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
The Architectural Influence of the 1893 World’s Fair on “Wicked”
Every way That you look in this city There’s something exquisite You’ll want to visit Before the day’s through! —“One Short Day” by Stephen Schwartz The 2024 blockbuster film Wicked takes audiences into the thrilling dreamworld of Oz. While visiting the Emerald City, attentive viewers may catch glimpses of the 1893 World’s Fair. Ever since L. Frank Baum “discovered” the Land of Oz and published The Wonderful Wizard of [...]
“It’s Ugly.” But worth $150,000! Tiffany Love Cup from 1893 World’s Fair Featured on “Antiques Roadshow”
It may be ugly, but it’s a treasure from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. A silver loving cup made by Tiffany & Company for the World’s Fair was brought in for appraisal on Antiques Roadshow Season 28 Episode 20 “Vintage Madison 2024, Hour 1” on PBS. The sterling silver cup is decorated with enameling embedded with turquoise and other stones. The owner inherited the vase from a family member [...]
The Amusement Zone of the 1893 Columbian Exposition featured on WTTW’s “Chicago Stories”
“The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition proved that Chicagoans had a healthy appetite for amusement—and that fun could be monetized.” —WTTW’s Chicago Stories An episode of WTTW’s Chicago Stories airing on October 4, 2024, takes viewers on a ride through the history of regional amusement parks such as The White City, Riverview, and Kiddieland. “Amusement Parks” opens with a visit to the 1893 World’s Fair and some dazzling digital animation [...]
Oct 15, 2024: “Tiffany Chapel: 25 Years at the Morse” (Winter Park, FL)
The Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company (1892–1902) exhibited a magnificent chapel interior as the centerpiece of its display for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Since 1999, the chapel has been on view at the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art in Winter Park, FL. In celebration of the chapel’s 25th anniversary at the Museum, the Morse will exhibit Fathers of the Church, a glass mosaic on [...]
“No Holmes Barred!” A World’s Fair Radio Show Podcast Concludes
History, hilarity, and histrionics characterize a new satirical radio-show podcast about the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. No Holmes Barred! is written, directed, and produced by Daniel Ciarrocchi (you may have seen him on Jeopardy!) and tells the dual stories of Daniel Burnham’s construction of the fairgrounds in Jackson Park and the bloody trail of murderer H. H. Holmes in nearby Englewood. If this premise sounds like a certain [...]
Preserving the Clarence Darrow Memorial Bridge in Jackson Park
Very few structures from the fairgrounds of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago have survived. One of them has stood in a state of disrepair behind a chain-link fence for fifteen years. The University of Chicago student newspaper, the Chicago Maroon, had provided an update on efforts to repair this historic bridge in Jackson Park. Evgenia Anastasakos’ “Community Members Organize to Preserve Historic Jackson Park Bridge” (August 5, [...]
Is “The Devil in the White City” TV miniseries still alive?
Deadline’s Zac Ntim recently interviewed Stacey Sher, often listed as show runner for Hulu’s The Devil in the White City TV miniseries that was shelved in March of 2023. Ntim asked Sher “is that still happening and are you still involved?” to which she replied “I’m still involved. I never give up.” When asked if fans can expect to see it sometime soon, she replied “I mean, I hope [...]
Footprint of the Obama Presidential Center in relation to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park
Construction continues on the Obama Presidential Center on the west side of Jackson Park in Chicago. An update from the Obama Foundation shows a map of the campus, which includes a Museum building, John Lewis Plaza, Forum building, a new branch of the Chicago Public Library, the Eleanor Roosevelt Fruit & Vegetable Garden, the Home Court, and a playground. To see how the space occupied by these new structures [...]
Long-lost film footage of the 1893 World’s Fair?
Has some long-lost film footage of the 1893 World’s Fair been discovered? Not quite. But this video about a stunning piece of Chicago real estate opens with some fun AI-generated animations of the Columbian Exposition fairgrounds. The video showcases a $3.6M penthouse mansion in the historic Montgomery Ward building (6 N. Michigan Ave.), constructed in 1898–99. [Note: The building across the street—constructed for use by the World’s Congress Auxiliary [...]
“Big Shoulders” comic series plans to visit the 1893 World’s Fair
“A crossroads is where destinies can get made or broken,” states Big Shoulders #1, the first of a proposed six-issue full-color comic series. This Chicago-based fantasy, where the mundane and the cosmic collide, features twenty-two-year-old Coda Walker waking up and finding himself transported to the 1893 World’s Fair. Two pages (not yet colored) from Big Shoulders #1, showing Coda Walker in front of the Administration Building at the [...]