World’s Fair, Chicago 

Childe Hassam made this watercolor painting, "World’s Fair, Chicago", at the close of the nineteenth century. The World’s Fair, also known as the Columbian Exposition, was designed to showcase American exceptionalism. The architecture in this image is rendered in neoclassical style, which was en vogue for institutions wanting to convey authority and sophistication. The fair took place at a time when anxieties about modernity were growing. Advances in manufacturing meant that the craftsmanship of the past was being devalued. At the same time, many people flocked to cities like Chicago to find work, leaving behind the traditional social structures of rural life. The World’s Fair offered a glimpse into the future while reassuring visitors of the values of the past. The historian can look at the fair as it was represented in visual culture and analyze its impact on the cultural imagination of the time. Scholarly journals and popular magazines can reveal how the fair was perceived by different groups of people.