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May 3-Aug 27, 2023: “The World Is Changing Exhibit” (Molly Brown House Museum, CO)
Among the amazing array of famous (or soon-to-be-famous) people walking the fairgrounds of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago was the Margaret “Molly” Brown. Posthumously known as “The Unsinkable Molly Brown,” she was a survivor of the tragic sinking of the Titanic, while her shipmate Francis (“Frank”) Millet, Director of Decoration and Function at the Columbian Exposition, went down with the ship. A new temporary exhibit about the [...]
June 9, 2023: The Princess of the Fair: The Infanta Eulalia of Spain’s Visit to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition (online)
Royalty! Fireworks! A Throne! The Glessner House in Chicago will be hosting an online presentation on "The Princess of the Fair: The Infanta Eulalia of Spain's Visit to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition" on Friday, June 9, 2023. Among the amazing array of famous people walking the fairgrounds of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, the supreme guest of honor was the Infanta Eulalia of Spain. Chicago was [...]
151. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Colorado Building
THE COLORADO BUILDING.—Occupying a prominent site near the popular northwestern entrance to the Exposition Grounds, and presenting a fine frontage, the Colorado Building was one of the most noticeable of State structures, and in detail fully deserved the attention it attracted. It was built in the Spanish Renaissance style, at a cost of $35,000, and was finished exteriorly in staff of an ivory color. Two slender Spanish towers, rising [...]
A satirical podcast about the 1893 World’s Fair?
Jeopardy! clues relating to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition (such as ones about belly dancing and promotional pickle pins, the Field Columbian Museum, and Fannie Barrier Williams) are always a fun surprise. On the April 18, 2023, episode, returning champion Dan Ciarrocchi mentioned that he is writing a scripted podcast that is a satirical look at the 1893 World’s Fair. We can't wait to hear it! [...]
150. Picturesque World’s Fair – Interior of the Mining Building
INTERIOR OF THE MINING BUILDING.—There was much in the Mines and Mining Building the value of which was not apparent save to the expert, bit there was a great deal there also which was glitteringly attractive, and a great deal that was curious even to the casual visitor. The display of gold and silver made from some of the states was striking, as were the exhibits of precious stones [...]
The “Dream City” of 1893
“Then or now, no words can express the beauty of the Dream City, for it is beyond even the unearthly glamour of a dream.” — Candace Wheeler “The White City” is the most common moniker given to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. This nickname—referring to the uniform alabaster color of most of the main exhibition palaces—was coined by H. C. Bunner in his essay “The Making of [...]
Fabulous Fungi at the Fair
Avert your eyes from a post-apocalyptic future in which fearsome fungi destroy civilization and instead look back at some marvelous mushrooms at the 1893 World’s Fair. George Hiller with his mushroom bed in the dome gallery of the Horticultural Building at the 1893 World’s Fair. [Image from the Chicago Tribune Jan. 22, 1893.] The January 22, 1893, issue of the Chicago Tribune reported on “Mushrooms at the Exposition” [...]
Mar. 22, 2023: “1893 Chicago World’s Fair” lecture (Palatine, IL)
The Palatine Library hosts a talk on "The 1893 Chicago World's Fair" on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, from 6:30-7:30 pm in the Main Library building (700 N. North Court, Palatine, IL). Historian Jim Gibbons will detail the events of the World’s Columbian Exposition, while incorporating the story of a darker story of America’s first well-known serial killer, the infamous H.H. Holmes. Register to attend the free event here. [...]
White City dark again as “Devil” departs Hulu
In various stages of development for twenty years, the screen adaptation of Erik Larson’s 2003 best-selling book about the Columbian Exposition, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, has blown another fuse. In the wake of leading man Keanu Reeves and director Todd Field dropping out of the drama last October, Hulu has pulled the plug on the production on [...]
Come on Feel the Fair! Illinois, the musical
“Oh, great White City I've got the adequate committee Where have your walls gone? I think about it now.” —Sufjan Stevens Come on Feel the Fair! A stage musical adaptation of Sufjan Stevens’ acclaimed 2005 concept album Illinois, which features a song about the 1893 World’s Fair, will open this summer. The lyrics in Illinois reference iconic persons, places, and events related to the Prairie State. In addition to [...]
149. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Statue of Plenty
THE STATUE OF " PLENTY."—The pieces of statuary which stood beside the portals of the great buildings or bridge approaches, or on pedestals overlooking the Grand Basin and canals and lagoons, had all definite names fitted to the idea of their conception. What Kemeys and Proctor did with wild animals Potter and French did with domestic ones, introducing them in statuary with fine effect. The Statue of " Plenty [...]
Mar 29, 2023: “Deconstructing The Devil in the White City” seminar (online)
The Newberry Library's Adult Education program will offer an online writing seminar on Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America. This acclaimed 2003 historical non-fiction book introduced millions of readers to the facinating and tumultuous history of how the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition was built. "Deconstructing The Devil in the White City" will analyze the craft of the storytelling [...]
The Making of the White City (Part 2)
[Continued from Part 1] A great stage decked with ambitious scenery Perhaps the first thing that would strike a stranger entering the World’s Fair grounds in the summer of 1892 would be the silence of the place, the next the almost theatrical unreality of the impression by the sight of an assemblage of buildings so startlingly out of the common in size and form. When I speak of the [...]
The Making of the White City (Part 1)
Few essays about the fairgrounds for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition better capture the creative energy of its construction than H. C. Bunner’s “The Making of the White City.” The American novelist, journalist, and poet Henry Cuyler Bunner (1855–1896) visited Jackson Park in Chicago during the summer of 1892. There he witnessed laborers assembling the great exhibit halls, hundreds of smaller structures, and magnificent landscaping in advance of the [...]
148. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Spanish Government Building
THE SPANISH GOVERNMENT BUILDING.—It was to be expected that Spain, the country in one respect most honored by the World's Columbian Exposition, should be well represented in the displays, and that its government should enter into the broad spirit of the occasion. The Spanish government showed earnestness in its course from the beginning, not merely in assisting Spanish exhibitors but in such special direction as the building of the [...]
Feb. 4 – Dec. 23, 2023: “Viking’s Voyage” (Geneva History Museum, IL)
One of the largest surviving display artifacts of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition sits in a park in Geneva, Illinois. The Viking ship, a replica of the ancient Viking ship Gokstad, was built in Norway in 1892 and sailed to Chicago in 1893, surviving a long and dangerous non-stop crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. Since 1995, the ship has stood in Good Templar Park in Geneva, Illinois, and now [...]
147. Picturesque World’s Fair – The French Colonies Building
THE FRENCH COLONIES BUILDING.—Situated well over toward the southeast corner of the grounds and out of the great tide of movement, the French Colonies Building at the Exposition did not attract the attention it merited, though it attained a degree of popularity toward the close, as the interesting nature of its contents became known. Its locality was sometimes referred to as "the back yard of the Fair," though it [...]
How the Myth of the American Frontier Got Its Start at the 1893 World’s Fair
"It was getting late. The lecture hall was stifling from a day of blazing sun, which had tormented the throngs visiting the nearby Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition, a carnival of never-before-seen wonders, like a fully illuminated electric city and George Ferris’ 264-foot-tall rotating observation wheel. Many of the hundred or so historians attending the conference, a meeting of the American Historical Association (AHA), were dazed and dusty from an [...]
Historic Woman from the 1893 World’s Fair on “Jeopardy!”
Jeopardy! featured an important figure from the 1893 World's Fair on their show #8766 (airing on Monday, December 19, 2022). The category of "Famous Woman" in the Double Jeopardy round included the answer: "In 1893, activist Fannie Barrier Williams successfully fought for Black inclusion at this city's Columbian Exposition." The correct question "What is Chicago?" required no knowledge of Williams and escaped all three contestants. Fannie Barrier Williams (1855–1944) was [...]
“Very sterling qualities about the Hoosiers”: Lunch in the Indiana State Building
Hoosiers visiting the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago were mighty proud of the Indiana State Building. Designed by one of distinguished Chicago architect Henry Ives Cobb, the French Gothic structure stood in the southwest section of the state buildings on a lovely spot along the North Pond and nestled between the state buildings of Illinois, California, and Wisconsin. One of the twelve state buildings to receive an award [...]