Picturing the Century of Progress: The 1933-34 Chicago World’s Fair

Introduction

In 1933, Chicago played host to the world, and in 1934 they did it again. A Century of Progress International Exposition brought visitors from around the globe to the city—over 39 million guests through the fair’s two seasons, which broke world’s fair attendance records. This was not the first time Chicago had hosted a world’s fair, and the 1893 Columbian Exposition loomed large in the city’s memory. Even though the Columbian Exposition remains more famous today, A Century of Progress was larger in terms of visitor attendance and space: the fair was situated on 424 acres near the museum campus, and almost the entire fairground was filled-in lake shore.

World’s fairs came into fashion in the middle of the nineteenth century. Part of what makes them so interesting is that they were both spaces and events. Governments, businesses, religious groups, educational institutions, and other organizations all came together to build spaces where they could show off. Typically, world’s fairs were open for months at a time. Some world’s fairs, like Chicago in 1893 and Paris in 1889, captured the global imagination and cultural elements? from them remain to this day. Other fairs left smaller marks on society, but nevertheless impacted their host communities and individual visitors deeply. As both spaces and events, world’s fairs leave historians with much to explore: they are snapshots into changing and sometimes complex cultures and communities.

In 1933 Americans were deep in the Great Depression, so hosting a celebration focused on Progress might seem a bit unusual. The “Century” part of the title came from the one hundred years since the founding of Chicago.  Much of the fair was intended to celebrate just how much the city had grown and how much had changed technologically in that span. Many people felt discouraged after World War I and the Great Depression, and A Century of Progress offered a new idea of progress. Rather than focus on and put faith in people to create a better world, the fair’s organizers looked to technological innovation as progress.

Planning for the Century of Progress began during the heady days of the Roaring Twenties, before the crash of the stock market in 1929 ushered in the Great Depression. The timing of the fair during the Great Depression, however, influenced its development and reception. Given the tough financial times, some people thought the fair should not proceed for financial reasons, and that participation and visitation would be limited. However, A Century of Progress was remarkable for many reasons, not the least of which was that it turned a profit, even in the midst of the Great Depression. The fair was originally scheduled to run only in 1933, but due to its popularity, and the desire to turn a profit, it remained open for a 1934 season.

Selection: Geographical Publishing Co. Chicago and its Two Fairs, 1893-1933 (1933)

Unlike previous world’s fairs, the 1933-34 Chicago World’s Fair was funded by private money rather than extensive municipal and government funding. Typically, world’s fairs have exhibit pavilions from countries around the world, where those countries show off their culture, industry, innovations, and natural resources. The economic crunch of the Great Depression impacted people globally and caused a number of countries to opt out of participating in the fair, or to focus on smaller exhibits rather than full exhibit pavilions.

The limited funds also led to greater cooperation between exhibitors, as some industries and other interest groups opted to share thematic buildings rather than hosting their own. Another new and unique feature of Chicago’s second world’s fair was the emphasis on science, industry, and the level of corporate participation. Companies like Havoline, Sears, and General Motors sponsored large corporate pavilions and fair landmarks, to use the fair as part of new marketing efforts.

Like all world’s fairs, A Century of Progress was temporary. At the close of the 1934 season, fair buildings were torn down, and fair memorabilia scattered across the country. A Century of Progress served as a beacon of optimism and hopefulness during the Great Depression, and for many fair visitors, it provided memories that would last a lifetime.

Essential Questions:

• What was unique about the 1933-34 Chicago World’s Fair?
• How did the creators of the Century of Progress define “progress”? How did they illustrate and enact their interpretation of that theme?
• Why might city leaders decide to host an expensive celebration during the Great Depression? Why might citizens support this idea, or be critical of it? Why might people decide to attend?
• How would you compare the Century of Progress Exposition with the Columbian Exposition? What similarities and differences do you see?

Art and Architecture at the Fair

The architectural plan of the 1933-34 Chicago World’s Fair drew heavily on modernist design. Rather than drawing inspiration from the past, modernist architects endeavored to create something new. The clean lines and the comparatively unadorned exteriors of modernist fair buildings emphasized functionality and dovetailed nicely with the scientific and industrial emphasis of the fair.

