RECENT POSTS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION’S BUILDING, FAIRGROUNDS, EXHIBITS, EVENTS, AND PEOPLE.
What was Chicago’s official color for the Columbian Exposition?
Frank Lloyd Wright was known for his Cherokee red, and Maxfield Parrish had his own blue. Diana Vreeland was known for wearing red, and Shelby Latcherie’s colors were "blush" and "bashful" (a.k.a “pink” and “pink”). Icons often have a signature color. In October of 1892, Chicago excitedly prepared for her coming out ball. The world soon would arrive to see the Fair, and downtown businessmen decided to decorate their city for the occasion. Chicago needed a signature color. An object of absorbing interest to all the world The Congressional bill passed in the spring of 1890 authorizing the World’s Columbian [...]
“World’s Fairs and the Death of Optimism”
Darran Anderson’s essay “World’s Fairs and the Death of Optimism” (citylab.com, October 3, 2018) addresses the fading luster of World’s Fairs and uses some examples from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago to illustrate his point. “World’s Fairs fell from grace,” writes Anderson. “Who could blame nostalgia towards witnessing the Crystal Palace, the head of the Statue of Liberty in a Parisian park, the extra-terrestrial Trylon and Perisphere, or the Tower of the Sun? This was bolstered by the fact that many of the greatest buildings, like Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan’s Transportation Building of 1893 with its [...]
Remembering Sophia Hayden, architect of the Woman’s Building
Today marks the anniversary of the birth of Sophia Gregoria Hayden on October 17, 1868, in Santiago, Chile. The first female graduate of the four-year program in architecture at MIT, Hayden won the national competition to design the Woman’s Building for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. In her essay on the Woman’s Pavilion, Anna Burrows observes that “due to its limited dimensions, Sophia Hayden deemed it more effective to concentrate attention on the outside details. For these reasons, the building was criticized for too easily revealing the sex of its designer.” The excerpt below comes from “Woman's Triumph at [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – The Whaleback, “Christopher Columbus” (p. 67)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 67 – THE WHALEBACK, "CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS." THE WHALEBACK, "CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS."—The steamboat company accorded the privilege of controlling the passenger traffic by water between the central part of Chicago and the Fair Grounds had a number of boats in its service but none to compare either in size or speed with the "Christopher Columbus,' popularly known as the "Whale-back." The "Christopher Columbus" was one of the best of the type of freight carriers, a comparatively recent invention, built with the idea of rather sliding over the waves than cutting them, [...]
Nov. 15, 2018: “From White City to Green Haven: Jackson Park’s Late 19th-Century Transformations” 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 Thursday, November 15, 2018, the Newberry will host “From White City to Green Haven: Jackson Park's Late 19th-Century Transformations”. Historian Julia Bachrach will highlight the early development of Jackson Park, exploring the ways in which natural features, Olmsted’s philosophies about society, recreational needs and expectations, and collaborations with designers such as architect Daniel H. Burnham shaped Jackson Park during the late nineteenth century. The lecture runs from 6-7 pm in Ruggles Hall at the Newberry [...]
Nov. 2, 2018-Jan. 5, 2020: “Brewing Up Chicago” at the Field Museum (Chicago)
The immigrant story behind Chicago’s rich beer history is the focus of a new exhibition that opens on November 2 at the Field Museum in Chicago. History and beer fans visiting Brewing Up Chicago: How Beer Transformed a City will travel through time to learn about Chicago’s founding in 1833 and the decades leading up to the World’s Columbian Exposition 60 years later. (Left) A medal given to the Pabst Brewing Company at the 1893 World Columbian Exposition. Adolphus Busch of St. Louis and Frederick Pabst of Milwaukee competed to have their beer declared the best at the [...]
Oct. 13, 2018: “The History of Jackson Park” at Chicago Public Library
As part of the annual Chicago Open Archives program, the Chicago Public Library will open their collection on Saturday, October 13, for an event exploring the history of the city park that became home to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. “From Swampland to Presidential Center: The History of Jackson Park” will be held from 10 am to noon at the Harold Washington Library Center. CPL offers this description of the program: “Throughout many of Illinois's 200 years, Chicago's Jackson Park has been an important site to the city, Illinois and the world. Through unique archives we explore the history [...]
Nov. 10, 2018: “Middle Eastern Dance at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition” 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 Saturday, November 10, 2018, the Newberry will host two events about Middle Eastern Dance. “Dancing Remains: Female Entertainers Before, During, and After the Columbian Exposition of 1893”. Meiver de la Cruz, Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance at Oberlin College, revisits the historical precedents and ideological legacy of the dances presented at the “Street in Cairo” exhibit in the Midway Plaisance, to challenge prevalent representations dancers as non-agential objects of the gaze. The lecture runs from [...]
Nov. 10, 2018: “Crafting the World’s Fair” 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 Saturday, November 10, 2018, the Newberry will host “Crafting the World's Fair” [https://www.newberry.org/11102018-second-saturday-november-crafting-worlds-fair]. Author and artist Laura Nyman Montenegro will read her book The Most Magical World’s Fair and lead children in a craft project inspired by the Fair. The children’s event runs from 10-11:30am in 1-Northwest at the Newberry Library, 60 West Walton Street, Chicago. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is recommended.
Remembering Harlow Higinbotham, President of the World’s Columbian Exposition
Today we mark the birthday of Harlow Niles Higinbotham (October 10, 1838 – April 18, 1919), who served as the third President of the World’s Columbian Exposition Company, following terms of Lyman J. Gage and William T. Baker. The quote below, reprinted in Harriet Monroe’s Harlow Niles Higinbotham: A Memoir with Brief Autobiography and Extracts from Speeches and Letters (R.F. Seymour, 1920) came from a speech that Higinbotham made years after the 1893 World’s Fair, at a banquet for a group of Japanese commissioners promoting a proposed exposition in Tokyo. "In the years preceding our Columbian festival, peace reigned [...]