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World's Columbian Exhibition, Chicago 1893

Articles

  • Adams, Judith A. "The Promotion of New Technology through Fun and Spectacle: Electricity at the World's Columbian Exposition." Journal of American Culture 18: 2 (1995): 45-55.
    Although electricity was debuted at the 1876 exposition, it was not generally accepted and considered safe until its uses were promoted at the 1893 exposition. Adams asserts that amusement parks and fairs have successfully promoted new technology because they are presented in a way that is "fun." Venues such as the Electricity Building and mechanisms like the moveable sidewalk and the Ferris wheel were some ways in which the benefits of electricity were demonstrated. Includes a short bibliography.
  • Bank, Rosemarie K. "Representing History: Performing the Columbian Exposition." Theatre Journal 54:4 (2002):589-606.
    Examines the 1893 Exposition, and particularly at performances of "Buffalo Bill's Wild West" show.
  • Brown, Julie K. "Recovering Representations: U.S. Government Photographers at the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago 1893." Prologue 29:3 (1997): 218-31.
    Instead of relying on commercial sources for documentation, the government decided to photograph its own exhibitions at the Chicago world's fair. The author asserts that this decision indicates the great amount of importance placed by the government on its representation at this type of venue.
  • Brown, Julie K. "The Baltimore & Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad Displays: Chicago World's Columbian Exposition, 1893." History of Photography 24:2 (Summer 2000): 155-162.
    The article focuses on the use of photography for corporate display at the Exposition in order to show some of the complexities of the corporate image making process.
  • Burton, Shirley J. "Obscene, Lewd, and Lascivious: Ida Craddock and the Criminally Obscene Women of Chicago, 1873-1913." Michigan Historical Review 19: 1 (1993): 1-16.
    Burton addresses the prosecution of women during this period under the federal obscenity law. Ida Craddock was one such woman who spoke in defense of Fahreda Mahzar, also known as "Little Egypt," a belly dancer who performed at the "A Street in Cairo" exhibit at the world's fair. Although her performance was one of the most popular, conservative critics attempted to censor it by demanding its closure.
  • Carr, Carolyn Kinder and Sally Webster. "Mary Cassatt and Mary Fairchild MacMonnies: The Search for Their 1893 Murals." American Art 8:1 (1994): 52-69.
    The murals painted by the two artists along with the building in which they were housed celebrated women and their progress. Unfortunately, the two murals, Modern Woman by Cassatt and Primitive Woman by MacMonnies, cannot be found. Feminist scholarship and interest in "The White City" have recently uncovered clues that may lead to their recovery. Photographs of the murals are included.
  • Carriere, Marius. "Samuel Bond and the Crystal Palace Model." West Tennessee Historical Society Papers 41 (1987): 1-3.
  • Casey, Constance K. "Culture and Commerce." Chicago History 22: 3 (1993): 4-19.
  • Clarke, Jane H. "The Art Institute's Guardian Lions." Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 14 (1988): 46-55.
    Clarke's brief history of the lions designed by Edward L. Kemeys for the Art Institute of Chicago also contains information on the design of the sculptural decoration of the World's Columbian Exposition.
  • Cressman, Jodi. "Helen Keller and the Mind's Eyewitness." Western Humanities Review 54:2 (Fall 2000): 108-23.
    The psychologist Joseph Jastrow's pavilion at the 1893 Fair put Helen Keller and all of her struggles on display. In her performances with Sullivan, the audience of the fair were rendered witnesses of Keller's consciousness.
  • Davis, Merle. "Sundays at the Fair: Iowa and the Sunday Closing of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition." Palimpsest 74: 4 (1993): 156-9.
    Many states, including Iowa, had "blue laws" which made certain activities on the Christian Sabbath illegal. A debate arose over whether or not the World's Columbian Exposition should remain open on Sundays. Iowa and several other states decided to close their exhibits on Sundays, while the rest of the fair remained open.
  • Dean, Andrea Oppenheimer. "Revisiting the White City." Historical Preservation 45: 2 (1993): 42-49, 97-98.
    Although the fair was lauded by critics of the day as a wonder of urban planning and architecture, in retrospect it can be seen as halting the development of modern and functional American architecture. Dean delves into this debate by bringing to light its historical context and by analyzing the design of several key buildings. Includes photographs.
