[Americana] [1893 Chicago World's Fair] Personal Diary of William M. Wikoff, with an Original Fair Ticket

New Salem, Ohio, January 1, 1893-June 17, 1894. Comprising 100 manuscript pages (within The American Diary 1893; No place: Case, Lockwood, and Brainard Co. 1892). Full brown cloth pocket-book binding, stamped in blind; marbled edges; front endpapers with printed plan of Jackson Park at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition; original Exposition ticket for October 9, 1893 laid into pocket at rear with other paper ephemera.

First-hand account of the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition, by William M. Wikoff, with his original ticket laid in. Wikoff (1855-1935) was a teacher, preacher, member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and an avid automobilist from New Salem, Ohio. The Wikoffs arrived in Chicago on October 6, and spent a night in the Exposition Hotel. The next day they "Visited Transportation Building, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois & California State Buildings; Puck and White Star Line Ship building then Midway Plasiance..." His entry for October 9th opens, "Went to ground about 9 oclk. Never was there such a crowd together in Chicago..." Wikoff attended the fair almost daily until leaving the city on October 19th.

The 1893 Chicago World's Fair (World's Columbian Exposition) was held from May through October of that year, and was a celebration of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' crossing of the Atlantic. The fairgrounds were laid out by prominent architects such as John W. Root, Daniel Burnham, and Frederick Law Olmstead, and their work received worldwide praise for its Beaux-Arts and neoclassical designs. The Exposition was also the first to feature electrical lighting, with over 200,000 lamps being powered by Nikola Tesla's polyphase alternating current system.

This lot is located in Philadelphia.

[Americana] [1893 Chicago World's Fair] Personal Diary of William M. Wikoff, with an Original Fair Ticket