Images Bring to Life the 1933 Century of Progress
Official photographs of the Enchanted Island, the Sky Ride Trolley, the House of Tomorrow, and infamous fan dancer Sally Rand soon will be available in a digital collection, Images of Progress: Views of A Century of Progress International Exposition, 1933-1934.
The UIC Library’s Department of Special Collections and University Archives received a $20,000 grant to digitize over 1,400 official photographs from the Century of Progress world’s fair held in Chicago during the summers of 1933 and 1934.
The fair featured exhibits on 424 acres of lake and shoreline and celebrated the scientific and technological advances made in the century since Chicago’s founding in 1833. Exhibits depicted the application of scientific principles to consumer and other industries, historical replicas, pavilions of state and federal governments, recreations of international villages, the Enchanted Island children’s amusement park, and the midway entertainment concessions. Attractions included the Sky Ride Trolley which provided a view of the fair grounds from 215 feet in the air, the latest designs from Detroit automakers, and fine art exhibits from the world’s premier museums
Most of the built structures of the fair were demolished, scavenged for scrap or removed to other locations following the fair’s close in 1934. Because of this, these photographs are the remaining visual documentary evidence about this seminal world’s fair. The high quality images capture the spectacular architecture and the excitement of the cultural events and entertainments. The UIC Library also has the corporate records of A Century of Progress; finding aids are available online.
Look for the Images of Progress in the Illinois Digital Archives in August 2008.
Funding for this digitization project was awarded by the Illinois State Library, a Division of the Office of Secretary of State, using funds provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the federal Library Services and Technology Act., field_56ba6f8fdb00c