Columbian Exposition News
The enduring legacy of the 1893 World’s Fair in modern scholarship, education, the arts, creative products, preservation, and other events.
RECENT POSTS ABOUT COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION NEWS
Stephen Colbert presses the 1893 World’s Fair
While the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition is not common fodder for pundits and comedians on late-night TV shows, all that changed on the evening of March 11, 2026, when the host of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert took on the great Chicago World’s Fair. The U.S. Mint struck its last circulating pennies back in November 2025. We noted the event with a little history about the premiere of [...]
The Devil in the WHAT City?
We love some Jeopardy! aaaaaalmost as much as we love exploring the 1893 World’s Fair. In the Double Jeopardy round on the March 5, 2026, episode, defending one-day champion Quentin Powers found a Daily Double and had this $1,600 clue in the “CITIES IN COLOR” category: “For the color of many buildings, the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago had this nickname referenced in the title of a 2003 bestseller”. [...]
Season’s Readings 2025: New Books about the World’s Columbian Exposition
New books explore the colorful campus and souvenir coins of the Columbian Exposition and profile a host of people associated with the Fair, including architect Stanford White and sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, photographer Alice Austen, exhibitors Nancy Green (who portrayed Aunt Jemima) and Louis Vuitton, and another investigation of H.H. Holmes. That devil also creeps into a supernatural thriller. Note: We provide this announcement of new titles without any compensation [...]
Paragon Ragtime Orchestra releases “Meet Me at the Fair!” CD
The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra (PRO) has released a new album of music from great American World’s Fairs, including the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Meet Me at the Fair! (Rialto Records 6008) features nineteen tracks—nearly seventy minutes of exciting music performed by the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra (PRO). Conducted by Rick Benjamin, the PRO features musicians Arthur Moeller (violin), Bernadette Boerckel (soprano), Paul Murphy and Brandon Bergeron (cornets), and the [...]
1893 Viking Ship featured on “Backstory with Larry Potash”
The October 5, 2025, episode of Backstory with Larry Potash on WGN-TV featured a segment on “The Viking Ship That Took the World by Storm.” The feature story profiles the replica Viking ship that sailed from Norway to Chicago to be displayed at the 1893 World’s Fair. This treasured relic from the Columbian Exposition is preserved today in Geneva, Illinois, under the care of the Friends of the Viking [...]
From FERRIS to WHEEL in a new puzzle craze
A new word-transformation game is taking puzzlers to new heights of excitement. Raddle, created by Sandy Weisz of Chicago’s puzzle design studio the Mystery League, ran a series of Chicago-themed games last week. A most memorable and mammoth attraction of the 1893 World’s Fair made it into the September 13 game, which featured a Raddle board stretching from “FERRIS” to “WHEEL.” Go for a spin here: https://raddle.quest/2025/09/13 [...]
Chicago buzzes in for “Inside Jeopardy Live on Tour”
“Inside Jeopardy Live on Tour” brought Ken Jennings and friends to the Windy City on Friday, September 12. Jeopardy! fans gathered in the historic Chicago Theater for a live taping of the “Inside Jeopardy!” podcast, hosted by Michael Davies and Sarah Foss. Special guest appearances by champion Juveria Zaheer and Celebrity Jeopardy! champion W. Kamau Bell rounded out the first half of the night. Then Ken Jennings took the stage [...]
Aug. 8-Nov. 2, 2025: “Swedes at the Fair” (Swedish American Museum, Chicago)
The Swedish American Museum in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood is running a special exhibit on “Swedes at the Fair” from August 8 through November 2, 2025. The exhibit highlights Swedes and Swedish-American participation in the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition with displays about the Swedish Pavilion, the Swedish Restaurant [including an image from our post "Tales from the Swedish Café"], Sweden Day, the American Union of Swedish Singers, the Royal Swedish [...]
German Punch Bowl from the 1893 World’s Fair Joins Art Institute of Chicago Collection
A monumental porcelain punch bowl made for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago has returned to this city. On July 11, 2025, the Art Institute of Chicago reopened the Eloise W. Martin Galleries, where 17th-, 18th- and 19th-century European designs are displayed. Among the new works added to the collection is a Rococo punch bowl created by the Royal Porcelain Manufactory (Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur, K.P.M.) in 1892. This item [...]
Elevate Winter Guard 2025 performs “In All FAIRness”
The World’s Columbian Exposition has been employed as a theme for several ballet works, and in the spring of 2025 a winter guard treated audiences to a trip to the Chicago fair. Elevate of Indianapolis, Indiana, performed a show titled “In All FAIRness,” inspired by the 1893 World’s Fair and featuring the music of “Merry-Go-Round of Life” by Joe Hisaishi. Competing across the country during the winter months, winter [...]