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Aug. 25, 2018: Historic Marker for the Norway Building
On Saturday August 25, 2018, an Illinois State Historical Society (ISHS) marker commemorating the Norway Building was dedicated in Jackson Park on the exact site where the building stood during the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. A delegation of Norwegians traveled to the event from Orkdal—where the building was originally constructed and then returned to in 2017 as a museum and heritage center (see "The Long Journey of the Norway Building.") [...]
Sep. 28-Dec. 31, 2018: “Pictures from an Exposition: Visualizing the 1893 World’s Fair” at the Newberry Library (Chicago)
The celebration of the 125th anniversary of the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 will climax this fall with a major exhibit and series of programs at the Newberry Library in Chicago. The Library is simultaneously celebrating the 125th anniversary of the opening of their beautiful building, designed by architect Henry Ives Cobb, architect of the Fisheries Building and several other structures on the Columbian Exposition fairgrounds. Pictures from an [...]
Wooded Island Well Suited for Climate Change
It is not easy to find good news in reports about climate change. A news story in the August 17, 2018, Chicago Tribune offered one small encouraging note in an otherwise distressing description of the impacts of climate change on the Chicago region. “The birches in the corner of your kid’s favorite park, the towering spruce in your suburban backyard, that graceful linden on your block — all are likely [...]
Yerkes Observatory Faces Uncertain Future
Perched on a hilltop above Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, stands a magnificent structure having two significant connections to the 1893 World’s Fair. After more than 120 years of operation, this important legacy of the Columbian Exposition faces an uncertain future. Architect Henry Ives Cobb. (Image from The Graphic History of the Fair. (Graphic Co., 1894).] Henry Ives Cobb, born on August 18, 1859, in Brookline, Massachusetts, had become [...]
The Yerkes Telescope, Great Revealer of the Solar System
Among the many enormous and record-breaking displays at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, none were astronomical as the Yerkes Telescope. The historic telescope has been on view to the public, and in service to scientists, for the past 120 years while housed in the Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, a beautiful building designed by World’s Fair architect Henry Ives Cobb. The observatory and treasured telescope face an uncertain [...]
Company Vacation to the 1893 World’s Fair
The Wellington Machine Company of Wellington, Ohio, was a foundry for the manufacturing of brick-making machines. An image of the works can be seen in an 1890 engraving here. The article below from the August 16, 1893, issue of Clay Record (an industry semi-monthly) reports on the company’s generous gift to its employees: an all-expense-paid vacation to the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. NICE TRIP TO THE WORLD’S FAIR. [...]
1893 World’s Fair Commemorative Postage Stamps and the (Alleged) Death of Stamp Collecting
"The report of my death was an exaggeration.” -- Mark Twain (June 2, 1897) In his July 23, 2018, “U.S. Stamp Notes” column at Linn’s Stamp News, John M. Hotchner describes the birth of World’s Fair philately at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. His article “World’s fair philately: 19th and early 20th centuries” explains how the set of 16 commemorative postage stamps, which at the time cost $16.34 (roughly $444 [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – The Grand Basin from the Administration Gallery (p. 62)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 62 – THE GRAND BASIN FROM THE ADMINISTRATION GALLERY THE GRAND BASIN FROM THE ADMINISTRATION GALLERY.—Very striking was the effect produced by the body of water known as the Grand Basin, forming a symmetrical marble-framed lake in the center of the Court of Honor. Here, during the day, were reflected the hosts of white fronts uprearing on every side; [...]
Sept. 8, 2018-Aug. 11, 2019: “Treasures from the White City: The Chicago World’s Fair of 1893” at the Driehaus Museum (Chicago)
The Richard H. Driehaus Museum presents Treasures from the White City: Chicago World’s Fair of 1893, displaying original objects and memorabilia designed for and exhibited at the fair on the occasion of its 125th anniversary. The objects are drawn from the Museum’s permanent collection, as well as the Richard H. Driehaus private collection, and are exhibited in two galleries in the Nickerson Mansion, the building that now houses the [...]
