On the Record
Audio recordings of music and spoken word
from the 1893 World’s Fair
RECENT POSTS ABOUT WORLD’S FAIR AUDIO RECORDINGS AND MUSIC
Listen to the journey of the Viking Ship to the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago
Few surviving artifacts from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition are as treasured as the Viking, an exact replica of the Gokstad ship that sailed from Norway to be displayed at the Fair. Friends of the Viking Ship in Geneva, Illinois, work to preserve and educate about the Viking and her crew. They have released a new audiobook version of Viking: From Norway to America (Friends of the Viking Ship, 2014), an English translation of the memoir written by crew member Rasmus Rasmussen. The audiobook is available through many online retailers, including: Apple Books Barnes & Noble Chirp Google Play [...]
Aug. 19-21, 2022: “Sangamon Songs” Musical Play Tells of Illinois Boy Who Visited the 1893 World’s Fair (Skokie, IL)
A diary written by a 16-year-old Illinois boy who visited the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago is the source material for Sangamon Songs: A Musical Play by Tom Irwin and John W. Arden. The show will be performed at the Skokie Theatre for Performing Arts on August 19-21, 2022. After discovering Harry Glen Ludlam’s journal in his family farmhouse, Tom Irwin began composing an acoustic song cycle about late-nineteenth-century life of a teenager in a small town in Central Illinois. Irwin's 2012 album Sangamon Songs collects twelve of the pieces, including one titled “Hurrah for the World's Fair.” John [...]
“1893 World’s Columbian Exposition: Crossroads of America” podcast
The podcast Tour Guide Tell All brings listeners on a visit to the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago with their episode “1893 World’s Columbian Exposition: Crossroads of America” (published on April 9, 2021). In just under an hour, Rebecca Fachner and Becca Grawl cover a wide range of subjects, including “famous firsts of the fair,” Lyman J. Gage, Daniel Burnham, Frederick Law Olmsted, Gen. George R. Davis, George Westinghouse, Frederick Douglass, Eadweard Muybridge and much more. The hosts make several interesting connections between the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago and subsequent architecture and urban planning in their home of [...]
“The Spatula and the White City” podcast
“One of my favorite things in the world is the spatula,” confesses Diane T. Sands, host of the podcast This Fact is Overdue. In the episode “The Spatula and the White City” (March 1, 2021), she shares interesting connections between this simple and useful kitchen utensil and the 1893 World’s Fair. Along the way, listeners will learn about Anna M. Mangin, a young Black woman who invented the pastry fork in 1891. Her invention was exhibited in the New York display in the Woman’s Building. The story also passes through Ida B. Wells’ protest publication The Reason Why the [...]
“Frederick Law Olmsted” podcast from Cream City Windy City
Wendy Bright’s podcast Cream City~Windy City explores interesting connections between Milwaukee and Chicago. Episode #10, “Frederick Law Olmsted,” (released April 21, 2021) focuses on the “Father of Landscape Architecture.” In 1869, Chicago hired the firm of Olmsted, Vaux & Co. to design a park system on the South Side. Twenty-two years later, Frederick Law Olmsted and his associate Henry Codman redesigned Jackson Park and the Midway Plaisance to serve as the fairgrounds for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Around that time, the Milwaukee Park Commission hired Olmsted to design a system of three parks for their city: Lake Park, [...]
The Windy Cities Historians Podcast visits the Columbian Exposition
The Windy Cities Historians Podcast has been working its way chronologically through Chicago history and has now reached the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Episodes 19-21, “The Third Star,” are a three-part look at the event now represented in Chicago’s municipal flag. Co-hosts Chris Lynch and Patrick McBriarty interview Paul Durica, the Director of Exhibitions at the Newberry Library and co-editor of the annotated Chicago by Day and Night, and historian and writer Jeff Nichols. The show’s deep dive into the Exposition, clocking in at 3:15 hours, is enriched by the hosts’ infectious enthusiasm for the topic. Part I (released [...]
Some Recent Podcasts about the 1893 World’s Fair
Listen up! Several new podcasts discuss a wide variety of interesting topics about the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, from the Ferris Wheel to a Beer War. Grab your ear buds and check them out. If you know of other recent 183 World's Fair podcasts, let us know or post a link in the Comments below. Engines of Our Ingenuity 1968 “Vignettes From the Fair” (Dec. 13, 2020) Everything, Ranked “S1E2 - Biscuits+Gravy, Dinos, The 1893 World's Fair” [Note: Adult language!] (Nov. 4, 2020) Windy City Historians “Episode 18 – The Year 1893” (Oct. 29, 2020) Wendy City Podcasts "Episode [...]
Utah Women Raise Money for the 1893 World’s Fair
A new podcast highlights the work of Margaret Salisbury and women in Utah, who raised funds for their state displays in the Woman’s Building and in the Utah Building of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The Zion’s Suffragists podcast from the Deseret News explores how Utah pioneered voting rights for women in the United States. Episode 3, “Woman will be restored,” features Salisbury, who served on the Board of Lady Managers as one of its vice-presidents and as a commissioner from Utah. Host Dianna Douglas describes how the women of Utah saw the 1893 World’s Fair as [...]
Jan. 11-12, 2020: “Sangamon Songs” Musical Play Tells of Illinois Boy Who Visited the 1893 World’s Fair (Skokie, IL)
A diary written by a 16-year-old Illinois boy who visited the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago is the source material for a new musical. Sangamon Songs: A Musical Play by Tom Irwin and John W. Arden will be performed at Skokie Theatre for Performing Arts on Jan. 11 and 12, 2010. After discovering Harry Glen Ludlam’s journal in his family farmhouse, Tom Irwin began composing an acoustic song cycle about late-nineteenth-century life of a teenager in a small town in Central Illinois. Funded by a Kickstarter campaign, his 2012 album Sangamon Songs collected twelve of the pieces, including one [...]
“From the Midway” a new 1893 World’s Fair podcast from the Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune recently launched a new podcast series called “From the Midway” that explores the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition on its 125th anniversary year. Host Colleen Connolly, digital news editor at the Trib, promises to offer listeners stories about “the legacy left behind by the fair, including the remnants that can still be viewed today, the cultural legacy of the fair, the evolution of the Ferris wheel and products that made their debut at the exposition, and still exist today.” She delivers in the first episode, “Relics of the Fair” (12:25 min.), which reports on many notable remnants [...]