World'S Fairs, sometimes called international expositions, originated with the 1851 London Crystal Palace Exhibition. The success of that venture in trumpeting the causes of industrialism, nationalism, and imperialism to an audience in excess of six million inspired the builders of nation-states in Europe and the United States to follow suit. The first wave of Victorian-era world's fairs concluded with World War I, but the collapse of capitalist economies in the 1920s precipitated a second wave of fairs held during the Great Depression. Following World War II, world's fairs, confronted with growing competition from electronic media and Disney-inspired theme parks, began to recede in number and importance. Projecting the failures of recent expositions back on the past would be anachronistic, however. From their inception in 1851 through the middle of the twentieth century, world's fairs played a primary role in giving form and substance to the modernizing world.
Even before the 1929 stock market crash, several of Chicago's leading corporate capitalists were launching plans for a world's fair to commemorate the anniversary of the founding of Chicago and the fortieth anniversary of the 1893 fair. When the depression hit, they redoubled their efforts and, in 1933–1934, held the Century of Progress Exposition. Chief among its modernistic buildings was the Hall of Science, which distilled the exposition's central theme: "Science Finds; Industry Applies; Man Conforms." At least one performer at the fair refused to conform, however. Sally Rand amazed countless numbers of fairgoers with her notorious fan dance and gave the fair abundant publicity with her multiple arrests. Indeed, so successful was the 1933 fair in rekindling popular faith in the American economic and political systems that President Franklin Roosevelt personally urged exposition authorities to reopen it in 1934. By the time it closed, the Century of Progress Exposition had jump-started the stalled American world's fair movement.
In the wake of the Chicago fair, San Diego (1935– 1936), Dallas (1936), Cleveland (1936–1937), San Francisco (1939–1940), and New York (1939–1940) held world's fairs that, in total, attracted some 100 million visitors. The fairs put thousands of people to work and held out the promise that America's best years lay in the future. Nowhere was this theme more in evidence than at the 1939 New York fair, which took as its theme "The World of Tomorrow." With exhibits created by some of the world's leading industrial designers, including Norman Bel Geddes (who designed the General Motors' Futurama show) and Henry Dreyfus (who designed Democracity), this fair gave visible form to the meaning of modernity and held out the promise that America, in the very near future, would escape from the ravages of the depression and become a consumerist paradise. This fair, like its immediate predecessors, also advocated the use of eugenics to solve America's social problems.
The fairs of the 1930s do not deserve credit for saving the United States from the depression. But, like the generation of Victorian-era fairs that mushroomed across the country between 1876 and 1916 in the midst of increasing class violence and mounting economic anxiety, the fairs of the Great Depression certainly helped restore middle-class confidence in U.S. political and economic institutions. |
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CHICAGO AND HER 2 WORLDS FAIRS depicting A CENTURY OF PROGRESS
PRINTED in the U.S.A. by THE GEOGRAPHICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY of CHICAGO and copyright date 1933. The BOOKLET is called CHICAGO AND HER 2 WORLDS FAIRS and depicts A CENTURY OF PROGRESS 1893 - 1933. It has PHOTOGRAPHS from various sources, including the CHICAGO ARCHITECTURAL PHOTO COMPANY, the CHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY, the CHICAGO DAILY NEWS, KAUFMANN & FABRY, and the CHICAGO ART INSTITUTE.
It's COVER and BACK is made of a LEATHER COMPOSITION of the time and it's condition is very sensitive. We will rate it's CONDITION as FAIR.
The INSIDE PHOTOS and WRITTEN MATERIAL and PAGES are in EXCELLENT CONDITION.
A very intriguing piece of history to own and very scarce on the market.
Circa: COPYRIGHT DATE 1933
Condition: ESTATE - USED
Manufacturer: THE GEOGRAPHICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY of CHICAGO
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COLLECTIBLE SPOON CENTURY 21 SEATTLE WORLDS FAIR COLLECTOR SPOON
This COLLECTOR SPOON was made for the SEATTLE WORLDS FAIR.
It was made in 1967 and the copyright date is 1961 by CENTURY 21 EXPOSITION, Inc.
The stem is embossed with a picture of the SPACE NEEDLE and the words Seattle Worlds Fair and the numbers 21. The bowl is plain.
The condition is ESTATE / USED for display.
Circa: 1967
Condition: ESTATE - USED
Size: Length 4 inches
Manufacturer: UNKNOWN
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ONEIDA / CHICAGO FORT DEARBORN
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ONEIDA CHICAGO WORLDS FAIR FT. DEARBORN COLLECTOR SPOON
This SILVER PLATED COLLECTOR SPOON was made in 1933 for the CHICAGO WORLDS FAIR-A CENTURY OF PROGRESS. It depicts CHICAGO'S FORT DEARBORN.
It is decorated from top to bottom with the words A CENTURY OF PROGRESS 1933 on the handle, CHICAGO down the stem, and is EMBOSSED with a picture of FORT DEARBORN on the bowl of the spoon.
It is MARKED ONEIDA COMMUNITY PAR PLATE on the back of the stem.
The CONDITION is ESTATE / USED. This spoon is a collector spoon and was used for display purposes only. It is silver plated and it has some tarnishing.
Circa: 1933
Condition: ESTATE - USED
Size: Length - 6 inches
Manufacturer: ONEIDA
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