The Century of Progress embraced bold color choices for the buildings, unlike the first Chicago world’s fair, which was known as the White City. To showcase the buildings at night, a large number of them featured specially designed dramatic exterior lighting. Many of the buildings also featured Art Deco elements. Art Deco, a style that was popular during the 1920s and 1930s, favors bold geometric patterns, symmetry, stylized natural forms, and strong colors.

The expression of new ideas in architecture was not limited to large fair buildings but was also on full display at the fair’s popular Homes of Tomorrow. The exhibition displayed prototype houses showcasing new building techniques, building materials, and design ideas for a curious public. The homes featured a range of the most modern conveniences from central air conditioning to mechanical dishwashers. The exhibit connected the fair’s ideas of science and industry to the modern home and made the “progress” brought by this technology seem attainable for the average homeowner.

Selection: The Masonite House

Modernism was on display in other art forms as well. Visitors to the 1933-34 Chicago World’s Fair viewed art all around the fair, through sculptures, paintings, and other artworks created specifically for fair buildings, as well as in exhibits. Neighboring institutions like the Art Institute of Chicago hosted a range of shows featuring loaned works from American museums and collectors, as well as special exhibits for the fair of photography, printmaking, and sculpture. While numerous sculptures, murals, and other artworks were created for the 1933-34 Chicago World’s Fair, little of the fair’s art exists today. World’s fairs are always temporary; they are artificial communities developed for various entities to show off. It can be strange to visit world’s fair sites today when very little architecture remains. It takes a strong historical imagination to picture these places and artworks when only images—most of them promotional—remain.

Questions to Consider:

• How does the architecture of the buildings illustrated in these documents express the fair’s themes of science and progress?
• Select an image of a building from the 1893: Chicago and the World’s Columbian Exposition digital collection. Compare the image from the 1893 World’s Fair to the buildings from 1933. What differences do you notice?
• How can art and architecture convey values, like progress?

The City and the Fair

The Century of Progress World Exposition got its name from the centennial celebration of the incorporation of the city of Chicago. One of the ways Chicago represented its history at the fair was through a reconstruction of Fort Dearborn, an early nineteenth-century United States fort built along the Chicago River. Fort Dearborn holds an important enough place in the history of the city that it is represented by one of the four stars in the city flag. By 1933 Chicago was no longer an outpost but had become a major national transportation center, thanks to the railroads, an industrial meat-processing center, and the second largest population in the United States. Fair leaders included a replica Fort Dearborn to contrast early Chicago with the modern city. This emphasis on contrast also made Depression-era Chicago look better: even though times were tough, there were still many more material comforts than those enjoyed by the first settlers in the area.

Fort Dearborn is part of a large and complicated history of settler colonialism and violence. The fort is famous as the predecessor to Chicago, but also because of the Battle of Fort Dearborn, sometimes known as the “Fort Dearborn massacre.” As part of the War of 1812, the Americans who had been living at the fort evacuated and began heading to Fort Wayne, Indiana, escorted by Miami allies. Despite support from some local Potawatomi leaders, a group of Potawatomi fighters, along with small numbers from the Sac, Kickapoo, and Winnebago, attacked the Americans. The battle lasted about fifteen minutes. Some fifty Americans and around fifteen Potawatomi were killed.

The story of this violent incident was recounted at the Century of Progress exposition’s replica Fort Dearborn, but mostly to demonstrate how far the city had come in a hundred years in terms of safety, architecture, and comfort. The exhibition had no critical discussion of the part that early Chicago played in the international story of the Midwest. Like other places at the fair, the depictions of Native Americans here were mixed. There was some self-representation, but also a narrative that Indigenous peoples were part of the past. A few Native American people were hired as storytellers and to demonstrate traditional crafts, but many who were looking for employment at the fair were unable to find opportunities. The fair also included an “Indian Village” where people of different tribal affiliations stayed and performed dances and ceremonies for curious fairgoers—part of a complex story of Indigenous cultural performances for non-Indigenous audiences.