  • Dillon Diane. "Mapping Enterprise: Cartography and Commodification at the 1893 World Columbian Exposition."Nineteenth Century Geographies Ed. Helena Michie and Ronald Thomas. New Brunswick: Rutgers University, 2003.
  • Ebling, Charles W. "You Call That Damn Thing a Boat? More Than a Century Ago, Ships that Looked Like Nuclear Submarines were Everywhere on the Great Lakes." American Heritage of Invention and Technology. 17:2 (2001): 25-27.
    Examines the history of shipbuilding around the Great Lakes including ships that were used for the 1893 Columbian Exposition as ferryboats to carry visitors between downtown Chicago and the fairgrounds.
  • Garfinkle, Charlene G. "Lucia Fairchild Fuller's 'Lost' Woman's Building Mural." American Art 7: 1 (1993): 2-7.
    Up until recently, all of the murals of the Woman's Building were thought to be lost or destroyed. Only one, Fuller's The Women of Plymouth, has been located in New Hampshire. Includes photographs of the mural.
  • Gilbert, Emily. "Naturalist Metaphors in the Literatures of Chicago, 1893-1925." Journal of Historical Geography (Great Britain) 20:3 (1994): 283-304.
    Gilbert analyzes the use by turn of the century writers of organic metaphors to describe the modern city. She contextualizes this discussion by also looking at "other cultural projects of the period," one of which was the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.
  • Gilbert, James. "A Contest of Cultures." History Today 42 (July 1992): 33-39.
    The author asserts that the exposition's designers constructed the fair in a way that would promote "high culture," or the "superiority of European art and architecture and American Victorian moral sensibilities." This metaphor is explored by comparing and contrasting the manifestation of high culture, the White City, and its opposite as embodied in the Midway.
  • Gullett, Gayle. "'Our Great Opportunity': Organized Women Advanced Women's Work at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893." Illinois Historical Journal 87 (1994): 259-76.
    Organized women saw the Columbian Exposition as a chance to promote "organized womanhood" and the advancement of women. They also wanted to promote women's work, believing that all work was valuable if it remained faithful to women's "moral responsibilities to wards home and society." The efforts made at the exposition strengthened the women's movement and expanded the notion of women's politics.
  • Harris, Leo. "Wrecking to Save: The Chicago House Wrecking Company." Journal of the West 38:4(October 1999):65-74.
    Russian immigrant Moses Harris established a successful salvage business that reused materials from world's fairs. His companies included the Chicago House Wrecking Company and the Columbia Exposition Salvage Company in which he pioneered techniques for preserving historical materials by reusing them.
  • Harris, Moira F. "Curt Teich Postcards of Minnesota." Minnesota History 54: 7 (1995): 304-15.
    Harris expounds the historical value of studying postcards, specifically those of the Curt Teich Printing Company. The debut of the postcard at the 1893 world's fair is mentioned briefly.
  • Harris, Neil. "Dream Making." Chicago History 23: 2 (1994): 44-57.
  • Hinsley,Curtis M."The World as Marketplace: Commodification of the Exotic at the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893." Exhibiting Cultures:The Poetics and Politics of Museum DisplayWashington>:Smithsonian Press,1991.344-65.
  • Hunt, Sylvia. "'Throw Aside the Veil of Helplessness': A Southern Feminist at the 1893 World's Fair." Southwestern Historical Quarterly 100: 1 (1996): 48-62.
    Hunt looks at the life and philosophy of Sue Huffman Brady, a woman representing the South who delivered a speech to the Congress of Women. By examining her life and the participation of other women at the fair, an assessment can be made about the extent to which southern women experienced concepts such as "separate spheres" and "feminism" in the context of the contemporary women's movement.
  • Hutton, John. "Picking Fruit: Mary Cassatt's Modern Woman and the Woman's Building of 1893." Feminist Studies 20: 2 (1994): 318-48.
    Although Cassatt's mural, Modern Woman, was derided by critics of the time, their criticisms are testament to the way in which her depiction of women broke boundaries in the late nineteenth century. Her nontraditional use of Eve and Eden imagery has been the subject of contemporary feminist discussion.
  • Kasson, Joy S. "At the Columbian Exposition, 1893." Buffalo Bill's Wild West: Celebrity, Memory, and Popular Culture. New York: Hill and Wang, 2000: 93-122.
