Werner Company
The Edison Electrical Tower, 1893
Field Museum Library: GN90799d_CG_112w

With the entry of Chicago’s Field Museum into the Flickr Commons last week, we noticed that we have a very good collection across the Commons of photographs from the historic 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition (a.k.a. Chicago World’s Fair). Held at a crucial time in that city’s history after the ruin of the Great Fire, this fair focused on the stunning technologies of electricity and the elegant architectural planning of Daniel Burnham and Frederick Law Olmsted. The fair led to a revolution in how cities were planned, and can be seen as a starting point for the urban planning profession as we know it. The above photograph depicts the Edison “Genii of Electricity” … however, Edison’s DC current technology lost its bid to light up the Exposition to Westinghouse and Tesla’s AC current.

The Smithsonian Institution coordinated all of the U.S. Government exhibits and prepared a display on its activities and collections for the Exposition. This is the south canal and the Electricity Building.

Smithsonian Institution

The Brooklyn Museum has holdings of the Exposition from its Goodyear Archival Collection. This is the same location as above, but shot with a narrower lens.

Brooklyn Museum

The Field Museum has a wealth of photos of the Exposition from photographer William Henry Jackson. This is the same view north as above, between the Electricity and Manufactures-Liberal Arts Buildings.

Field Museum Library.

The Ferris wheel made its first appearance at the Exposition. Built by George Ferris, this 264-foot-high carnival ride had 36 cars, each of which held up to 60 people. One car even had a band that played when the wheel was in motion. The view from the top? Sweeping.

Field Museum Library

Brooklyn Museum

Brooklyn Museum

Field Museum Library

The Field Museum’s contribution to the Commons is important in these ways:

Lots of photos of exhibits, on the inside of the buildings. The montage shots of the various state buildings — sorely lacking on the Internet. Colored illustrations, to add life to the black and white photos. Photos from after the fair. In the Field’s “Field Columbian Museum” set, there are photos of Jackson Park from up to 20 years after the fair. You can pick out items on exhibit which are also shown in the fair photos.

Field Museum

A challenge for you, the viewer: With this wealth of photography all of the same event, can you recreate a panorama or mashup that shows the breadth of the exhibition? Here’s a starter for you by Brian Karpuk (newsburgler on Flickr); he’s got a few great Expo write-ups for more info:

Panorama of the World's Columbian Exposition Chicago 1893

Here are also two nifty overlays of the Expo mapped in Google Earth or in your browser with a plug-in. Maybe someone enterprising can combine this data with the photos and the photo overlay info we posted about earlier this week. Fun!

We hope this tantalizes you into contributing your research to the Commons photos and inspires you to take these images and re-create the long-gone White City in all its grandeur.

Tags: Brooklyn Museum, Field Museum, Smithsonian Institution

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 6th, 2009 at 1:15 pm and is filed under Across The Commons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.