March came in like a lion, so it should go out like a lamb, right? "Mary & Her Lamb" [Image from the Keystone-Mast Collection, UC Riverside, California Museum of Photography.] Choosing a lion from among the many prominent felines present at the 1893 World’s fair was quite easy for our post back on March 1. Finding a lamb for this accompanying end-of-the-month post has been a much more challenging hunt! We present here a photograph of the sculpture [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 31 – ROYAL BERLIN PORCELAIN VASE ROYAL BERLIN PORCELAIN VASE.—There were some very beautiful objects in the porcelain display by Germany, in the Manufactures Building, but easily first was the Royal Porcelain Vase, nine feet in height, which is the subject of this illustration. It was part of the showing made by the Royal Berlin Porcelain Works, which are conducted under government patronage, and was one of the largest, [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 11 INTERIOR OF MANUFACTURES BUILDING.—Very like a great city by itself was the interior of the Manufactures Building, with its forty-four acres of exhibiting space — space which was not enough, great as it was for what the world demanded, with its broad avenues, its scores and scores of galleries, its wonderful exhibits and its teeming population. Never under one roof before was collected such an enormous display of [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 9 THE ART PALACE.— No structure among the many which made up the White City commanded more universal admiration than did the Art Palace, wherein were displayed the triumphs of artists from all over the world. It was a fitting receptacle for its marvelous displays. The style of architecture adapted in the building was of the Grecian-Ionic order and the blending and adaptation of what was most perfect in [...]
On November 25, 1899, George R. Davis died in Chicago. He served as the Director-General of the 1893 World’s Fair. This short biographic sketch of Davis appears in "My Country, Tis of Thee !" or, the United States of America; Past, Present and Future by Willis Fletcher Johnson and John Habberton, (John Y. Huber Company, 1892): A portrait of George R. Davis from Picturesque World's Fair (W. B. Conkey, 1894) The Director-General of the Exhibition, its chief [...]
In honor of Veteran’s Day, let’s look back to the summer of 1893, when the 300 young soldiers camped on the grounds of the World’s Fair in Chicago. The West Point Cadets traveled to the Columbian Exposition by train from their home on the Hudson, pulling into Terminal Station in Jackson Park at noon on August 18. Crowds gathered to watch the troops assemble in the plaza. “The battalion was in full dress,” reported the Chicago Tribune, “and with [...]
One hundred and twenty five years ago today, on October 21, 1892, marked Dedication Day of the World’s Columbian Exposition. “A surging sea of people,” reportedly “the largest assemblage that was ever brought together under one roof,” crowded into the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building for the official ceremony. The lengthy program included several musical selections interspersed between the numerous addresses: 1. “Columbian March” (also known as “Columbus March and Hymn”) by John Knowles Paine, written by special invitation [...]
A description of Dedication Day from Shepp’s World’s Fair Photographed by James W. Shepp and Daniel B. Shepp (Globe Bible Publishing Co., 1893): DEDICATION OF EXPOSITION, OCTOBER 22, 1892 Never in the history of the world has a sight more thrilling been presented to the gaze and understanding of man than that of the Dedication of the World's Columbian Exposition, October 20, 21, and 22, 1892. Great crowds flocked toward the Exposition grounds, making a continuous stream of humanity [...]
