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world’s fair
References & Edit History Related Topics
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Illustration of the opening of London's Great Exhibition of 1851. Crystal Palace The Gallery of Machines at the 1889 Universal Exposition, Paris. The Horticultural Hall at the U.S. Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, 1876. Corliss steam engine 1893 World's Columbian Exposition Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, Missouri, 1904 Postcard image of an international naval display, part of the Jamestown Exhibition held in Norfolk, Virginia, 1907. Postcard image of the U.S. Government Building, Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition, Omaha, Nebraska, 1898. Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, first from right in the backseat, rides in a New York World's Fair Police car at the 1939 World's Fair, with the Trylon and Perisphere structures in the background.
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world’s fair: References & Edit History

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The most comprehensive reference work on fairs and expositions is John E. Findling and Kimberly D. Pelle (eds.), Encyclopedia of World’s Fairs and Expositions (2008), which includes essays on more than 100 expositions, extensive bibliographic information, and statistical appendixes. An older general work is John Allwood, The Great Exhibitions (1977), a well-illustrated narrative history of major fairs that sparked scholarly interest in the subject. Alfred Heller, World’s Fairs and the End of Progress (1999), presents a personal view. Fairs in the United States are surveyed in Robert W. Rydell, John E. Findling, and Kimberly D. Pelle, Fair America (2000).

Fair architecture is thoroughly covered, complete with many illustrations and site plans, in Wolfgang Friebe, Buildings of the World’s Exhibitions (1985); and Erik Mattie, World’s Fairs (1998). Robert W. Rydell, All the World’s a Fair (1995), discusses the racial implications of early American fairs. Paul Greenhalgh, Ephemeral Vistas, 2nd. ed. (2000); and Peter H. Hoffenberg, An Empire on Display (2001), examine nationalism, imperialism, and other cultural themes in the context of expositions. Burton Benedict, The Anthropology of World’s Fairs (1985), looks at fairs as ritual experiences. John R. Gold and Margaret M. Gold, Cities of Culture (2005), examines how fairs and other large international events change their host cities.

John Findling

Article Contributors

Primary Contributors

  • John Findling
    John Findling is professor emeritus of history at Indiana University Southeast. His teaching interests include diplomatic history and sports history.

Other Encyclopedia Britannica Contributors

Article History

Type Description Contributor Date
Modified link of Web site: PBS - American Experience - World's Fair. Sep 05, 2026
Add new Web site: NPR - The History of World's Fairs. Apr 24, 2026
Add new Web site: ABC listen - Design files: World Fairs. Dec 10, 2025
Add new Web site: Brown University Library Center for Digital Scholarship - Paris, Capital of the 19th century - The Expositions Universelles in Nineteenth Century Paris. Aug 23, 2025
Add new Web site: PBS - American Experience - World's Fair. Sep 23, 2024
Add new Web site: Academia - World's Fairs. Jul 25, 2024
Add new Web site: Villanova University - Falvey Library Exhibits - World's Fairs. Sep 08, 2023
Changed "Industriels Moderne" to "Industriels Modernes." Oct 15, 2018
Updated article to note expositions held in 2012, 2015, and 2017. Sep 15, 2017
New article added. Sep 30, 2011
Bibliography added. Sep 30, 2011
Media added. Sep 30, 2011
New article added. Mar 18, 2009
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