Curriculum Refresh: Chicago 1893

[smccormack]

It’s always a good time to refresh the course curriculum. This fall I’m learning as much as I can about the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair (aka, Columbian Exposition) with the plan of incorporating discussion of the events of that year to my spring sections of US History since 1877.

The motivation to incorporate Chicago 1893 into the course curriculum came in part from my recent reading of Erik Larson’s best-selling 2003 work The Devil in the White City (Vintage). Although the book has been out for quite some time I was not exposed to the stories that Larson expertly wove through the narrative until summer 2024 when I visited Chicago. I’d never heard the city called anything but “windy” and the book’s subtitle Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America caught my attention as someone who is interested in the concept of madness in American history. 

Time Magazine’s Ruth Nelson opines that contemporary America could perhaps benefit from a World’s Fair.

“Once again in 2024,” Nelson writes, 

US society is deeply fractured and many Americans fear for the future thanks to growing geopolitical conflicts, polarization, climate change, the rising specter of authoritarianism, and the proliferation of AI. An epic world’s fair – an event that, historically, has provided visitors with a glimpse of a glorious future – could offer an antidote, or at least a balm, for this cultural storm. (Time Magazine, 13 September 2024)

What was it about these fairs that, as Nelson argues, “boosted morale” in the worst of economic and political times? In a survey-level US history class students could use the Chicago 1893 Fair as a framework for analyzing the challenges facing the country in the late 19th century and then consider the ways in which the Fair’s exhibits offered distraction from those daily stressors.  

If you haven’t read Larson’s book it is an excellent starting point for gathering content about how the city secured the rights to host the Fair as well as the political wrangling that took place amongst planners, architects, landscape artists, unions, business owners, and politicians to build out the fairgrounds. In addition I’m using The World’s Columbian Exposition by Norman Bolotin and Christine Laing (National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1992) to gather facts, figures, and illustrations of the Fair. Several web sites have digitized images from the Fair. See, for example, The Atlantic’s “Photos of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair” for a spectacular image of the Ferris Wheel as well as the crowds that gathered in Chicago throughout that year. Still looking for more resources so suggestions are welcome!

Do you have a topic that you have recently added to a history class or are considering adding? If so, let’s brainstorm!