the Museum at 40 East Erie [...]
Sept. 7, 2019-Mar. 22, 2020: “Eternal Light: The Sacred Stained-Glass Windows of Louis Comfort Tiffany” at the Driehaus Museum (Chicago)
“Eternal Light: The Sacred Stained-Glass Windows of Louis Comfort Tiffany” at the Driehaus Museum features items exhibited at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.
Feb. 8, 2020: Talking Trash About the 1893 World’s Fair (West Bend, WI)
The Museum of Wisconsin Art (MOWA) in West Bend, Wisconsin, is hosting a talk on "The Vanishing City: Excavating the World’s Fair of 1893" on Saturday, February 8, 2020, from 2-3:30 pm. Rebecca Graff, associate professor of anthropology at Lake Forest College (IL), divulges what is hiding beneath the surface of Jackson Park. Professor Graff will discuss her archaeological and archival research focused on the Fair’s ephemeral “White City” and Midway Plaisance. The results of the excavation in Jackson Park revealed a robust archaeological signature of the extensive sanitary infrastructure of the Fair and, surprisingly, delicate plaster remains of [...]
Tiffany & Co. at the 1893 Columbian Exposition
“Tiffany & Co. at the 1893 Columbian Exposition” is the subject of an informative new article from Spencer Marks Ltd. “The unique masterpieces made by Tiffany and sent to the fair,” they write, “were designed and executed to be shown in a spectacular setting and sold to their very best clientele.” The Tiffany & Company and the Gorham Manufacturing Company displayed their stunning pieces in their gorgeous pavilion within the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building. Tiffany and Gorham Exhibits in the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, [Image from Official Views of the World’s Columbian Exposition by Arnold, C. [...]
Chicago Food Hall Serves an 1893 World’s Fair Theme
Hayden Hall (333 S. Wabash Street) in Chicago features the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in both name and interior design.
Updates on Plans for the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park
The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition emerged from an idea to a White City on the lake in a little more than three years. Building the Obama Presidential Center (OPC) along one edge of Jackson Park certainly will take much longer—if it materializes in that location at all. “The Obama Foundation first announced its site in Jackson Park back in 2016 and hoped to break ground in late 2018 after gaining city approvals that spring.” reports Curbed Chicago. “Two years later, there is still no firm timeline for when the $500 million development will start construction—let alone open.” The impact [...]
“Haunts of the White City” Offers a Few World’s Fair Ghost Stories
Haunts of the White City: Ghost Stories From the World's Fair, the Great Fire, and Victorian Chicago by Ursula Bielski. History Press, 2019. ISBN: 9781467139656. Softcover, 272 pages. $21.99. Even those of us who don’t believe in ghosts can enjoy a good ghost story. And Chicago is full of them. Ursula Bielski collects many of the more famous spectral tales, and few lesser-known phantoms, in Haunts of the White City. Spawning these claims of the supernatural are the expected historical horrors of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and H. H. Holmes’ killings around the time of the 1893 [...]
Utah Women Raise Money for the 1893 World’s Fair
A new podcast highlights the work of Margaret Salisbury and women in Utah, who raised funds for their state displays in the Woman’s Building and in the Utah Building of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The Zion’s Suffragists podcast from the Deseret News explores how Utah pioneered voting rights for women in the United States. Episode 3, “Woman will be restored,” features Salisbury, who served on the Board of Lady Managers as one of its vice-presidents and as a commissioner from Utah. Host Dianna Douglas describes how the women of Utah saw the 1893 World’s Fair as [...]
Vienna Beef History Museum Closes
UPDATE (1/26/2020): The Vienna Beef History Museum will be closing on February 1, 2020, with no plans for reopening, according to reporting by Block Club Chicago. _______________________________________________________________________________________ We have not yet reached the dog days of summer, but Chicago is already celebrating its most famous dog, with the opening of the Vienna Beef History Museum. The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition launched the careers of many now-famous food items, including shredded wheat, Aunt Jemima pancake mix, chili, brownies, and one of Chicago’s iconic bites: the hot dog. The Vienna beef hot dog made its debut at the World’s Fair at [...]
93. Picturesque World’s Fair – Southwest from the Government Building
SOUTHWEST, FROM THE GOVERNMENT BUILDING—The view southwest from the roof of the United States Government Building embraced a great number of attractive objects. The east lagoon and more than half the Wooded Island appeared conspicuously in the foreground, and there was no elevated place in the grounds from which the island and lagoon could be seen together that did not command a sight worth seeing, for any lover of the beautiful. To the left, immediately m front, is the Fire and Guard Station, and a little beyond the northwest scorner of the Manufactures Building uprears itself. Over that is [...]