  • Kennedy, Charles A. "When Cairo Met Main Street: Little Egypt, Salome Dancers, and the World's Fairs of 1893 and 1904."Music and Culture in America, 1861-1918. Ed. Michael Saffle. New York: Garland Publishing, 1998. 271-298.
  • Klasey, Jack. "Who Invented the Ferris Wheel?" American History Illustrated 28: 4 (1993): 60-63.
    Klasey contemplates the true origin of the Ferris wheel asserting that although George Washington Gale Ferris is credited with its invention, its conceptual beginnings can be traced to earlier sources. He also touches upon the patent difficulties that Ferris encountered soon after the wheel's debut.
  • Madsen, Carol Cornwall. "Decade of Detente: The Mormon-Gentile Female Relationship in Nineteenth-Century Utah." Utah Historical Quarterly 63: 4 (1995): 298-319.
  • Madsen, Carol Cornwall."The Power of Combination': Emmeline B. Wells and the National and International Councils of Women." Brigham Young University Studies 33: 4 (1993): 646-73.
    Mentions the convening of the first meeting of the International Council of Women at the 1893 exposition and the impact this had on women's activism worldwide. Wells' participation in this meeting provided the impetus for her work in further developing women's networks.
  • Massa, Ann. "'The Columbian Ode' and Poetry, A Magazine of Verse: Harriet Monroe's Entrepreneurial Triumphs." Journal of American Studies 20: 1 (1986): 51-69.
    Massa discusses the performing of Harriet Monroe's "The Columbian Ode" at the opening ceremonies of Dedication Day at the 1893 exposition as well as the establishment of the first journal dedicated to the publication and criticism of poetry.
  • McCarthy, Michael P. "Should We Drink the Water?: Typhoid Fever Worries at the Columbian Exposition." Illinois Historical Journal 86: 1 (1993): 2-14.
    Polluted drinking water from Lake Michigan caused a typhoid fever epidemic in Chicago from 1890-1892. The British raised concerns about the Columbian Exposition because of the typhoid fear. The movement to rid Chicago of this disease provides a historical look at solving public health problems and improving sanitation and water supply mechanisms.
  • Meister, Chris. "The Texas State Building: J. Reily Gordon's Contribution to the World's Columbian Exposition." Southwestern Historical Quarterly 98: 1 (1994):1-24.
    Meister recounts the story of Texan participation in the fair and the process of selecting and then modifying Gordon's building design. The building's stylistic affect on subsequent architectural designs is also discussed.
  • Miller, Daniel T. "The Columbian Exposition of 1893 and the American National Character." Journal of American Culture 10 (Summer 1987): 17-22.
    Miller relies on contemporary published accounts of the fair to identify three "national traits": insecurity, discord and optimism.
  • Miller, Donald L. "The White City." American Heritage 44:4 (1993): 70-87.
    Although the World's Columbian Exposition was an amazing and historic event for the nation, it was even more so for the city of Chicago. Rising out of the ashes of the Great Fire of 1871, this world's fair marked a moment in time when Chicago was at its greatest and most dynamic. Miller traces both its rise and its fall in the shadow of economic depression.
  • Mills, Stephen F. "The Presentation of Foreigners in the Land of Immigrants: Paradox and Stereotype at the Chicago World Exposition." European Contributions to American Studies 34 (1996): 251-65.
    Mills is concerned primarily with the presentation of the Irish by the British at the Chicago world's fair. The Irish, he argues, were presented as the "modern," "after" product of Great Britain's civilization processes.
  • Nathan, Marvin. "Visiting the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago in July 1893: A Personal View." Journal of American Culture 19: 2 (1996): 79-102.
    Analyzes a letter written by an "ordinary" visitor, Annie Finette Lynch, about her experiences at the Chicago world's fair. Includes the text of the letter, which was written to her younger sister, as well as numerous photographs.
  • Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl. "In Search of Regional Expression: The Washington State Building at the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893." Pacific Northwest Quarterly 86: 4 (1995): 165-77.
    Although the Washington State building was commended for its uniqueness and beauty, its design was ultimately determined not by the state, but by D.H. Burnham, the fair's chief of construction. Burnham's choice for the building's design is indicative of eastern civic and business leaders' preconceived notion of western states as rural and primitive.
  • Paddon, Anna R. and Sally Turner. "African Americans and the World's Columbian Exposition." Illinois Historical Journal 88:1 (1995): 19-36.
