RECENT POSTS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION’S BUILDING, FAIRGROUNDS, EXHIBITS, EVENTS, AND PEOPLE.
Columbian Exposition Books from 2018
The 125th anniversary year of the World’s Columbian Exposition offered scholarship, images, and fiction relating to the World’s Fair in several new publications in 2018. Pioneers of Promotion: How Press Agents for Buffalo Bill, P. T. Barnum, and the World’s Columbian Exposition Created Modern Marketing by Joe Dobrow. University of Oklahoma Press. Communications professional and business history writer Joe Dobrow traces the origins of modern American marketing by shining the spotlight on three men: pioneers of promotion John M. Burke of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, Tody Hamilton of the Barnum & Bailey Circus, and Moses P. Handy of [...]
“A city of ivory palaces, embodying architectural dreams.” George R. Davis introduces the 1893 World’s Fair
Today marks the anniversary of the birth on January 3, 1840, of George R. Davis, Director-General of the World’s Columbian Exposition. The article below by comes from The World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893 by Trumbull White and William Igleheart. J. W. Ziegler, 1893. _________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION By Col. George R. Davis, Director-General of the Exposition. When the gates of the World's Columbian Exposition have been finally closed it will be time enough to impress its lessons upon the world. To attempt to do so now would be premature, and perhaps misleading. But since its glories have been unveiled to the [...]
White City Archaeologist Featured in January 2019 issue of Chicago Magazine
The January 2019 issue of Chicago magazine features an article about the first official archaeological dig at the site of the 1893 World’s Columbian exposition. In “Stories in the Dirt,” Anne Ford interviews Rebecca Graff, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Chair of the American Studies Program at Lake Forest College. Graff reflects on her personal connection to the 1893 World’s Fair and surmises on the historical artifacts possibly buried beneath the future site of the Obama Presidential Center.
“The Fairest of Them All” in the Fall/Winter issue of The Newberry Magazine
The Fall/Winter 2018 issue of the Newberry Magazine, a publication of the Newberry Library in Chicago, features an article on the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. “The Fairest of Them All” by Alex Teller describes impressions of the 1893 World’s Fair by visitors and the use of images to promote and remember the Fair, as featured in the Library’s fall exhibition, “Pictures from an Exposition: Visualizing the 1893 World’s Fair.” The Newberry Magazine is sent to members of the Library (Newberry Associates).
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – The Algerian Theatre (p. 72)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 72 – THE ALGERIAN THEATER THE ALGERIAN THEATRE.—The Algerian and Tunisian Village, in which the theatre was the chief attraction, was situated near the center of the Midway Plaisance and adjoining the Street in Cairo. The frontage, as may be seen in the illustration, was not remarkably pretentious, but the main building inside had a Moorish dome with towers and minarets, and its exterior was covered with the rich-hued glazed tiles of Tunis and Algiers, as, in fact, were most of the buildings. 'I here were a Moorish cafe, [...]
Sonneberg’s Santa Claus Visits the 1893 World’s Fair
Although the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition ran during the warm months of May through October, a touch of Christmas could be found on the fairgrounds. Nestled in the northwest corner of the German Pavilion inside the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building (Section F, 77-79), the toy manufacturers of Sonneberg, Germany, featured a lovely display of toys and dolls filling an ornate carriage and topped by a Christmas tree. A photograph of the German toy exhibit in the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building. [Image from Shepp's World's Fair Photographed (Globe Bible Publishing Co., 1893).] Mecca of the child's [...]
Feb. 13, 2019: “The Black Presence at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893” Newberry Seminar (Chicago)
Chicago’s Newberry Library will offer a six-week seminar on “The Black Presence at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893,” to be held from 5:45-7:45 pm on Wednesdays starting on February 13 and ending on March 20, 2019. Led by Christopher Reed, Professor Emeritus of History at Roosevelt University, the seminar examines the role of African Americans in the World’s Fair with the aim of questioning the narrative established by the pamphlet The Reason Why the Colored American Is Not in The World’s Columbian Exposition. Reed is the author of "All the World Is Here!": The Black Presence at White City [...]
Native Americans, the 1893 World’s Fair, and Chicago As We Know It
The Red Man’s Greeting, 1494-1892 (C. H. Engle, 1893) from the collection of the Newberry Library. “Without native Americans, would we have Chicago as we know it?” asks Jesse Dukes in an interactive “Curious City” feature for WBEZ-Chicago. One part of this fascinating look at the histories of Native Americans and the settlers of Chicago is the story of Simon Pokagon, a prominent member of the Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi who spoke at the 1893 World’s Fair. Pokagon, explains historian and Potawatomi Indian John Low, criticized organizers of the World’s Columbian Exposition “for not including Indians, [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – The Alaskan Indian Village (p. 71)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 71 – THE ALASKAN INDIAN VILLAGE THE ALASKAN INDIAN VILLAGE.—Our vast territory of Alaska was not represented at the Fair to the extent its fast-developing resources might have justified. There were no territorial commissioners from that northwestern region, and such regular exhibits as were made appeared in the Government Building under the auspices of the Interior Department. Its fur display, loaned by a private Alaskan firm, was the richest ever made in this country, including the skins of the sea otter, silver fox, seal, mink and others of special [...]
Sept. 25, 2018: Columbian Exposition Symposium and Exhibit at BYU-Idaho
The McKay Library Special Collections of Brigham Young University-Idaho has mounted an exhibition “See the Fair; Exploring the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition 125 Years Later” during the Fall 2018 semester. With many items coming from the personal collection of Andrea Radke-Moss, a professor in the History Department, the exhibit showcases books, photos, stereoview cards, pamphlets, and other World’s Fair memorabilia, along with a display of period clothing. The exhibit runs from September 25 through December 14, 2018. BYU-Idaho is located in Rexburg, Idaho. On October 25-26, 2018, the university held a symposium on the 1893 World’s Fair. Faculty presentations [...]