Book contents
- The Cambridge History of American Popular Culture
- The Cambridge History of American Popular Culture
- Copyright page
- In Memoriam: Lauren Rabinovitz
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Prologue
- Part I The Rise of Commercialized Leisure
- 1 Popular Literature in Nineteenth-Century America
- 2 Sentimentalism and Women’s Popular Culture
- 3 The Visual in Nineteenth-Century American Popular Culture
- 4 Nineteenth-Century Popular Theatre and Performance
- 5 Minstrel Shows and Blackface
- 6 Wild West Shows
- 7 Vaudeville and Burlesque
- 8 The Rise of American Sports
- 9 Amusement Parks
- 10 American World’s Fairs in the Gilded Age
- Part II The American Century
- Part III The Power of Popular Culture
- Further Reading
- Index
- References
10 - American World’s Fairs in the Gilded Age
from Part I - The Rise of Commercialized Leisure
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 May 2026
Edited by
Book contents
- The Cambridge History of American Popular Culture
- The Cambridge History of American Popular Culture
- Copyright page
- In Memoriam: Lauren Rabinovitz
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Prologue
- Part I The Rise of Commercialized Leisure
- 1 Popular Literature in Nineteenth-Century America
- 2 Sentimentalism and Women’s Popular Culture
- 3 The Visual in Nineteenth-Century American Popular Culture
- 4 Nineteenth-Century Popular Theatre and Performance
- 5 Minstrel Shows and Blackface
- 6 Wild West Shows
- 7 Vaudeville and Burlesque
- 8 The Rise of American Sports
- 9 Amusement Parks
- 10 American World’s Fairs in the Gilded Age
- Part II The American Century
- Part III The Power of Popular Culture
- Further Reading
- Index
- References
Summary
World’s fairs or international expositions occurred regularly in the United States between 1876 and 1916. These seasonal spectacles exhibited American national progress, technological development, and industrialization. Women and non-Whites, however, were relegated to subordinate roles, although their opposition and protests are equally part of the story of this period’s fairs. The fairs also generally consigned entertainment to specific zones. The expositions of this period – especially the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, the 1893 Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition, the 1901 Buffalo Pan-American Exposition, the 1904 St. Louis Louisiana Purchase Exposition, the 1915–1916 San Francisco Panama–Pacific Exposition, and the 1915–1916 San Diego Panama–California Exposition – attracted millions of tourists while photos, postcards, and other souvenirs informed millions more about them. They were international stages that wove popular culture into ideological displays about American empire and technological progress and were originators for several types of twentieth-century popular culture.
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- Type
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- The Cambridge History of American Popular Culture , pp. 193 - 212Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
References
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