Turn Of The Century Expositions Study Guide US History

The period stretching from the late 19th through the early 20th century was a time of great international world's fairs and expositions. London's Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851 celebrated the British Empire at a time of imperial growth while the Eiffel Tower is a remaining legacy of the Paris Universal Exposition of 1889. A number of such expositions were held in the United States. Some of these were very international in scope, such as the World's Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago in 1893 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus's arrival in the Western Hemisphere and the St. Louis World's Fair or Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904, which marked the centenary of Jefferson's purchase of western lands previously claimed by France and Napoleon. Others were a little less grand in scope but still impressive undertakings that promoted regional development, including the South's Atlanta Cotton States and International Exposition of 1895, and the West's Seattle Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909, San Francisco's Panama Pacific International Exposition of 1915, and San Diego's competing Panama-California Exposition of 1915-17. A relatively young Theodore Roosevelt was vaulted to the Presidency when President William McKinley was assassinated at Buffalo's Pan-American Exposition of 1901. These fairs were characterized by intense local boosterism and by a sense of optimism about progress and the technological wonders of the age. But they were also self-conscious representations of contemporary society back to the fair's visitors and, as such, offer unique snapshots of American society at this time and of Americans' understanding of their place in the world.

Use the provided resources and any other on-line materials you find to research your particular exposition. You will research the specifics of the fair itself but the larger mission is to use the exposition as a window onto the era and region in which it was held. You will be loosely coordinating your research with a small group of your classmates and then sharing your findings with the class.

This is an ungraded and informal mini-assignment. You should, however, devote at least a couple of hours of out-of-class time to this project and your contributions to any course mini-assignments will serve as one significant component of both your First Half Portfolio and your Class Participations, Contributions, and Professionalism grades (39% of course grade).

1) Spend time researching your assigned exposition. Learn all you can about your fair, with a particular emphasis on to those themes that seem most interesting to you and/or seem most connected to larger societal issues.

2) Historians distinguish between primary and secondary resources. If secondary sources are materials written later by historians and others about particular subjects, primary sources are written and visual artifacts from the time period itself (diaries, registers, contemporary newspaper articles, photographs, etc.). One reason I have designed this exercise is that there are primary resources such as guidebooks and photographs for each of these expositions available on-line. Spend at least some time accessing one or more of the primary sources listed for your fair.

3) Take some notes as you proceed. Again, these will not be graded but you should bring these to class and then submit these either in hand-written or digital form. (I'll open up a spot on Brightspace for digital submissions)

4) Work with your classmates between our Week 2 and Week 3 classes to develop a simple slideshow (approximately 10 slides) for informal presentation during our Week 3 class. I recommend that you set up and then share access to a Powerpoint on OneDrive. You should bring either a flash drive or at least one laptop that has those images on it to class on September 20. I'll also bring a flash drive and we can then transfer the presentations to the classroom desktop. I'm not sure whether you have access to your own accounts through the classroom computer.

5) I will provide you with several minutes on September 20 to meet with your fellow group members and share what you have learned. We'll then have a roundtable in which we compare and contrast the different expositions. Although some coordination will be necessary outside of the classroom, my expectation is that this will be an improvised workshop rather than an occasion for which you've designed a polished presentation.

What is some basic background on your exposition? When and why was it held? What was the layout of the fair and what were some of the more interesting exhibits? What are some of the things that happened at the fair? Who came to the exposition and what did they say?

What seems to have been distinctive about your fair and how might you use your particular exposition as a window of sorts onto the society in which its was held?

How would you begin to place your exposition within its historical context? What was its historical significance?

What themes were highlighted by the promoters of your fair and what theme or themes most captured your imagination?

What controversies marked the exposition? How would you place these within a larger context?

What images can you find that can help to both provide an overview of the fair and to highlight themes that you consider to be of particular interest and/or importance?

What are some ways in which themes of race relations, class relations, and gender were on display at the fair?

How did your fair present the city and the region in which it was held? What vision of the future was offered here?

Did your exposition explore the relationships between the United States and other nations and between Americans and other peoples in the world? How were these relationships presented?

Can you find any direct connections between your exposition and Canada, British Columbia, and/or Vancouver Island?

What similarities and differences between the various expositions seem to you as of the greatest significance?