    African American community leaders gathered in Chicago to deliberate how they should react to their exclusion from the fair's planning and exhibitions. The authors argue that their exclusion and the consequential process of responding to it helped to the lay the groundwork for twentieth century black political, social, and artistic movements.
  • Paddon, Anna R. and Sally Turner."Douglass's Triumphant Days at the World's Columbian Exposition." Proteus 12:1 (1995): 43-47.
    Paddon and Turner trace the change of heart that Frederick Douglass had for the Chicago world's fair, having first denounced it along with Ida B. Wells before its opening and then using his appointed position as commissioner from Haiti to champion the causes of African Americans within fair venues. They also include discussion of his address, "Honor to Their Race."
  • Palmer, Richard F. "Postcard Craze Engulfs the Great Lakes." Inland Seas 50: 1 (1994): 39-45.
    Discusses the origin and popularity of the postcard, mentioning the issuing of numerous souvenir postcards at the Chicago world's fair. Collecting and care and handling of postcards is also addressed.
  • Patton, Phil. "Mammy: Her Life and Times." American Heritage 44: 5 (1993): 78-87.
    Patton traces the evolution of the multi-faceted American icon, Mammy. He looks closely at Aunt Jemima, the commercial image used to sell baking goods, who made her debut at the World's Columbian Exposition.
  • Patton, Phil. "Sell the Cookstove if Necessary, but Come to the Fair." Smithsonian 24: 3 (1993): 38-51.
    Patton provides a general yet comprehensive overview of the World's Columbian Exposition phenomenon which encompasses the public's reaction, its architecture and splendor, and its commercialism. Patton also discusses aspects of racism and sexism at the fair including the segregation and exclusion of African Americans and the condescending nature with which Asians, Native Americans, and women were treated.
  • Phipps, Linda S. "The 1893 Art Institute Building and the ‘Paris of America': Aspirations of Patrons and Architects in Late Nineteenth-Century Chicago," Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 14: 1 (1988): 28-45.
  • Rabinovitz, Laura."The Fair View: The 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition." For the Love of Pleasure: Women, Movies, and Culture in Turn of the Century Chicago. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1998: 47-67.
  • Raibmon, Paige."Theatres of Contact: The Kwakwak'wakw Meet Colonialism in British Columbia and the Chicago World's Fair." Canadian Historical Review 81: 2(June 2000):157-191.
    Focuses on the reaction of spectators to the performers from Vancouver Island during the Fair. Description of the version of the hamasta, or cannibal dance, a spiritually and politically important tribal initiation rite, and assertion of their cultural persistence.
  • Reinhart, Richard. "The Midway Plaisance--Notorious Ancestor of Today's Amusement Parks." World's Fair 12 (April-June 1993): 15-19.
    Reinhart captures the lasciviousness of the Midway, the first amusement area officially part of an American fair.
  • Ridge, Martin. "Turner the Historian: A Long Shadow." Journal of the Early Republic 13: 2 (1993): 132-44.
    Mentions briefly Frederick Jackson Turner's address, "The Significance of the American Frontier in American History," given at the 1893 world's fair.
  • Rudwick, Elliot and August Meier. "Black Man in the ‘White City': Negroes and the Columbian Exposition, 1893." Phylon 26 (Winter 1965): 354-61.
  • Rydell, Robert. "The Chicago World's Columbian Exposition of 1893: ‘And was Jerusalem Builded Here?'" Representing the Nation: A Reader: Histories, Heritage, and Museums. Ed. D. Boswell and Jessica Evans. London: Routledge, 1999.
  • Savory, Jerold J. "Cartoon Commentary." Chicago History 23: 1 (1994): 32-57.
  • Shaw, Marian. "The Fair in Black and White." Chicago History 22: 2 (1993): 54-72.
  • Steiner, Michael. "Parables of Stone and Steel: Architectural Images of Progress and Nostalgia at the Columbian Exposition and Disneyland." American Studies 42:1 (2001): 39-67.
    As a way to gauge changing perceptions of technological progress, compares public attitudes toward Chicago's 1893 World's Columbian Exposition to those toward Disneyland since its 1955 opening. Fairgoers of 1893 were fascinated and overwhelmed by the technological features offered at the Chicago exposition, while early visitors to Disneyland longed for the Old West, while also marveling at what tomorrow could bring.
