Collections : [University of Michigan William L. Clements Library]

This volume contains Louise Fitz's description of her trip from Boston, Massachusetts, to the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois, and to Niagara Falls in May 1893. In Chicago, she and her traveling companions visited the major exhibit halls, state and international buildings, and the Midway Plaisance. Photographs and travel ephemera are laid into the volume.

This volume (121 pages) contains Louise Fitz's description of her trip from Boston, Massachusetts, to the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois, and to Niagara Falls in May 1893. Between pages 5-97, Fitz wrote journal entries about her daily sightseeing activities on every other page; the opposite pages contain photographs and ephemera related to her travels. The final pages contain laid-in commercial photographs of Washington, D.C., and personal photographs of Trenton Falls in upstate New York.

Fitz's journal entries recount most of her trip, from the time she left Boston on May 17, 1893, to her visit to Niagara Falls on May 26, 1893. While in Chicago, she and her companions frequented the World's Columbian Exposition; she described multiple visits to the grounds and specific exhibits in the larger halls, noting the use of electric lighting and appliances. Fitz commented on her visits to state and international buildings, the Midway Plaisance, and a local museum. After departing Chicago, Fitz traveled by train to Niagara Falls. Fitz placed commercial photographs on the pages facing her journal entries. The images are primarily views of the exposition's major exhibit halls. Other items pasted or laid into the volume include a printed map of the fairgrounds and surroundings, newspaper clippings, a used ticket book and ticket stubs, a program from a musical concert, advertisements, and artificial flowers. A letter from a representative at the exposition's Massachusetts State Building provides the text of inscriptions on the Transportation Building and the "Golden Door" (August 31, 1893).

This collection is made up of 4 letters that Will Trimble wrote to his mother Margaret in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, while visiting the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois, in October 1893.

This collection is made up of 4 letters that Will Trimble wrote to his mother Margaret in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, while visiting the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois, in October 1893. He described the weather conditions and listed the buildings that he and his wife Alice visited at the fairgrounds, including the Pennsylvania Building, the Liberal Arts Building, the Manufactures Building, and an art gallery. Will and Alice Trimble dined at "Old Vienna" on the fair's midway and visited the fairgrounds at night to see the fireworks and illuminations. Will's letters also refer to his plans to buy souvenirs and to his plans for returning to Philadelphia with his wife and children. Trimble wrote his first letter on Board of World's Fair Managers stationery, and his final letter encloses a newspaper article about the malfunction of an elevator at the Manufactures Building.