Administration Building Archives - Chicago's 1893 Worlds Fair

25 Impressions of the 1893 World’s Fair
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25 Impressions of the 1893 World’s Fair

REPRINTS

25 Impressions of the 1893 World’s Fair

Toward the close of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, The Critic invited twenty-five notable scholars, writers, and leaders of the day to offer their brief impressions of the World’s Fair. At such a monumental event with so many novelties … what impressed them the most? It is interesting how frequently these contributors sing the same notes as they rhapsodize about the fairgrounds at night and the illumination of the Court of Honor, praise (except for Henry Fuller!) [...]

Did you see the 1893 Fair? Prove it with a “Certificate of Visitation to the World’s Columbian Exposition”
Gallery
Did you see the 1893 Fair? Prove it with a “Certificate of Visitation to the World’s Columbian Exposition”

HISTORY

Did you see the 1893 Fair? Prove it with a “Certificate of Visitation to the World’s Columbian Exposition”

You bought your train ticket and booked your lodging in Chicago, traveled to Jackson Park and paid your fifty-cent admission. You’ve finally made it into the City of Wonders, the Dream City, the White City … the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition fairgrounds. How will anyone believe you are here if you don’t purchase an official “Certificate of Visitation” to show friends back home? T. Dart Walker’s drawing “In the Rotunda of the Administration Building” depicts a busy ground [...]

By Scott|2023-12-28T11:47:33-06:00December 20th, 2023|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Administration Building, Harlow Higinbotham, Howard O. Edmonds, Model Post Office, postcards, souvenirs|0 Comments

A diary from the 1893 World’s Fair
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A diary from the 1893 World’s Fair

NEWS

A diary from the 1893 World’s Fair

Sally MacNamara Ivey "has read more than 10,000 unpublished diaries and spent 35 years collecting them.... Whenever MacNamara Ivey has had pocket change, it’s gone to purchasing diaries. Back in the late ’90s, when she and her husband were raising four kids with the money she brought in waiting tables and he made working at the local mill, she bought a diary on layaway for $500 (about $900 today). It was written by a woman who attended the 1893 [...]

By Scott|2022-12-03T10:53:46-06:00December 3rd, 2022|Categories: NEWS|Tags: Administration Building, Cold Storage Building, illumination|0 Comments

121. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Grand Basin at Night – Showing Search-Lights
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121. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Grand Basin at Night – Showing Search-Lights

REPRINTS

121. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Grand Basin at Night – Showing Search-Lights

THE GRAND BASIN AT NIGHT—SHOWING SEARCH-LIGHTS.—One of the charms of the night view over the Grand Basin was that it was always new, atmospheric or other causes producing varied effects, and the scene on one occasion being entirely different from that presented on another. And not only were atmospheric conditions fluctuating, but the artificial ones produced were made still more so, a new experience to the sight-seer after dark being thus assured beyond all peradventure. Here the great element [...]

By Randy|2021-06-25T05:22:10-05:00June 25th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Administration Building, Grand Basin, illumination, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, search lights|0 Comments

A Room with a View … of Diana
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A Room with a View … of Diana

REPRINTS

A Room with a View … of Diana

In late November of 1892, Moses P. Handy moved into his new office inside the Administration Building on the Columbian Exposition fairgrounds in Jackson Park. As Chief of the Department of Publicity and Promotion, Handy had a staff of between four and forty-five, including local newspapermen Paul Hull and Sam V. Steele, both well-known among Chicago’s writers. The Chicago Times (November 29, 1892) reported on the move-in and on the Publicity Chief’s impressive view of Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ marvelous statue [...]

By Scott|2021-05-24T10:15:31-05:00May 24th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Administration Building, Diana, Moses P. Handy|0 Comments

Feral Feline Fights for Food on the Fairgrounds
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Feral Feline Fights for Food on the Fairgrounds

REPRINTS

Feral Feline Fights for Food on the Fairgrounds

Several media outlets, including the Guardian and People, are reporting on Chicago’s use of feral cats to beat back our nationally recognized rat population. It’s old news. We’ve been relying on our feline friends since at least the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. “Not many people are aware that the World’s Fair has a cat,” wrote the Chicago Tribune in September 1893. “This ignorance on the part of visitors is largely due to the fact that the cat does not appear [...]