The world’s fair was a huge draw for visitors to Chicago during 1933-34, but Chicago also hoped to attract visitors to see the city as well. The fairgrounds were built near the museum campus, so city sites like Soldier Field and the newly built Adler Planetarium were available for fair events and exhibitions. Institutions across the city also capitalized on the interest in the fair. For example, the newly formed Museum of Science and Industry opened its doors in 1933 in conjunction with the fair. The Museum of Science and Industry building was the rehabilitated Palace of Fine Arts left over from the Columbian Exposition.

Questions to Consider:

1. What types of sightseeing does the brochure, “Enjoying Your Vacation Days in Chicago” suggest? What does this document illustrate about travel to Chicago during the Century of Progress?
2. How does a recreation of Fort Dearborn, an early settlement near Chicago, illustrate the fair’s theme of progress?
3. Compare the panoramic view and Pure Oil Pathfinder Map to a current picture of Chicago in the same area. What buildings and sites remain? What current landmarks can you identify?

Technology and Labor the Fair

The fair was a celebration, but perhaps more importantly for many, it was a moneymaking enterprise. Fair planners and presenters leveraged new technologies to both inspire hope and to make money. This is clear in the pavilions dedicated to specific industries. General Motors and Chrysler both had pavilions to promote the automobile industry, and the Homes of Today and Tomorrow promoted several different building materials including brick, lumber, and Masonite. Agriculture and technology blended in the buildings dedicated to industries such as livestock and meat, dairy, and the International Harvester building. By promoting innovations and technology, these companies and industries adhered to the fair’s theme of progress, while promoting their own business interests.

A Century of Progress was a significant event for Chicago’s economy during the Great Depression. It brought tourism dollars to the city, and it also provided many Chicagoans with work. The fair employed construction laborers during the building phase as well as people to run and operate the exhibits and attractions when the fair was open. Concessionaires were companies who had contracts with the fair organization; sometimes these were small businesses selling refreshments, other times they were larger companies. These concession contracts were business deals for local and regional companies, and they employed staff to interact with fair visitors. Even so, the Great Depression was so widespread that not everyone who hoped for a job at the fair was able to obtain one. African Americans especially found that opportunities were limited.

Questions to Consider:

1. How did the promotion of technology shape the experience of fairgoers? How did advertising?
2. How might the version of progress depicted in technological displays have contrasted with the harsh realities of the Great Depression?

African Americans at the Fair

Everyone was welcome to visit the fair, but that does not mean that everyone felt welcome at all fair spaces or that the fair was hosted equally by people of all backgrounds. African Americans found visiting the fair to be a particularly frustrating experience. While technically discrimination on fairgrounds was illegal, Black visitors often still found specific vendors and businesses to be unwelcoming. There also were entertainments that depicted African Americans in degrading ways, like the “Old Plantation Show” and the African Dip, a dunk tank attraction that was eventually closed after protests.

There were very few spaces at the fair where Black Chicagoans represented themselves, but one such space was the De Saible Cabin. This replica cabin was hosted by Black clubwomen from Chicago’s Southside. These women hoped to educate people from Chicago and around the world about Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable, a French-speaking Black man who was the first permanent non-Indigenous resident in what is today Chicago. The women argued that this made him the founder of Chicago. Their claim, while historically accurate, made many people feel uncomfortable because it differed from the popular stories about Chicago’s founding by white settlers. These women worked to claim a piece of modern-day Chicago by telling a story about the city’s past.

Questions to Consider:

1. How do these documents tell a story of Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable? Do both documents tell the same story?
2. What might this story have meant to African Americans in Chicago?
3. Compare how Du Sable was portrayed at the fair with how Fort Dearborn was portrayed. What similarities and differences do you see in their depictions of Chicago’s early history?

