Primarily Fairs

A look at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and the

Sandwich Fair through the use of primary sources.

Click on each slide to advance

IntroductionFor this project, you will be conducting Internet-based research to locate primary sources that help you to better understand the impact that a fair has on its visitors. You will be focusing on two familiar fairs:

1. 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition2. The Sandwich Fair

IntroductionTo assist you, this project will provide several activities for you to complete that will aid you in analyzing the relationship between fairs and their visitors.

All of the primary sources you will be analyzing are available in class and can also be viewed online. The documentation for these sources, including web addresses, is always listed in yellow text.

Activity #1Where is the fair?

In this activity, you will be examining two maps; one from each fair. Using a Venn Diagram, you will need to identify the similarities and differences between the two fairs.

1893 Chicago World’s Fair Ground PlanBurnham, Daniel. Ground Plan of Exhibition. Map. Chicago: 1893. From Boston College: Digital Archive of American

Architecture. http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/1893/1893_gplan.jpg (accessed 21 Jul 2009).

2008 Sandwich Fairgrounds Map & DirectorySandwich Fairground Map & Directory. Map. Sandwich: Sandwich Fair Association, 2008.

http://www.sandwichfair.com/map_&_directory.htm (accessed 21 Jul 2009).

1. Draft Horse Barn 2. Rabbit Tent 3. Llama Tent 4. Beef Barn 5. Hog Barn 6. Sheep Barn 7. Sheep Barn 8. Goat Barn 9. Livestock Office 10. Poultry Barn 11. Ag Education Center 12. Hog Barn 13. Dairy Barn 14. FFA Farm Zoo 15. Ag Land Entertainment 16. Race Horse Barn 17. Lions Club Stand 18. Catholic Church Food Stand 19. Maintenance Building 20. Old Secretary’s Office 21. Commercial Building #3 22. Sheriff’s Office 23. Food Stand 24. First Aid 25. Round Office 26. Food Stand

27. Commercial Building #2 28. Commercial Building #4 29. Rest Pavilion 30. ATM (3 locations) $31. Home Arts Building Stage32. Home Arts Building 33. Arts & Crafts Building 34. Rest Areas 35. Train Tickets 36. Pork Chop BBQ 37. Horticulture Building 38. Commercial Building #1 39. Sports Boosters Food Stand 40. United Church Food Stand

41. Race Track 42. Main Entertainment Stage 43. Grandstand 44. Commercial Tent #5 45. Grandstand Ticket Office 46. Craft Demonstration Building 47. Collections Building 48. Melodramas by Indian Valley Theatre 49. Horseshoe Courts 50. Free Children’s Program 51. NEW Sandwich Fair Office

Activity #1Venn Diagran

Here is an example of a Venn Diagram to get you started on this activity.

•Chicago, IL•on lake•water features•internationalfocus

• Sandwich, IL• race track• land-locked• local focus

1893 World’s Fair Sandwich Fair

• Illinois• exhibition

buildings• stock exhibit• agriculture

Activity #2The Ferris Wheel

Most of us have enjoyed the thrill of the Ferris Wheel at the Sandwich Fair. If you have not had this experience, team-up with a partner who has. Interview your partner about their experiences on the Ferris Wheel at the Sandwich Fair.

Your interview will create a primary source! Be sure to document it properly…

Activity #2The Ferris Wheel

For the second part of this activity, you will use a KWL worksheet to analyze the facts detailed in the article, The Big Wheel. Here is an example to get you started:

Meehan, Patrick. The Big Wheel. Article. From the Hyde Park Historical Society: Newsletter, Spring 2000. http://www.hydeparkhistory.org/newsletter.html (accessed 21 Jul 2009).

K(prior knowledge)

•Ferris Wheels are exciting.•Both fairs have Ferris Wheels.•The Ferris Wheel is a major attraction at the fairs.

L(what I learned)

•The Ferris Wheel was to be compared with the Eiffel Tower.•The wheel was built in just four months.•The wheel was built on the midway, not on the main grounds.•The wheel held 2,160 people at a time.

W(what I want to find out)

•Where was the Chicago Ferris Wheel located?•How may people could be on the Chicago Ferris Wheel?

Activity #2The Ferris Wheel

Now working individually, use your knowledge of the Sandwich Ferris Wheel to create an extended response (what occurred, why its important, how it relates to you) of what an experience must have been like on the Chicago Ferris Wheel.

