Industrialization

The 1876 Centennial was the first grand scale World’s Fair to be held in the United States. Hosted in Philadelphia, the Fair brought in close to ten million visitors, 30,000 exhibitors and displays from nations all around the world. Designed to flex the United States’ growing economic and industrial power, the 1876 Centennial was a spectacle of massive excess. The Main Building encapsulates this well. The Main Building was the largest building in the world at the time: over 21 acres in area. It shared the same layout as center city Philadelphia, “with four squares surrounding a central square,” (Hingston). It was a massive building erected exclusively for the purpose of demonstrating that the U.S. is capable of such a feat. Further, it was not built to last and “soon deteriorated” before being demolished after the event ended (Hingston).

Indirect Outcome of the Centennial Exposition

One of the most spectacular buildings of the Centennial Exposition was Machinery Hall. As seen in a photograph of this building, “Machinery Hall from Main Building,” those arriving at the exposition campus were met by the two largest buildings, as well as technological spectacles such as street lights and fountains (Machinery Hall from Main Building). Machinery Hall was a factory-like building, holding a Corliss steam engine silently powering all of the electric lights, elevators, telegraphs, and other exhibitions across the grounds. All these simultaneous spectacles started to highlight the ideas of mass consumption (Giberti). The majesty and grandness of Machinery Hall left visitors in awe and was a testament to the glory of American machinery (Howells). The Centennial Exposition was not just celebrating American independence, but also the country becoming an important industrial power. Through the unintentional multitude of achievements and displays coalescing into a system of mass consumption and overall spectacle, the Exhibition helped create a new image of the United States. Other countries saw the United States as a land of economic power, which only increased American confidence and productivity, and the country finally gained the industrial and economic presence of other major nations.

Jude Correll

Celebrating America: A Reminder of the Past

From being agriculturally intensive to industrially dominant and now the most developed country in the world, America has truly come a long way. It is important to celebrate a country’s achievements and developments while acknowledging its past like in the cases of the Plymouth Tricentennial Celebration and the World’s Columbian Exposition. While the Columbian exposition effectively juxtaposed the agricultural prowess and industrial development through its agricultural building (figure 1) and railway terminal (figure 2), the Tercentenary celebration had plays like “A Rose o’ Plymouth town” and “the Pilgrims” that reminded people of their pilgrim ancestor’s beliefs and morals (Arnold-Lourie). These exhibitions also helped briefly break social and political barriers between people and instilled a sense of pride among them.  In a world where ethnic conflicts are increasing, we have to embrace the concept of unity in diversity and remember that we are all part of one community which is “humans”. Patriotic festivals and celebrations are good ways for achieving these outcomes.

Abhi Nallapareddy

The War of the Currents: A Glimpse into the Powerful Marketing of Electricity

It was April 15, 1888 when a young boy, around fifteen, was electrocuted to death by a dangling overhead wire powered by a high-voltage alternating current (AC); the series of deaths following this sparked widespread fears about this new electric current. For several years before 1888, tensions were building between the established, safe direct current (DC) pioneered by Thomas Edison, and AC--a new, cheap, scalable form of electricity spearheaded by George Westinghouse. A War of the Currents broke out; Edison was on the offensive, accusing AC of being dangerous and unpredictable while Westinghouse strove to prove AC’s safety with lively, impressive displays.

These two images demonstrate the strategies employed by Edison and Westinghouse. Edison (Figure 1) made use of fear tactics. He took advantage of the stories of death by electrocution, and together with Harold Brown (a proponent for DC who allegedly spread fears about AC by electrocuting stray dogs), pushed to create the electric chair using AC. Collusion between Edison and Brown revealed Edison’s intentions; he sought to associate AC with death. Figure 2 is an example of the methods utilized by Westinghouse to dispel fears of AC, but also illustrated the victory of AC over DC in the War of the Currents. AC powered the vast majority of the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893, creating a display of light brighter than any fairgoer had seen in their life. The displays manufactured a bright, utopian future, inspiring increased sales and dispelling fears of AC.

Oscar Garrett

Spectacle in Complexity: How Einstein's Findings were Presented to the Public

Einstein, a name synonymous with genius, first acquired his celebrity with his theories of relativity. His work introduced concepts such as spacetime, time dilation, and a geometric explanation for gravitation. Einstein’s ideas were considered to be implausible by many physicists who still held onto the 200-year status quo established by Isaac Newton, but with proof for relativity, the entirety of physics took on a new form (Rowe).

The article illustrates an attempt at relaying the discovery of proof for Einstein’s theory of general relativity. The author attempted to explain the theory’s basic concepts by relating it to common ideas (such as geometry and the bending of light in water) and using humor (e.g. "one of the speakers at the Royal Society's meeting suggested that Euclid was knocked out. Schoolboys should not rejoice…"). The author ultimately fails to adequately explain Einstein’s ideas, and instead focuses on making a spectacle of their complexity.

This revolution in physics riled interest from the public, enhancing demand for popular science journalism to unprecedented levels, but considering the lack of impact on people's everyday lives Einstein’s ideas had, this interest was somewhat of a peculiarity (Rowe). His ideas’ contradictions with fundamental concepts like Newton’s laws of motion shocked people, prompting them to question if more of what they took for granted was false. The media inflated and reinforced this insecurity, and the result was amplified curiosity.

Oscar Garrett

Self-Sufficiency of Agricultural Surplus Through Spectacle

As the United States was expanding west, extremely fertile land was overworked causing seasons of drought that portrayed these areas as unsuccessful and unproductive. Through advertisements of agricultural prosperity, western towns were able to boost their agricultural productivity. Taking after Kansas’ crop display’s success at the Centennial Exposition, Sioux City, Iowa constructed extravagant crop buildings, and through this pride and promotion, their population grew five-fold in a decade (Simpson).

Very similarly, through postcards and other smaller advertisements, communities such as Fair Oaks, California also became more prosperous. Colonized in 1895, Fair Oaks was a great spot for citrus production, and through railroads and marketing, it became a citrus farming hub. One postcard that circulated was “Picking Oranges in Fair Oaks Near Sacramento,” which depicts workers picking oranges from the trees, the ground littered with boxes of oranges, and a sunset, showing the hard work (Sacramento Room Digital).

These western farming areas became more popular, improving productivity and creating a self-sufficient cycle that drew more people west. This postcard shows why advertisements, small souvenirs, and overall marketing are all crucial to making something popular, and that the anticipation and remembrance of these events and environments are inherent to the idea of being spectacular.

Jude Correll