World's Fairs, 1851-1937: Chicago and Paris

Undergraduate / Graduate

The great era of world's fairs (or universal expositions) lasted about ninety years. Although this golden age originated in London and took expression on every continent, two of its most significant hosts were Paris and Chicago. This course will examine the character and impact of expositions in these two cities, concentrating on Paris expositions held between 1855 and 1937 and the two Chicago fairs of 1893 and 1933. Particular attention will be given to the art, design, and architecture featured, stimulated, and sometimes ignored by the fairs. But technological, racial, political, institutional, and social themes will be examined as well. This colloquium is meant to encourage creation of research papers. It will meet once a week and there will be heavy reliance upon images at each session.