The World's Fairs

Our story begins here and there in the 18th Century, when people had what they called exhibitions, where they would display their latest products and technology. The world was, obviously, a different place than now, and if somebody invented a new plow or something, they didn’t accidentally leave it behind in a bar so that Gizmodo could out them on it over the internet two minutes later. These rare, occasional exhibitions were a chance for people to catch up with the latest, although they were relatively local for the same reason they were so important: there wasn’t much in the way of transportation, so if you lived in New York and there was an exhibition in Philadelphia, it was virtually a life commitment to go see it. News traveled slowly, in other words, as did people and technology. But as the world entered into an era of invention, the need to speed things up and the ability to speed things up combined, and by any measure, by the middle of the 19th Century, the world was a totally different place again from the mid-18th. The evolution of technological civilization was picking up speed. It still is, for that matter, but at least we’re used to it. Back then, it was all new. And more than just technology was at stake. The worlds of art and craft were also changing, sometimes in conjunction with techonology and sometimes on their own tracks. There was much to be shared there too.

It is generally agreed that the first bona fide world’s fair was the “Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations” in 1851. Held in London in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, this was the exhibition that opened itself up to other countries for them to display their stuff too. By 1851, you had railroads and steam-powered boats, and the world was becoming manageably travelable. Which meant that people could get there, not only from nearby but from far away. The exhibition was, by any measure, an extraordinary success, with millions of visitors. The displays—13,000 of them—included samples of the latest art and technology and design and manufacturing from a number of nations, including the US, India and Australia. You could see Matthew Brady’s daguerreotypes, a Jacquard loom (without which there wouldn’t have been computers), the Koh-i-noor diamond, and my new personal favorite that I just discovered, the Tempest Prognosticator, a barometer using leeches (without which the world would probably be exactly the same as it is today).

And that set the initial tone for future fairs. First of all, the host country would be showing off its stuff as better than everybody else’s stuff (a definite underlying theme of the 1851 Exhibition, of which Prince Albert was an organizer). Second, everybody else would be showing off the creme de la creme of their stuff, to counteract the inherent claims of the host nation. Third, it would include both arts and sciences, often introducing something that became extremely popular. Fourth, it would often include great feats of architecture, like the Crystal Palace. Added to this shortly thereafter was, fifth, it would act as a display for exotic native people, and sixth, it would offer a place where the masses could be amused (sometimes mixed with those displays of exotic native people). New wrinkles in the 20th Century were, seventh, that it would offer a view of the future, and eighth, that it would solve a problem in the present. Nowadays you can usually add, ninth, that it would provide an excuse for a city/locality to build infrastructure (roads, mass transit, hotels, offices) and then promote itself to international commerce.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.