RECENT POSTS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION’S BUILDING, FAIRGROUNDS, EXHIBITS, EVENTS, AND PEOPLE.
Nov. 6, 2018: “Eye of the Beholder: Visitor Experience at 19th-Century World Fairs” at the Newberry Library (Chicago)
The Newberry Library’s Pictures from an Exposition: Visualizing the 1893 World's Fair includes a series of rich programs about the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. On Tuesday, November 6, 2018, the Newberry will host “Eye of the Beholder: Visitor Experience at 19th-Century World Fairs”. Dr. Ruth Slatter, lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Hull (UK), will focus on the many thousands of visitors who streamed through these exhibition spaces. The lecture runs from 6-7 pm in Ruggles Hall at the Newberry Library, 60 West Walton Street, Chicago. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – The Santa Maria (p. 66)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 66 – THE SANTA MARIA THE SANTA MARIA.—The duplicate of the flagship of Columbus, the famous "Santa Maria,” had many thousands of visitors as she lay in Lake Michigan, just in front of the grounds, one of the most interesting of all the Exposition's attractions. The hosts who boarded her and examined her every part, accustomed as they were to the big ships of today, were surprised at her comparatively small dimensions, though, as a matter of fact, a stancher or safer craft it would be hard to imagine. [...]
Nov. 2, 2018: World Premier of Alex Temple’s “Three Principles of Noir”
Composer Alex Temple [Image from the American Composers Orchestra.] The American Composers Orchestra (ACO) will perform the world premiere a piece having a time-traveling science fiction narrative centered around a Chicago historian who travels back in time to the 1893 World's Fair. The ensemble will perform Alex Temple's Three Principles of Noir with singer Meaghan Burke, on November 2, 2018, at Carnegie Hall in New York. Three Principles of Noir is a “science-fiction micro-opera” for amplified voice and chamber orchestra with lighting and costume, set in Chicago’s past, present and future. Alex Temple, who graduated with her D.M.A. [...]
September 2018 Trivia Question
Our monthly newsletter includes a “Palmer Puzzler” exclusive to those who subscribe. (You can sign up here.) The first person to send us the correct answer wins a small prize. The September 2018 Trivia Question To accompany our “Brownies in September” post, here is a trivia question about (the other kind of) brownies at the Fair. One origin story for the delicious chocolate treats is that they were invented for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Bertha Palmer, head of the Board of Lady Managers, directed Palmer House pastry chefs to come up with a dessert that would be easy [...]
Pictures from “Pictures from an Exposition”
“Pictures from an Exposition: Visualizing the 1893 World’s Fair” has opened at the Newberry Library. “Pictures from an Exposition: Visualizing the 1893 World’s Fair” has opened at the Newberry Library in Chicago. The exhibition of nearly two hundred items from the World’s Columbian Exposition fills two galleries in the Library’s newly renovated main floor. Displays are organized into sections on: • Introduction • Construction • Maps and Bird’s Eye Views • Staff and Sculpture • Publicity and Promotion • Spectacle • Transportation and Tourism • Columbus and Commerce • Along the Midway Plaisance • Indians • Nations [...]
Happy National Coffee Day
Happy National Coffee Day from WorldsFairChicago1893.com! An advertisement for Chase & Sanborn's "Seal Brand" coffee, official coffee of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.
Hopes of the Coming Humanity: Remembering Frances E. Willard
“The world is wide, and I will not waste my life in friction when it could be turned into momentum.” – Frances E. Willard Today marks the anniversary of the birth of Frances E. Willard (September 28, 1839 – February 17, 1898), a member of the Lady Board of Managers of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and the president of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. The profile of this notable women’s rights activist comes from the October 1891 issue of The Illustrated World’s Fair. MISS FRANCES E. WILLARD LADY MANAGER, EVANSTON, ILL. It has happily become a work of supererogation [...]
Oct. 28, 2018: “The World’s Columbian Exposition in Music and Story” at Second Presbyterian Church (Chicago)
The historic Second Presbyterian Church in Chicago will celebrate the legacy of the 1893 World’s Fair with an event on October 28, 2018. The date marks the 125th anniversary of the assassination of five-time Chicago mayor Carter H. Harrison, Sr. just days before the scheduled end of the World’s Columbian Exposition. The tragic event sent the city into mourning and the closing ceremonies were replaced by a public memorial service. “The World's Columbian Exposition in Music and Story” will feature musical selections related to the Fair, performed on organ by music director Michael Shawgo, with commentary to provide stories about [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – Entrance to Woman’s Building (p. 65)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 65 – ENTRANCE TO WOMAN'S BUILDING ENTRANCE TO WOMAN'S BUILDING.—The view given in the accompanying illustration is of the east portal to the transept of the Woman's Building, and it may be said of it, as might be said of other portion of the edifice, that it appeared best upon a close inspection. The building, accidentally, no doubt, but none the less certainly, had a feminine character, lacking boldness and strength of conception, but charming in its parts and showing close and tasteful attention in its details. The triple [...]
Why Couldn’t New York Build the White City for Real?
“History is happening in Manhattan and we just happen to be In the greatest city in the world!” --"The Schuyler Sisters” from Hamilton The White City of the World’s Columbian Exposition was the undeniable center of the world for six months in 1893, but it was also a theatrical illusion -- a Dream City. Behind the scenes, a famous rivalry played out between the real cities of Chicago and New York to lay claim to title of the greatest city in the country. “If Chicago could construct the White City as an elaborate theme park, why couldn’t New York [...]