  • Swaim, Ginalie, Becky Hawbaker, Lisa Moran, and Bill Silag. "Iowans at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition: What They Took to the Fair, What They Did There, and What They Brought Home." Palimpsest 74: 4 (1993): 161-87.
  • Tehranian, Katherine Kia. "The Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893: A Symbol of Modernism." Proceedings of the National Conference on American Planning History 5 (1993): 500-511.
    Traces the development of urban planning in America as well as the significance of it at the Chicago world's fair. The planning of this exposition was one of the first large scale projects in which a group of experts was brought together to work collaboratively.
  • Vaillant, Derek."Preludes of Reform:the Chicago Jubilee,Thomas 'summer nights' concerts,and the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition." Sounds of Reform:Progressivism and Music in Chicago,1873-1935.Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 2003.
  • Valis, Noël. "Women's Culture in 1893: Spanish Nationalism and the Chicago World's Fair." Letras Peninsulares 13:2-3(2001):633-64.
  • Vendl, Karen and Mark Vendl. "The Mines and Mining Building of the World's Columbian Exposition, 1893: A Photographic Essay." Mining History Journal 8 (2001): 30-41.
    The architecture and internal design of the Mines and Mining Building, one of 14 primary exhibit halls constructed for Chicago's 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, recognized the industry's importance to America's economy, workforce, and culture by showcasing mineral samples, new technology, and production methods from mines in Colorado, Montana, Michigan, and other states, as well as several other nations.
  • Weimann, Jeanne Madeline. "The Great 1893 Woman's Building: Can We Measure up in 1992." MS Magazine 41(March 1983): 65-67.
  • Wills, Garry. "Sons and Daughters of Chicago." New York Review of Books 61: 11 (June 1994): 52-59.
    A review of several books on Chicago and the World's Columbian Exposition, principally on the architecture of the fair, the Women's Pavilion, and Chicago architects including Daniel Burnham, H.H. Richardson and Frank Lloyd Wright.
  • Wilmerding, John. "Essential Reading." American Art 11: 2 (1997): 28-35.
    This piece primarily discusses the life of Henry Adams and his autobiography, The Education of Henry Adams. Adams' philosophy on learning was changed by his visit to the 1893 world's fair and what he saw as "an image of American unity."
  • Wilson, Matthew. "The Advent of the 'Nigger': The Careers of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Henry O. Tanner, and Charles W. Chesnutt." American Studies 43:1 (2002): 5-50.
  • Wilson, William H. "The World's Columbian Exposition and the City Beautiful Movement: What Really Happened?" Proceedings of the National Conference on American Planning History 5 (1993): 487-99.
    Asserts that the "White City" influenced the City Beautiful movement in terms of design, collaboration, and the use of experts, but did not begin or lead the movement of "comprehensive city planning." Architects of the City Beautiful movement purposely tied their efforts to the world's fair in order to advance their own agendas.
  • Zimmerman, Karen P. "Promoting the Prairie Cornucopia: South Dakota at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition." South Dakota History 23: 4 (1993): 281-300.
    Considering the difficulties of South Dakota's first years of statehood, Governor Mellette saw the fair as an opportunity to bolster the state's image and encourage immigration. Zimmerman discusses the effort to appropriate funds for the state's participation, the role of citizens in garnering the needed support, and the agricultural theme of the state building. Includes photographs.
  • Ziolkowski, Eric J. "Waking Up From Akbar's Dream: The Literary Profiguration of Chicago's 1893 World's Parliament of Religions." The Journal of Religion 73 (January 1993): 42-60.
    The author brings together the worlds of religion and literature by arguing that the Parliament of Religions traces its origins to "a concurrent maverick theme of religious tolerance that had been emergent in Western literature since the Middle Ages." The author asserts that these themes influenced the parliament's chairman through the "poetry of Alfred Tennyson."

Dissertations

  • Brittain, Randy Charles. "Festival Jubilate, Op. 17 by Amy Cheney Beach (1867-1944): A Performing Edition." Ph.D. Dissertation: University of North Carolina, Greensboro, 1994.
    Brittain asserts that the first prominent American woman composer in choral music was Amy Cheney Beach. Beach was commissioned by the Board of Lady Managers of the Chicago world's fair to compose music for the opening of the Woman's Building. Festival Jubilate, op. 17 was the resulting piece. In this work, Brittain produces a new edition of the piano-vocal score of Festival Jubilate.
