RECENT POSTS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION’S BUILDING, FAIRGROUNDS, EXHIBITS, EVENTS, AND PEOPLE.
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – The Columbian Fountain (p. 63)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 63 – THE COLUMBIAN FOUNTAIN THE COLUMBIAN FOUNTAIN.—The Columbian Fountain was generally recognized as a triumph of artistic work on a splendid scale and beyond simplicity in its significance. The prominent object in the Court of Honor, directly in front of the Administration Building was a great circular basin, one hundred and fifty feet in diameter, in which Columbia sat in a Barge of State, drawn by sea-horses and rowed and guided by symbolical figures. At its eastern side the water of the fountain plunged in a circular cascade [...]
A look at some “Treasures from the White City” at the Driehaus Museum
Treasures from the White City: Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 opened on Saturday, September 8, at the Richard H. Driehaus Museum in Chicago, and we were the first visitors to see the exhibit. Treasures from the White City at the Driehaus Museum in Chicago The mansion is a breathtaking example of Gilded Age Chicago, and Treasures and the other current exhibit on Gilded Age portraits complement the gorgeous space. Two third-floor rooms showcase artifacts and art from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. The Driehaus Museum occupies what was the Nickerson mansion in 1893. Display cases in [...]
Video of “The 125th Anniversary of The World’s Columbian Exposition: A Celebration” at Chicago History Museum (May 29, 2018)
A video recording “The 125th Anniversary of The World's Columbian Exposition: A Celebration” held at the Chicago History Museum on May 29, 2018, is available from CAN TV. The program featured Donald C. Meyer, Professor of Music at Lake Forest College, discussing his project to preserve sheet music associated with the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. Pianist Chris White, violinist Kate Carter, and baritone Brad Jungwirth performed pieces featured on their 2018 album Souvenir Music from the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. The video can be streamed at: https://archive.org/details/738122 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3plBfqML6uo
August 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 August 2018 Trivia Question Who served as the “rolling chair boys,” assisting visitors around the fairgrounds? A. college students from across the country B. husbands of the women working in the Irish Village C. Civil War veterans D. New Yorkers still sore about losing their bid to host the Fair. ANSWER: Young men from colleges across the country served as “rolling chair boys.” See our post about “Rolling-Chair [...]
Sept. 25, 2018: World’s Fair Auction #32 closes
Columbian Exposition collectors may be interested in World’s Fair Auction #32, now open for preview. Online bidding closes on September 25th, 2018, at 10:00 PM EDT. The auction catalog can be viewed at: http://www.worldsfairauction.com/cgi-bin/CATALL.CGI. Lots 14 through 57 relate to the 1893 World’s Fair, and include: a rare 14-by-11-inch poster of the Viking Ship; a milk glass tumbler depicting the Illinois State Building; a jig-saw puzzle picturing Horticultural Hall; a "Chicago Exposition 1893" globe inkwell; an ornate "Columbian Fair Souvenir" metal box; admission tickets, trade and postal cards, souvenir coins and medals, and spoons. World’s Fair Auction offers world’s fair [...]
Sept. 1-30, 2018 World’s Fair Diorama at The Whistler (Chicago)
Natural history exhibits from the 1893 World’s Fair are on display in the front window of The Whistler, a bar in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago, throughout the month of September. In celebration of our 125th anniversary, the Field Museum has lent the specimens from their original 1893 World’s Fair collection for the pop-up diorama. The Field and Whistler will team up for a series of “Science of Alcohol” discussion series, including “The Biology of Beer” (Sunday, Sept. 9, 6 p.m.), “Hard Stuff” about ancient brewing practices in Egypt and Peru (Tuesday, Sept. 18, 7 p.m.), and “Pickled” [...]
Oct. 6 & 7, 2018: Masks & Myths: Devils and Dancers from Sri Lanka (Chicago)
Mandala, a South Asian performing arts organization in Chicago, will present Masks & Myths: Devils and Dancers from Sri Lanka on Saturday, October 6 at 7 pm and again on Sunday, October 7, at 3 pm at the Reva & David Logan Center for the Arts, 915 East 60th St. in Chicago. Not since the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition have Sri Lankan dancers appeared as part of a highly visible international exchange. At that time, Kandyan artists performed in cages as so-called “devil dancers” at the Ceylon Pavilion on the fairgrounds. Dubbed “Devil Dancers,” Sri Lankan dance artists in the [...]
Oct. 4, 2018: “The Vanishing City: Excavating 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 Thursday, October 4, 2018, the Newberry will host “The Vanishing City: Excavating the World's Fair”. Rebecca Graff, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Chair of American Studies at Lake Forest College, will speak about her archeological and archival research focused on the ephemeral “White City” and Midway Plaisance of the 1893 Chicago Fair. The lecture runs from 6-7 pm in Ruggles Hall at the Newberry Library, 60 West Walton Street, Chicago. The event is free and [...]
Rolling-Chair Romances
Recruit eight-hundred young college men to the fairgrounds of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and assign them to work as escorts for young, attractive women. The situation is fraught with danger, advised the Chicago Record in an article appearing in May of 1893. The annotated news story reprinted below aimed to expose the “rolling romances” formed at the World’s Fair between the wheel-chair pushers—young men with a “very attentive attitude”—and their pert payload. Victorian-era readers (even those in gritty Chicago) may have blushed when learning about the boys’ “way of leaning over the back of a chair in a [...]
Pushing for a Labor Strike at the Fair
The American labor movement and the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition share an intertwined history. Labor Day became an official U.S. federal holiday in 1894. The official histories of the World’s Fair rarely recognize the back-breaking labor of the working class and largely immigrant labor force that carved the lagoon, constructed the White City, operated the concessions. The following article from the August 16, 1893 issue of the Chicago Inter Ocean, describes one instance of labor unrest at the Fair involving the college students who came to Chicago from across the country to serve as “rolling-chair boys” on the fairgrounds. [...]