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World's Fairs

A guide to the Research Center's collections on world's fairs held in Chicago

World's Fairs Held in Chicago

Chicago has played host to some remarkable world's fairs. Overviews of some of the fairs are from the Encyclopedia of Chicago.

1992: The World's Fair That Wasn't

Discussions began in the early 1980s about a world's fair to be held in Chicago in 1992, commemorating the 500th anniversary of Columbus's voyage and the 100th anniversary of the World's Columbian Exposition. Unfortunately, planning for the fair (to be known as the Age of Discovery International Exposition) ended in 1985 due to escalating costs.

The Research Center has a collection of printed material on the aborted fair and collections of archival material. For archival material, do a general keyword search for Chicago World's Fair 1992 in ARCHIE and limit the results to Archives/Manuscripts.