Thursdays, February 8, 15, and 22 from 10-11 a.m. Central
ONLINE through Roundtable by the 92nd Street Y in New York
Tens of millions of people attended the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, known as the “White City” on Lake Michigan. Designed to educate and entertain, the beautiful and bewildering World’s Fair overwhelmed many of these visitors. With its grand exhibition palaces, international villages, and giant Ferris Wheel, the fairgrounds served as the capital of the world for six months. This “Dream City” then almost completely vanished, leaving only vestiges of the monumental Gilded Age event.
In this three-week course, we will explore the White City (without the devil) using a collection of artifacts that include a map, admission tickets, a guidebook, a souvenir spoon, a painting, postcards, and official and amateur photographs. Each item offers an object lesson about some important aspects of the Fair: its design and architecture, the builders and administrators, visitor experiences, new technologies on display, iconography commemorating Christopher Columbus, the curious Midway Plaisance, and touchpoints to contemporary issues such as the gold-standard debate and emerging US globalism.
Register for this live, virtual Roundtable course at: https://roundtable.org/live-courses/history/the-1893-worlds-fair-a-virtual-museum