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    Historic Photos of the Chicago World's Fair
    Historic Photos of the Chicago World's Fair
    Historic Photos of the Chicago World's Fair
    Ebook233 pages43 minutes

    Historic Photos of the Chicago World's Fair

    By Russell Lewis

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    About this ebook

    Chicago’s World’s Columbian Exposition, popularly called the Chicago World’s Fair, or the White City, was the largest and most spectacular world’s fair ever built. The Columbian Exposition opened on May 1, 1893, and more than 21,000,000 people visited the fair during the six months it was open to the public. The White City was a seminal event in America’s history that changed the way the world viewed Chicago.

    Fortunately, the fair was documented in stunning photographs by commercial and amateur photographers. This volume tells the story of the fair from its construction in Jackson Park to its destruction by fire after the fair had closed. Photographs of the exhibition halls, state buildings, foreign buildings, indoor and outdoor exhibits, the attractions of the Midway, and the various ways to move about the fairgrounds give a sense of how visitors experienced this extraordinary time and place.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTurner Publishing Company
    Release dateMay 28, 2010
    ISBN9781618584335
    Historic Photos of the Chicago World's Fair

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    • 5/5

      "Historic Photos of the Chicago World's Fair" was beyond wonderful. The collection of photographs, only a small number of the thousands upon thousands in the archives of the Chicago History Museum, includes both professional ones and those taken by amateur photographers. The author of this book, Russell Lewis, writes in it that the Chicago World's Fair was the most photographed event of the 19th century, though I believe that the Civil War gives it a run for that title, it was a popular attraction, attended by over 26 million visitors throughout its existence, leading to more opportunities for amateur photographers to snap their own shots (a new development not seen during the Civil War).

      From an historical perspective, this book is wonderful in putting into print many photos unseen in the decades since they were taken. From a Chicagoian's perspective, this book highlights one of the proudest moments in Chicago's history. By holding the World's Fair, my fair city had taken a huge step onto the world stage, a place she has yet to relinguish. Not bad, considering just 20 years before much of the city had lain in smoldering ruins after the Great Chicago Fire had ravaged it.

      Thanks to books like "Historic Photos of the Chicago World's Fair", the White City will continue to live on as a fabulous achievement in United States history.

    Book preview

    Historic Photos of the Chicago World's Fair - Russell Lewis

    HISTORIC PHOTOS OF

    THE CHICAGO WORLD’S FAIR

    TEXT AND CAPTIONS BY RUSSELL LEWIS

    The Horticulture, Choral, and Transportation buildings stand tall behind the intertwined pathways of the Wooded Island’s Rose Garden.

    HISTORIC PHOTOS OF

    THE CHICAGO WORLD’S FAIR

    Turner Publishing Company

    200 4th Avenue North • Suite 950

    Nashville, Tennessee 37219

    (615) 255-2665

    www.turnerpublishing.com

    Historic Photos of The Chicago World’s Fair

    Copyright © 2010 Turner Publishing Company

    All rights reserved.

    This book or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

    Library of Congress Control Number: 2009939390

    ISBN: 978-1-59652-569-6

    Printed in China

    10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17—0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

    CONTENTS

    ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

    PREFACE

    BUILDING THE WHITE CITY

    BEAUTY AND GRANDEUR UNRIVALED

    A WORLD OF GOODS AND ASTONISHMENT

    EXHILARATING CHAOS ON THE MIDWAY

    A CITY BEAUTIFUL

    NOTES ON THE PHOTOGRAPHS

    Olmsted directed workers to create the Lagoon by dredging low areas of Jackson Park and using the fill to raise terraces that would support the fair buildings.

    ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

    This book, Historic Photos of the Chicago World’s Fair, would not have been possible without the support and assistance of my colleagues at the Chicago History Museum. I am grateful to the staff of the Research Center, who helped with the logistics of retrieving, copying, and digitizing images from the collection. My thanks go to Debbie Vaughan, Michael Featherstone, Mathew Krc, and Benjamin Bertin. I am also indebted to the members of the Rights and Reproduction staff who guided me to various White City collections, gave me unfettered access to the images, and played a key role in the process of making digital files of the images in this book. Rob Medina, Bryan McDaniel, and especially Erin Tikovitsch were extremely helpful. Photographers John Alderson and Jay Crawford used the highest professional standards in their scanning and digital conversion efforts. Rosemary Adams lent her critical editorial eye to the text and improved both prose and grammar, and I am grateful to her for her kind assistance. Finally, Gary Johnson, President of the Chicago History Museum, has been supportive and encouraging of this book, and he has been an ongoing champion of the Museum’s partnership with Turner Publishing. At Turner Publishing, I am grateful to Michael McCalip, Gene Bedell, Christina Huffines, and Todd Bottorff for all of their efforts to make the publication of this book possible.

    This book is dedicated to Joseph H. Levy, Jr., Life Trustee of the Chicago Historical Society and extraordinary friend and supporter of the Chicago History Museum.

    ———————

    With the exception of touching up imperfections that have accrued over time and cropping where necessary, no changes have been made to the photographs. The focus and clarity of many photographs is limited to the technology and the ability of the photographer at the time they were taken.

    PREFACE

    The World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 was the most photographed event in the nineteenth century. Images of the Court of Honor, the Ferris wheel, and the Midway Plaisance remain fresh in our minds, providing critical documentation for historians and a visual record that satisfies the public’s thirst to imagine the experience of visiting this world’s fair. Equally important, fair organizers consciously used photography to create an official image of the fair and aggressively promoted it. The fair’s Department of Publicity and Promotion (the Columbian Exposition was the first world’s fair to have a formal publicity operation), which operated under the able leadership of Moses P. Handy, flooded the nation with photographic images of the exposition. Taking advantage of the growing popularity of publishing halftone photographic images in newspapers and magazines, Handy brilliantly engineered a mass distribution of official photographic images that shaped Americans’ perceptions of the White City and encouraged them to attend the exposition.

    The Columbian Exposition was also the first world’s fair to restrict photography and grant an exclusive license for photography to one individual. Charles Dudley Arnold, commissioned by fair organizers to photographically document the construction of the fairgrounds, was granted with his partner Harlow D. Higinbotham the exclusive right for commercial photography on the fairgrounds. Amateur photographers, who had increased significantly in recent years thanks to the introduction of George Eastman’s Kodak snapshot camera

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