  • Canfield, Amy Taipale. "Discovering Woman: Women's Performances at the World's Columbian Exposition Chicago, 1893." Ph.D. Dissertation: Ohio State University, 2002.
    A pivotal event in the adjustment of America's attitudes towards women was the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Because the images that women performed, both on-stage and off, in conjunction with the Exposition, reached so many people, this occasion can be considered a landmark in the shaping of public attitudes towards women in theatre and in general. This study examines the performances of three groups of women: the Board of Lady Managers, which had official responsibility for activities relating to women at the Exposition; actresses who performed in the legitimate drama in Chicago during the Exposition; and the women who formed part of the village performances and living ethnological exhibits on the fairgrounds.
  • Dillon, Diane. "'The Fair as Spectacle': American Art and Culture at the 1893 World's Fair." Ph.D. Dissertation: Yale University, 1994.
    Dillon examines the intersection between American capitalism and American culture and aesthetics as was seen in the World's Columbian Exposition. She focuses on the American art exhibition on at the Fine Arts Palace, analyzing the works and then contextualizing them within the larger framework of American culture and history. Includes illustrations and a bibliography.
  • Garfinkle,Charlene."Women at Work:The Design and Decoration of the Woman's Building at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition:Exterior Sculpture,Stained Glass,Interior Murals." Ph.D. Dissertation:University of California,Santa Barbara,1996.
    Garfinkle analyzes the Women's Building, designed and built entirely by women, as "a visible manifestation of the New Woman" at the turn of the century. She does so by looking at its architecture and art. She also asserts that the building, under the direction of the Board of Lady Managers, was designed to send a strong message which would "transcend the limited existence of the building."
  • Harding, John Sheldon. "Mahayana Phoenix: Japan's Buddhists at the 1893 World's Parliament of Religions." Ph.D. Dissertation: University of Pennsylvania, 2003.
    A group of Japanese Buddhists traveled to Chicago's Columbian Exposition in the 1893 Parliament of Religions. These delegates combined religious aspirations with nationalist ambitions. Their portrayal of Buddhism mirrored modern reforms in Meiji Japan and the historical context of cultural competition and religious exhibition on display at the 1893 World's Fair.
  • Hubbard, Ladee. "Mobility in America: The Myth of the Frontier and the Performance of National Culture at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893." Ph.D. Dissertation: University of California, Los Angeles, 2003.
  • Potter-Hennessey, Pamela. "The Sculpture at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition: International Encounters and Jingoistic Spectacles." Ph.D. Dissertation: University of Maryland, 1995.

Monographs

  • Anderson, Norman D. Ferris Wheels: An Illustrated History. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1992.
    Anderson notes that with the debut of the postcard at the Chicago world's fair, much of the history of the Ferris wheel has been captured on these souvenirs. Chapter III is devoted to the history of the Ferris Wheel, built by George Ferris, Jr., at the 1893 exposition. Chapter IV deals with the continuing presence of the Ferris wheel at world's fairs following 1893 and its influence on shaping amusement attractions. Anderson also mentions in Chapter V that the American carnival traces its lineage to the Midway Plaisance of the Columbian Exposition. Includes numerous photographs and illustrations, a bibliography, and an index.
  • Bertuca, David J., ed. World's Columbian Exposition: A Centennial Bibliographic Guide. Bibliographies and Indexes in American History, vol. 26. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1996.
    This extensive bibliography includes materials on the Chicago world's fair of varying format and location as well as primary and secondary sources. It contains over 6,000 references and entries for 131 special collections worldwide. It includes a list of the journals that were indexed and is organized into general works and then into specific subject areas. An index is also provided.
  • Brown, Julie K. Contesting Images: Photography and the World's Columbian Exposition. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1994.
    This work explores the multiple roles of photography at the fair. As a relatively new technology and mode of communication, photography was used for both documentation and exhibition. Brown divides the book into two parts, "Photographs on Display" and "Photographic Practices." A bibliography, glossary, and an index are included.
  • Carr, Carolyn Kinder and George Gurney, eds. Revisiting the White City: American Art at the 1893 World's Fair. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of American Art, National Portrait Gallery, 1993.
