RECENT POSTS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION’S BUILDING, FAIRGROUNDS, EXHIBITS, EVENTS, AND PEOPLE.
Mar. 16, 2018-Apr. 28, 2019: World’s Fair “Mummies” at the Field Museum
Mummies that were on display at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition are back in Chicago after a 6-year national tour. The exhibition "Mummies" opens at the Field Museum on Friday, March 16, 2018, and showcases artifacts from ancient Egypt and ancient Peru. Some of the ancient mummy artifacts on display at the 1893 World's Fair. [from The Catalogue of the Cliff-Dwellers Exhibit (H. Jay Smith Exploring Company, 1893).] After the close of the 1893 World’s Fair, mummies that had been part of the anthropology exhibit entered the collection of the Columbian Museum of Chicago (the original name of what [...]
Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry Celebrates the 1893 World’s Fair
The Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) in Chicago is housed in one of the few buildings remaining from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition: what was then the Palace of Fine Arts. To commemorate the 125th anniversary of the World’s Fair, the Museum has mounted two displays commemorating the historic event. Lego Ferris Wheel Adam Reed Tucker installing his LEGO Ferris Wheel model. [Image from the Museum of Science and Industry.] The original 264-foot Ferris Wheel left Jackson Park in the spring of 1894, when it was dismantled and moved to Lincoln Park. For the past few months, [...]
Chicago: City of the Century (2003)
News of the passing of David Ogden Stiers on March 3 has garnered tributes to the actor’s unforgettable role on M*A*S*H and his voice performances for several animated film from Disney Studios. Mr. Stiers also played a small but valuable role in the history of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, serving as the narrator of one of the first documentaries about the great fair. Chicago: City of the Century, based on the 1996 book of the same title by Donald L. Miller, constituted three episodes in season 15 of the American Experience television series produced by WGBH Boston. Narrated [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – The Krupp Gun (p. 37)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 37 – THE KRUPP GUN KRUPP GUN EXHIBIT AND LEATHER AND SHOE TRADES BUILDING.—The building in which was the famous Krupp Gun exhibit and that devoted to the Leather and Shoe Trade displays were situated together on the lake front, in the southeastern part of the Exposition grounds, and both appear in the above Illustration. The big gun shown in the Krupp exhibit, the largest in the world, weighs one hundred and twenty-two tons, is forty-eight feet long and throws a ball weighing two thousand three hundred pounds a distance [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – The Hunt Ball (p. 36)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 36 – THE HUNT BALL "THE HUNT BALL. "—Among the hundreds of magnificent paintings exhibited in the Art Palace, the work of artists widely renowned in their special fields, certain pictures had always a throng about them from morning until mght. Among these was one, which, from its intrinsic merit, even beyond its size and brilliant coloring, attracted a continuous group of delighted visitors. It was "The Hunt Ball," the work of Jules L. Stewart. It would be difficult, certainly, to imagine a scene more full of brightness and the [...]
April 25, 2018 (Reno, NV): 1893 World’s Mini-Fair at the National Automobile Museum
The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition is coming to Reno, Nevada, for three days in April. The National Automobile Museum, is holding its 14th annual History Symposium on April 25, 26, and 28, with a theme of “The 1890s: Peril and Power.” The Museum will host national and local authors and historians who will address the winds of change that marked the 1890s. A special highlight of this year’s symposium is a mini-version of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. The Museum invites visitors to “journey through a new age of discovery as you enjoy activity stations throughout the museum. Interactive, [...]
In Like a Lion
The month of March, the saying goes, comes “in like a lion, out like a lamb.” Lions—both real and plaster—could be found at several locations around the grounds of the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. One example is Lions by German sculptor M. Arthur Waagen. This set of four lion sculptures adorned the base of the obelisk, which stood in the center of the Colonnade in the South Canal, between Machinery Hall and the Agricultural Building. The Chicago Daily Tribune (“By Rush and Chisel: Sculptors and Painters Who Have Decorated the Fair” November 27, 1892) described the animal sculpture [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – The Fisheries Building (p. 35)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 35 – THE FISHERIES BUILDING THE FISHERIES BUILDING.—Quite unlike any other structure on the grounds, yet so situated and so constructed as to blend with the harmonious whole of the Exposition, the Fisheries Building afforded a striking example of an obstacle overcome by architectural genius. The space allotted to the Fisheries was irregular in form, and in what was considered an unpromising locality, but the novel building erected was as symmetrical in ground plan as striking in exterior treatment. The greatest length was three hundred and sixty-five feet, the terminal pavilions [...]
March 16, 2018: 1893 Scavenger Hunt in the Chicago Loop
If you love learning about the history of the 1893 World’s Fair, are passionate about Chicago architecture, enjoy puzzles, and want to stretch your legs, then don’t miss out on “Glitz, Glamour…and Panic! A Hunt for the History of 1893 in Chicago.” Atlas Obscura Chicago Field Agent Patti Swanson is once again hosting her "Google-proof" scavenger hunt in the Chicago Loop on Friday, March 16, 2018. You will meet on the steps of the Art Institute of Chicago (née World’s Congress Auxiliary Building), next to Edward Kemeys' lions, where Patty will hand your team a set of clues built [...]
May 29, 2018: Chicago History Museum Celebrates the 1893 Fair
"The Ferris Wheel Waltz-Polka" sheet music. [Image from Johns Hopkins University.] To celebrate the 125th anniversary of the World’s Columbian Exposition, the Chicago History Museum (CHM) is hosting a talk by Donald C. Meyer, Professor of Music at Lake Forest College, on May 29 at the museum. Prof. Meyer’s digitization project to preserve sheet music associated with the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago includes an online archive of recordings, sheet music scores and lyrics. An associated musical album, which we reviewed here, has been released by Lake Forest College Press. “The 125th Anniversary of The World’s Columbian Exposition: [...]