Gender at the Fair

In addition to being one of the only groups with Black self-representation at the fair, the clubwomen working at the De Saible Cabin were one of the very few women’s groups working at the fair. The Columbian Exposition of 1893 had a very famous Board of Lady Managers, a group of middle class and wealthy white women who oversaw the Women’s Building, but A Century of Progress had no such board or building. Women were certainly deeply involved at the fair. They worked in concessions, as toilet cleaners, and ticket takers, but very few held leadership roles that influenced the overall direction of the fair. In some places women’s groups represented themselves, such as the Women’s College Board and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, and some women were involved at the children’s area of the fair, Enchanted Island.

White women were represented in a major work of art in the Social Science Hall. A sixty-foot mural called Progress of Women or The Onward March of Women was commissioned by the National Council for Women for their exhibit. The artist, Hildreth Meière, was a muralist and mosaicist associated with the Art Deco style. The left side of the mural has prison bars painted in the background, and these bars are spaced progressively further apart until they disappear at the illustration of women’s suffrage. The Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920, meaning that by the time of the fair, women had been voting nationwide for less than fifteen years. The mural depicted famous white women and excluded working-class women and women of color. Perhaps this is unintentionally symbolic of the ways in which the “march of progress” often excluded these women and their work. Sometimes sources like this tell us as much through what they omit as through what they show.

Questions to Consider:

• Does the fair’s relative proximity to the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment make women’s exclusion from leadership roles seem more or less surprising to you? Why?
• Why do you think that many groups of women were excluded from the mural? What does their exclusion tell us about how the National Council of Women and the leaders of the fair understood “progress”?

A World’s Fair: International Villages and Pavillions

Typically, in order for an exposition to be considered a world’s fair, several countries must participate.  International participation at the Century of Progress exposition varied: some countries were represented by their governments, and others by private industries or cultural groups. Exhibits and pavilions created by foreign governments or cultural groups were a product of their time as much as any other part of the fair, something that is evident in the Italian Pavilion.

In the 1930s, Italy had a fascist government. Before World War II, many Italians and Italian Americans were proud of this new type of government, specifically because it was seen as a modernizing force in a country that had struggled to enter the twentieth century. The Italian Pavilion boasted that fascism had brought modernity to Italy, and many Italian American visitors felt proud, especially after many years of feeling like their heritage or immigration status were shameful. Today, the pro-fascist message of this pavilion is shocking, but it is a good example of the complicated nature of national representation at world’s fairs.

While countries displayed their own history, technology, industry, and culture at their respective pavilions, their messages were promoted by American publications and received by American guests through their own worldviews. The international exhibitions at the world’s fairs were complicated. They exposed people to cultures outside of their own and thus expanded people’s worldviews, but they also often reinforced existing stereotypes, making the educational value less significant.  

 In the 1934 season, a group of “foreign villages” was very popular, but most of these staged communities were moneymaking enterprises by Americans instead of cultural representations by international guests. The villages often had different interpretations of other countries than the official pavilions and sometimes relied on racial and cultural stereotypes for entertainment. It is difficult to know how much visitors expected education or entertainment, or if they could clearly tell that these spaces were not run by government and cultural institutions but were in fact run by businesses.

Selection: Foreign Villages Postcard Book

Interspersed with villages representing fictional versions of Morocco, Italy, Belgium, England, and other countries, were the “Midget Village” and the American Colonial Village. The so called “Midget Village” was an area in the fair where buildings were of a small scale and Little People worked as entertainers staging a fictional village life. This was billed as family-friendly entertainment and was popular with children. Unfortunately, there are very few historical records from the perspective of the people who worked in this space. Remembering the Great Depression’s widespread economic devastation is important for helping to understand why people might have taken jobs performing and displaying their bodies at the fair.

The Colonial Village was a fictionalized version of a town on the eve of the American Revolution, although it had replica buildings from many times in the long colonial era. This space was important for Americans who felt discouraged about the Great Depression and were at the exposition to enjoy its theme of progress. The Colonial Village gave Americans a sense of roots—of history and longevity. The narrative of a united American history with specific values was intended to be encouraging. The contrast between the modern America of 1934 and colonial America instilled pride in many Americans: their point of origin was noble, and they had achieved many technological advancements since then. This vision of the American past left out many of the complexities of the American founding, which was in line with how history was often taught at the time, as a patriotic and celebratory subject. While indeed many aspects of the American founding remain inspiring, a more critical look at the past is necessary to fully seek truth and justice.  

