Humanities Time Capsule: Columbian Exposition of 1893

The World's Columbian Exposition
of 1893 and Victorian America:
A Humanities Time Capsule©

Created by John G. Ramsay, Associate Professor and
Chair of the Educational Studies Department, Carleton College

With Support from
National Endowment for the Humanities
American Council of Learned Societies
In Collaboration with
White Bear Lake, MN, School District
Minneapolis Public Schools
Join us for a tour of the Colombian Exposition of 1893, the Chicago World's Fair at the quadra-centennial of Columbus' arrival in America, as seen through the eyes of Daniel Burnham, Chief of Construction for the fair grounds, and Ida B. Wells, a prominent African-American journalist and protestor at the fair. The time capsule is a set of texts and artifacts and is an instructional strategy for middle and high school English and social studies courses. The Burnham and the Wells capsules are designed both to complement and to contrast with each other. Each text in the Burnham capsule has a parallel text in the Wells capsule. To access the parallel text, simply click on the link at the bottom of each text section. The Mythical Student time capsule is prototype of one kind of student work that can be assigned in connection with the World's Fair time capsules.
What Is a Time Capsule
Time Capsules as Curriculum Design
Time Capsules and Teaching Strategies
Begin 1893 World's Fair Time Capsule
Daniel Burnham Artifacts: Group I, Group II
Ida B. Wells Artifacts: Group I, Group II
Picture source: William E. Cameron, The World's Fair, Being a Pictorial History of The Columbian Exposition, (E. C. Morse & Co., 1893) 32.

Suggestions for Printing and Viewing: This sample time capsule was created for printing as well as for viewing. Because of these dual considerations (and depending on your system capabilities), it may initially take a few seconds to load each of the four artifact sections. After that, switching between parallel texts should be fast and printing easy. To print the time capsule contents, simply access and print as usual each of the four artifact sections, above.

Questions? Contact: John Ramsay, jramsay@carleton.edu 507/222-4008