    This catalog accompanies an exhibition that was created by the NMAA and NPG to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Columbus's voyage and the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. It assembles American art that was exhibited at the Fair and looks at them in a social and historical context. Essays by Robert Rydell and Carolyn Kinder Carr, images of the displayed works, and a catalog of the original fair exhibition are included.
  • Dabakis, Melissa. Visualizing Labor in American Sculpture: Monuments, Manliness, and the Work Ethic, 1880-1935. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
    The author uses gender as a critical framework in her analysis of the Exposition. The organizers were aware of labor issues, and created a visual spectacle about peaceful notions of work for the visiting public.
  • Dybwad, G. L. and Joy V. Bliss. Chicago Day at the World's Columbian Exposition: Illustrated with Candid Photographs. Albuquerque: Book Stops Here, 1997.
    Dybwad and Bliss tell the story of Chicago Day using both text and photographs. Following their recount are two short articles about gas ballooning and photography at fairs as well as a section of candid photographs. The authors look at both the viability of photography for amateurs during that time and the work that Chicago Day managers undertook. Includes numerous photographs and illustrations, an illustrated reference list, and an index.
  • Findling, John E. Chicago's Great World's Fairs. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994.
  • Gilbert, James Burkhart. Perfect Cities: Chicago's Utopias of 1893. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991.
  • Hales, Peter B. Constructing the Fair: Platinum Photographs by C.D. Arnold of the World's Columbian Exposition. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1993.
    This work accompanies a centennial exhibition organized by the Art Institute of Chicago. Charles Dudley Arnold was the official photographer hired by the Fair's Director of Works, Daniel H. Burnham. His works capture the beginning construction stages of the fair and its opening in May of 1893 as well as its consequent heyday and demise.
  • Hartman, Donald K., ed. Fairground Fiction: Detective Stories from the World's Columbian Exposition. Kenmore, N.Y.: Motif Press, 1992.
    This work contains two detective stories. The first, entitled "Against Odds," is by Emma Murdoch Van Deventer and was written in 1894. The second, "Chicago Charlie, the Columbian Detective," is by John Harvey Whitson and was written in 1932. Both stories are followed by short descriptions of the authors and a list of their other works. A map of the fairgrounds, photographs, as well as an annotated bibliography of other fictional works that use the World's Columbian Exposition as a setting are also included in this work.
  • Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World. New York: Random House, 2003.
    Details the successful illumination of the fair, and the competition for the contracts.
  • Kirkpatrick, Diane, curator. The Fair View: Representations of the World's Columbian Exposition. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Museum of Art; Chicago, Ill.: Terra Museum of American Art, 1993.
    This brochure provides an introduction to an exhibition of images of the Exposition. The images were divided into four sections: "Introduction," "Utopian Vision," "Nature and Culture," and "Construction and Destruction." Some illustrations and a brief description of late-nineteenth century photographic and mass media image processes are included.
  • Larson, Erik. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America. New York: Crown, 2003.
    Tells the story of 2 men: Daniel H. Burnham, the architect responsible for the Fair's construction, and H.H. Holmes, a serial killer masquerading as a charming doctor. Burnham overcame tremendous obstacles as he organized the talents of Frederick Law Olmstead, Charles McKim, and Louis Sullivan.
  • Lewis, Arnold. An Early Encounter with Tomorrow: Europeans, Chicago's Loop, and the World's Columbian Exposition. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997.
    Documents the mixture of amazement and alarm with which European visitors greeted 1890's Chicago: as a futuristic city animated by a crass, frenetic mercantile class.
  • Miller, Donald L. City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996.
    In the aftermath of the Great Fire, the year of the World's Columbian Exposition marked the pinnacle of Chicago's growth as one of the most modern and dynamic cities in the country. This work covers the history of Chicago from its initial "discovery" to the turn of the twentieth century. Chapter 14 is devoted to the events of 1893 and includes discussion of the exposition.
  • Reed, Christopher Robert. All the World is Here!: The Black Presence at White City. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 2000.
    Discusses the role of African-Americans at the 1893 Columbian Exposition and looks at the fairs racism and exploitation of people of color, and the historical controversies that have ensued.

Web Sites

  • Ida B. Wells: The Reason Why the Colored American is not in the World's Columbian Exposition.
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  • The World's Columbian Exposition: Idea, Experience, Aftermath
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  • Welcome to The Web-Book Of The Fair - a window on the Chicago World's Fair Of 1893, the Columbian Exposition
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