Questions to Consider:

• How did the Century of Progress Exhibition introduce Americans to other cultures? Do you think it did so effectively?
• What messages about other cultures might fairgoers have taken home with them?
• How did spaces like the Colonial Village reinforce an idea of a national American identity? Who or what did that idea leave out?

Remembering the Fair

While over thirty-nine million people visited the Century of Progress between 1933 and 1934, many other people experienced the Century of Progress secondhand through promotional materials, news, and postcards and letters from friends and family who made the trip to Chicago. Many fairgoers also purchased souvenirs to remember their trip to the fair. The range of souvenirs available was extensive, from toys and puzzles, to thermometers, stamps, postcards, and buttons. The souvenir guide in this section belonged to a couple from Sommerville, Ohio, almost three hundred miles away from Chicago. In addition to all of the information about the fair, the booklet includes space for fairgoers to take notes and write about their experiences, which the owners of this booklet did. Eleven-year-old Claire Lieber Crews made her own guide to the fair. She described her favorite exhibits and glued souvenirs in this notebook.

For many fair visitors, visiting the Century of Progress exposition was not only a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but as the broadside in the section suggests, something worthy of telling one’s children and grandchildren about. Although most of the art, buildings, and exhibit pieces from the fairground are gone or scattered across the country, the fair lives in through the material and documentary records, as well as in Chicago’s collective memory as one of the four stars in the Chicago city flag.

Questions to Consider:

• Look at the souvenirs in this section. What similarities do you see among them? What did the makers want people to remember about the fair?
• Read Claire Crews’s journal entry. What stood out to Claire, a child visiting the fair, about her experience in the German Village exhibit? (Claire also describes her experiences at the “Midget Village” and the Colonial Village elsewhere in her journal.)
• Look at the cover of the souvenir guide. How does the cover illustrate the theme of progress? According to the text, what are some of the most noteworthy things about the exposition? Why do you think the authors of the booklet considered these things noteworthy?

About the Author

Dr. Cate LiaBraaten is an Assistant Professor of History at Austin Peay State University. She completed her PhD at Loyola University Chicago and her dissertation research examines historical consciousness at Chicago’s 1933-34 Century of Progress Exposition during the Great Depression. Other scholarly interests include the history of play and playspaces, as well as women’s history, especially the temperance and suffrage movements. In addition to being an educator, she is a practicing public historian.

These are just a few of the sources related to the Century of Progress at the Newberry. Explore more here.

Maps and Guides

The world’s fair was a huge draw for visitors to Chicago during 1933-34. Many Chicago organizations published city guides, maps, histories for these visitors.

Souvenirs

Many fairgoers purchased souvenirs to remember their trip to the fair. The range of souvenirs available was extensive, from toys and puzzles, to thermometers, stamps, postcards, and buttons. Other fairgoers created their own personal souvenirs. Below are some souvenirs purchased and created by fairgoers.

Postcards

Postcards and letters were a way that visitors who made the trip to Chicago shared their experience with their friends and family. World’s fair postcard documented the buildings, technologies, and narratives of the fair.

Further Reading

Ganz, Cheryl. The 1933 Chicago World’s Fair: A Century of Progress, 2008.

LiaBraaten, Cate. Past and Progress: Producing History at Chicago’s 1933-34 World’s Fair, 2023.

Rydell, Robert W, Laura B. Schiavo, and Robert Bennett. Designing Tomorrow: America’s World’s Fairs of the 1930s, 2010.

Sokol, David M. “Building a Century of Progress: the Architecture of Chicago’s 1933-34 World’s Fair by Lisa D. Shrenk.” The Journal of American Culture. 31.2 (2008): 211-212.