Germany’s “Glory of Germania” Tile Painting in the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building
Within the enormous Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building on the fairgrounds of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition stood the imposing German Pavilion. Along with the other world powers of the era—Great Britain, France, and the United States—Germany displayed her national output in a prominent location around the central clock tower along the middle stretch of Columbia Avenue. Floorplan of the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building [Image from Diagrams [...]
July-September, 2018: “Glory of Germania” on Display at DANK Haus in Chicago
A German ceramic tile tableau exhibited at the 1893 World’s Fair is back on display for a limited time at the DANK Haus German American Cultural Center in Chicago. The Glory of Germania is an 18-by-12-foot tableau constructed of 1,057 individual tiles displayed with the German exhibit inside the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. (See our full post here.) After 93 years on [...]
July 2018 Trivia Question
Our monthly newsletter includes a “Palmer Puzzler” exclusive to those who subscribe. (You can sign up here.) The first person to send us the correct answer wins a small prize. The July 2018 Trivia Question Which of the following Liberty Bells was NOT on display at the 1893 World's Fair? A. the original Liberty Bell from Philadelphia. B. a "New Liberty Bell" cast in honor of the Fair. C. a Liberty [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – The Convent of La Rabida (p. 61)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 61 – THE CONVENT OF LA RABIDA THE CONVENT OF LA RABIDA.—In marked contrast with the great modern structures near it was the reproduction at the Exposition of the Convent of La Rabida, or, to express its title more correctly, the Convent of Santa Maria de la Rabida, which means The Convent of St. Mary of the Frontier. It [...]
How The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition Played Into Chicago’s Rivalry With New York
WBEZ’s Curious City podcast “How The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition Played Into Chicago’s Rivalry With New York” answers the question Where does Chicago’s inferiority complex toward New York come from and when did it start? Recorded live at the Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) in Chicago during their “Night at the Fair” After Hours event on June 15, 2018, this episode of Curious City exposes the roots of [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – Statue of California (p. 60)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 60 – STATUE OF CALIFORNIA STATUE OF CALIFORNIA.—Typical of the great state upon the Pacific Coast was the Statue of California, a striking figure in the huge structure erected in imitation of one of the old Spanish missions. The artist had caught the spirit of the commonwealth, and joyous luxuriance was as apparent in the statue as indicated by [...]
Virility on the Midway: “The Longest Beard in the World” (Death Valley Days, 1956)
We’ll be exploring other films and videos that use the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition as a setting in our “Filming the Fair” series. Check out other WCE videos in the Zoopraxiscope Hall section of our website. Have you heard of “The Longest Beard in the World” concession on the Midway Plaisance at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition? This fictional attraction plays a part in an episode of the long-running [...]
Take a Seat … Back to the Fair
Most people riding on municipal trains or buses don’t want to think too much about the surface their butt is planted on. For good reason. If you are a fan of the 1893 World’s Fair, however, the seat underneath your backside probably has a direct lineage to the World’s Columbian Exposition. Chicago Magazine offers a surprising report that the company that makes about eighty percent of the seats for transit agencies [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – Haiti and New South Wales Buildings (p. 58)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 58 – HAITI AND NEW SOUTH WALES BUILDINGS HAITI AND NEW SOUTH WALES BUILDINGS.—On the thoroughfare running west from the British Government Building on the lake shore, were the buildings of Haiti and New South Wales, located so together but by chance in the distribution of space. It was to be expected that the island republic, the region of [...]
Columbian Half-Dollar Coins Plummet in Value
Coin Week on June 28, 2018, published an article on changes in the market value of collector’s coins from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. “The Rise and Fall of the Columbian Half Dollar: A Commemorative Story” by Q. David Bowers reports that 1892 and 1893 Columbian commemorative half dollars have fallen from a high of $3,850- $5,000 in 1990 to only $310 in 2018. The answer has more to [...]
July 1-Sept. 30, 2018: “John Singer Sargent and Chicago’s Gilded Age” at the Art Institute of Chicago
A new exhibit running at the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) has reunited a set of paintings by John Singer Sargent that were on display at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. John Singer Sargent and Chicago’s Gilded Age features approximately 100 objects from the AIC’s collection, private collections, and public institutions. Among them are four of the nine portrait paintings that Sargent exhibited inside the Palace of Fine [...]