Activity #3What was the fair like?

For our next activity, we will be moving into the computer lab. You will use NARA worksheets to analyze a series of photos from the Sandwich Fair and the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

You can find an example of a NARA worksheet analysis after each collection is introduced on the following slides.

Activity #3What was the fair like?Flickr! – Sandwich Fair

You must choose four different photos from this collection for analysis.

tinmann620. Sandwich Fair, Sandwich, Illinois (set). Online image. From Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/30708145@N02/sets/72157616096631772/ (accessed 21 Jul 2009).

tinmann620. (unnamed photo). Online image. From Flickr: Sandwich Fair, Sandwich, Illinois (set).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30708145@N02/3396878196/in/set-72157616096631772 (accessed 21 Jul 2009).

Activity #3What was the fair like?

Illinois Digital Archives – 1893 World’s Fair

You must choose four different photos from this collection for analysis.

World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 from the Field Museum. Online image. From the Illinois Digital Archives. http://www.idaillinois.org/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=/fmnh (accessed 21 Jul 2009).

Jackson, William Henry. Ferris Wheel. Online image. Chicago: White City Photographs, 1893. From the Illinois Digital Archives: World’s Columbian

Exposition of 1893 from the Field Museum. http://www.idaillinois.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/fmnh&CISOPTR=819&CISOBOX=1&REC=6

(accessed 21 Jul 2009).

Activity #4Portraying the Fairs

In activity #4, you will gather information from “birds-eye views” of each fair. Use a KWL worksheet to collect this information.

Examples of how to complete each activity will not be provided from this point on … showcase what you have learned!

The Sandwich FairgroundsSandwich, IL. Google Earth. 41°38’53.89”N 88°38’33.16”W. (accessed 21 Jul 2009).

The 1893 World’s Columbian ExpositionBird's eye view of the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893. Map. Rand McNally and Company, 1893. From Library of Congress, Panoramic Maps 1847-1929. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g4104c.pm001522 (accessed 21 Jul 2009).

Activity #5The Legacy of the World’s Fair

For this activity, you will be analyzing two different floor plans. The first is of the Palace of Fine Arts from the 1893 Fair and the second is of the same building as it is known in 2009, the Museum of Science and Industry. Use a Venn Diagram to organize your thoughts as you compare and contrast these floor plans.

The Palace of Fine Arts

The Art Palace – Ground Floor Plan. Online image. Chicago: Illinois Institute of Technology, 1999. From the Paul V. Galvan Library Digital History Collection: World’s Columbian Exposition of

1893. http://columbus.gl.iit.edu/od/0074020.html (accessed 21 Jul 2009).

The Art Palace – Upper Gallery Plan. Online image. Chicago: Illinois Institute of Technology, 1999. From the Paul V. Galvan Library Digital

History Collection: World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893.

http://columbus.gl.iit.edu/od/0074021.html (accessed 21 Jul 2009).

Museum of Science and Industry

Main Level Map. Online image. Chicago: Museum of Science and Industry, 2009.

http://msichicago.org/visit-the-museum/museum-map/ (accessed 21 Jul 2009).

Balcony Level Map. Online image. Chicago: Museum of Science and Industry, 2009.

http://msichicago.org/visit-the-museum/museum-map/ (accessed 21 Jul 2009).

FINAL PRODUCTFor your final product, you will take all of the research that you have conducted and produce a five-paragraph essay that compares and contrasts the differences between our local fair in Sandwich and the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. You are expected to follow all language arts guidelines in completing your essay and provide a detailed works cited page.

Extra Credit ActivityWalking Through the Fair

For extra credit, you will be creating your own primary source again. You will be creating a video tour of the 2009 Sandwich Fair. Then compare and contrast a visit to the Sandwich Fair with the simulated visit to the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair on the next slide. Use a NARA video worksheet to collect your thoughts.

Touring the World’s Fair

This placeholder will display the 9:47 (143MB) video file in a classroom

setting. The video is not displayed in this online presentation

to conserve space and downloading time.

You can download the video here.

Court of Honor Footage at Pedestrian Level. Windows Media File. Los Angeles: UCLA, 2008. From the Urban Simulation Team: The World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893.

http://www.ust.ucla.edu/ustweb/Projects/columbian_expo.htm (accessed 21 Jul 2009).