By Scott|2021-05-16T12:56:25-05:00May 17th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Administration Building, Machinery Hall, Midway Plaisance|0 Comments

From Hades to Heaven: Penelope Gleason Knapp’s Visit to the Court of Honor
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From Hades to Heaven: Penelope Gleason Knapp’s Visit to the Court of Honor

REPRINTS

From Hades to Heaven: Penelope Gleason Knapp’s Visit to the Court of Honor

A visit to the 1893 World’s Fair inspired Penelope Gleason Knapp to pen a romantic and effusive love letter to the wonders of the White City. With Victorian flourish, she describes her rapturous experience in the Court of Honor, “where enchantment reigns supreme.” Her memoir offers a reminder that electric illumination on such a grand scale was an overwhelming experience for many visitors from small towns in America. Penelope Gleason Knapp In 1893, twenty-two-year-old Penelope Gleason Knapp was living [...]

By Scott|2021-04-02T11:11:32-05:00March 22nd, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Administration Building, Court of Honor, Diana, electric fountains, gondolas, illumination, MacMonnies Fountain, Obelisk, Statue of the Republic|0 Comments

Zoom to the 1893 World’s Fair with the Chicago History Museum
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Zoom to the 1893 World’s Fair with the Chicago History Museum

NEWS

Zoom to the 1893 World’s Fair with the Chicago History Museum

Stuck in endless online conferences? Ready to escape from the confines of your home office? Try adding a background that situates you at the 1893 World's Fair. The Chicago History Museum offers several images from their collection to use as a Zoom background. Among them is a famous photograph by C. D. Arnold of the Administration Building surrounded by crowds on Chicago Day [CHM, ICHi-002201] You can download the image at https://www.chicagohistory.org/zoom/ and start "Zooming through history." [...]

By Scott|2020-07-18T10:37:57-05:00July 19th, 2020|Categories: NEWS|Tags: Administration Building, Chicago Day|0 Comments

THE CITY OF WONDERS: A Souvenir of the World’s Fair (Chapter 13)
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THE CITY OF WONDERS: A Souvenir of the World’s Fair (Chapter 13)

REPRINTS

THE CITY OF WONDERS: A Souvenir of the World’s Fair (Chapter 13)

THE CITY OF WONDERS A SOUVENIR OF THE WORLD'S FAIR by Mary Catherine Crowley (1894)

By Scott|2024-04-01T18:58:33-05:00January 3rd, 2020|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Administration Building, Children's Building, Court of Honor, gondolas, Ho-o-den, Horticultural Building, illumination, Lake Michigan, Queen Victoria, Woman's Building, Wooded Island|1 Comment

“The Current War” offers only a dimly lit view of the 1893 World’s Fair
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“The Current War” offers only a dimly lit view of the 1893 World’s Fair

NEWS, VIDEO

“The Current War” offers only a dimly lit view of the 1893 World’s Fair

The 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago shines on the big screen, if only for a few minutes. The Current War (2017, released 2019) tells the story of the rancorous rivalry between inventor Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch), who adamantly championed direct current (DC) technologies to electrify and illuminate American cities, and George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon), who banked on alternating current (AC). The legendary “war of the currents” has these titans of the electrical industry setting their sights on powering the Columbian [...]

By Scott|2023-12-20T13:47:10-06:00October 30th, 2019|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: Administration Building, Charles Schwab, Daniel Burnham, Dewitt Cregier, electricity, Electricity Building, George Westinghouse, Grover Cleveland, Nikola Tesla, Opening Day, The Current War, Thomas Edison, Tower of Light, Victor Lawson, Zoopraxographical Hall|0 Comments