World's Fair and Exposition Collection
1882-1985
This collection is an amalgamation of graphic and textual materials—photographs, postcards, and printed materials—relating to fairs, expositions, and Olympic Games held in and proposed for both Western Europe and the United States during the latter quarter of the 19th and throughout the 20th century. Well-documented and notably influential events, such as Paris’s Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes of 1925 and the Exposition Universelle de 1889 are documented in this collection alongside less renowned fairs such as the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894, held concurrently with the World’s Columbian Exposition, and others.
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Collection access:
Collections may be accessed in the Franke Reading Room of the Research Center at The Art Institute of Chicago, by appointment only. For further information, consult the FAQ.
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Contact the Ryerson and Burnham Art and Architecture Archives:
archives@artic.edu
Black and white photographic prints, color slides, postcards, correspondence, holograph papers, typescript papers, maps, drawings, and printed papers.