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Museums Wed Oct 23 2013
The Field Museum Opens Its Vaults: Revisit The World's Fair of 1893
It's been said that there are more treasures in the basement of the Louvre than those that grace its upper galleries, and this week, you may discover that the same holds true for Chicago's Field Museum.
On Friday, October 25th, the Museum debuts "Opening the Vaults: Wonders of the 1893 World's Fair", an exhibit that will bring to light many of the forgotten treasures of the event that was without a doubt one of the most important in the city's history. As the Museum's website reveals, "Not only the birthplace of the Juicy Fruit chewing gum and the Ferris Wheel, the World's fair also marked the triumphant debut of our very own Field Museum."
Nobody who has read Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City (2003) or pounded a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon will fail to be intrigued by the museum's wonderful collection of artifacts from the Exposition. Catch your breath as you view the meteorite that terrorized fair visitors. View exclusive photographs and imagine Midwestern Americans rubbing elbows with international cultures they'd only imagined in their wildest dreams. Just as the visitors to the World's Fair were the first to sample many of the products we take for granted today, like a bowl of Shredded Wheat or a ride on a Ferris Wheel, so too will the visitors to the Field's exhibit be the first to uncover how the fair exposed previous Windy City residents and travelers from far and wide to unique marvels.
Visitors to the Field Museum (1400 S. Lakeshore Drive) will be able to explore the exhibit between October 25th, 2013 and September 7th, 2014. For more information, visit the Museum's website or the exhibit's microsite.
Photograph courtesy of The New York Times photo archive, public domain