Panoramic view of the Woman's Building.
The Columbian Exposition, or 1893 World's Fair, was held on the Midway in Chicago in the summer and fall of 1893, when Shimer College was nearing the end of its Seminary period.
Connections to Shimer[]
Account of the Shimer reunion published in the Daily Inter Ocean, June 25, 1893.
The Reunion Society held its 40th annual meeting at the Columbian Exposition.
A number of Shimerians participated directly in the events of the fair:
- Sarah Hackett Stevenson, then serving as president of the Chicago Woman's Club, spoke at the Congress of Women on "Chicago Women".
- Winona Sawyer spoke at the Congress of Women on "The Legal Profession for Women".
- Alice Breed attended the World's Parliament of Religions, making her first contact with the Baha'i faith to which she would subsequently convert.
- Abram Hostetter and William Ross Hostetter prepared the Carroll County agricultural exhibits.[1]
- Henry Shimer's personal collection was exhibited, and he "had the honor of naming all the grasses and cereals at the World's Columbian Exposition."[2]
Several works by or related to Shimer and Shimerians were included in the library of the Woman's Building, including:
- The Oread
- The Carroll County Mirror
- Poems and prose productions by Capitola Hoffman (not extant)
- Boys and Girls in Biology and Physiology of Woman by Sarah Hackett Stevenson
Further inquiry[]
- Could this have been the first point of meaningful contact between Shimer and the University of Chicago?
Further reading[]
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