World's Columbian Exposition Souvenir Paperweight
World's Columbian Exposition Souvenir Paperweight
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- Description (Brief)
- Souvenir paperweight from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago Illinois. The Exposition, commemorating the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s voyage, was the second World’s Fair held in the United States, the first being Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exposition.
- The paperweight features an image of the Fair’s most remembered feature, the Ferris Wheel. Designed by George Washington Gage Ferris Jr., the “Chicago Wheel” was as a response to the success of the Eiffel Tower, unveiled at the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris.
- The wheel stood 264 feet high and featured 36 gondolas, each capable of holding up to 60 riders. An engineering marvel, it became the Fair’s most prominent attraction, and like the Exposition itself, was used to promote civic pride and display American ingenuity.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- Paperweight
- Date made
- 1893
- associated dates
- 1893 05 01 / 1893 05 01, 1893 10 30 / 1893 10 30
- place made
- United States: Illinois, Chicago
- Physical Description
- glass (overall material)
- brown (overall color)
- yellow (overall color)
- white (overall color)
- blue (overall color)
- Measurements
- average spatial: 1 1/2 in x 3 in; 3.81 cm x 7.62 cm
- ID Number
- 1989.0438.0620
- catalog number
- 1989.0438.0620
- accession number
- 1989.0438
- catalog number
- 1893G02
- Credit Line
- The Larry Zim World's Fair Collection
- subject
- Expositions and Fairs
- Expositions and Fairs
- World's Columbian Exposition
- See more items in
- Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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