110. Picturesque World’s Fair – Javanese Sweethearts

JAVANESE SWEETHEARTS.—The flavor of soft sentiment and romance almost civilized which pertained to the village of the gentle Javanese crystallized in one instance very prettily. Never, probably, did two Javanese before make so long a bridal tour as a couple who were at the Fair, for it extended from Chicago to their home in Java. Had they but fallen in love and wedded a little earlier they might have made the journey twice as long, including the round trip. [...]

By |2021-01-11T08:14:44-06:00January 11th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , |0 Comments

Chicago00 Launches 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition VR Web Portal

Grab your Columbian Exposition return pass and head back to the 1893 World’s Fair virtually with the Chicago 00 Project, which has launched their 1893 World's Columbian Exposition VR web portal at https://1893.chicago00.org/. A partnership between the Chicago History Museum and filmmaker Geoffrey Alan Rhodes, the Chicago 00 Project has been producing a series of interactive multimedia experiences using historical images of important sites and events in Chicago. Their augmented reality app allows participant to overlay historic photos with [...]

92. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Javanese at Home

THE JAVANESE AT HOME.— In their home life the Javanese are said to be a simple and happy people, and this will be readily believed of them by those who were in the Javanese Village at the Fair frequently enough to note the home demeanor of its occupants. They were most interesting, these gentle Javanese, and, in certain ways and habits and views of life, quite unlike any other people in the world, so fax as the Fair afforded [...]

By |2020-01-20T06:17:44-06:00January 20th, 2020|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , |0 Comments

THE CITY OF WONDERS: A Souvenir of the World’s Fair (Chapter 10)

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

Echoes of the White City Part 3: “Fourteen Villages and a Jail”

Entering Battery D Armory, visitors to “Echoes of the White City” faced a replica in miniature of one of the greatest attractions of the 1893 World’s Fair

Libraries at the Columbian Exposition

“Extremes meet at Chicago.” —librarian Caroline Harwood Garland. The 1893 World’s Fair was full of contrasts: exotic dancing on the Midway and educational exhibits; fountains illuminated by electricity and bibles illuminated by paintings, dynamos and the Dewey decimal system; balloon rides and books. Amidst the Cracker Jack and orange cider was also “food for reflection in the existence of so many libraries.” To celebrate National Library Week, let’s take a look at libraries at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. [...]

THE LADY OF THE LAKE by Julian Hawthorne Part III: Curiosities of the Midway Plaisance

Author Julian Hawthorne visited the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Reprinted below is the third part of Julian Hawthorne’s “The Lady of the Lake” about his June visit to the fairgrounds and published in the August 1893 issue of Lippincott’s Magazine. The previous installments can be found in Part I and Part II. [NOTE: By today’s standards, some of Hawthorne’s remarks about the Midway Plaisance and citizens of the international villages sound racist. It was not uncommon for commentators [...]

Opening Day, Part 2: Presidential Procession to the Fairgrounds

Presidential Procession to the Fairgrounds This is Part 2 of our series “Opening Day of the World’s Fair,” which explores the events of May 1, 1893, at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The full series can be found here. Finely decorated with flags and bunting The Auditorium Building, where the Duke of Vergua stayed. [Image from the Rijksmueum, Amsterdam.] On the morning of Opening Day of the 1893 World’s Fair, the center of attraction in downtown Chicago [...]

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – Interior of the Javanese Theater (p. 30)

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 30 INTERIOR OF THE JAVANESE THEATER.—Not a remarkable histrionic production was any play performed in the Javanese Theatre, but it was interesting, as was anything connected with these gentle people. Centrally in the quaint village was a structure, somewhat larger than the others, made of bamboo, thatched in the native style and illuminated at night. From this building emanated the sound of instruments strange to an American ear, deep-toned [...]

Chicago Tribune remembers the Midway Plaisance

Donkey Boys in the Streets of Cairo "Former President Barack Obama’s proposed parking garage wouldn’t have been the first oddball structure built on Chicago’s Midway Plaisance." writes Ron Grossman in the Chicago Tribune, referring to the now scuttled plans to build a parking lot for the Obama Presidential Center on the east end of the Midway. Grossman has dug through the Tribune's archive to excavate some interesting news stories from 1893 about the Midway, including "The donkey boys of [...]

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