Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1601

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

.2 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Paris Exposition Universelle photograph album, 1900-1901, Ms. Coll. 1601, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1900-1901 (inclusive)

Form:

Photographs, Photograph albums, and Travel photography

Abstract:

The Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900 was a world's fair held in Paris, France from April 14 through November 12, 1900. This album contains 183 albumen photographs of the Paris Exposition Universelle and other travel destinations taken by an unidentified couple in 1900 and 1901 in France and the United Kingdom.

A world's fair or exposition universelle is a large-scale global exhibition intended to demonstrate the culture and achievements of nations.

The Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900 was a world's fair held in Paris, France from April 14 through November 12, 1900. It was the fifth world fair held in Paris and coincided with the Paris Olympics.

Several structures were erected for the Exposition, including the Petit and Grand Palais, which were permanent structures. Most other pavilions of the world's fair were temporary structures. Unlike the previous Paris Exposition (1889), the 1900 Exposition did not make a profit despite having been visited by fifty million people.

The Exposition displayed and unveiled numerous technological inventions, innovations, and improvements, including the Grande Roue de Paris ferris wheel, the moving sidewalk, the passenger trolleybus line, escalators, diesel engines, electric cars, dry cell batteries, electric fire engines, talking films, and the telegraphone. It also celebrated the Art Nouveau style and demonstrated France's colonial power through the pavilions on Trocadéro Palace, which was reserved for pavilions of European colonies. Other sections of the Exposition included the national pavilions along the Rue des Nations, L'Andalousie au temps des Maures, Le Vieux Paris, The Swiss Village, and the Panorama du Tour du Monde.

Sources:

Chandler, Arthur. "Paris 1900 Exposition: History, Images, Interpretation." Ideas, www.arthurchandler.com/paris-1900-exposition. Accessed 26 July 2024.

de Tholozany, Pauline. "The Expositions Universelles in Nineteenth Century Paris." Paris: Capital of the 19th Century, Brown University, 2011, https://library.brown.edu/cds/paris/worldfairs.html#de1900

This album contains 183 albumen photographs of the Paris Exposition Universelle and other travel destinations taken by an unidentified couple in 1900 and 1901 in France and the United Kingdom.

The first portion of the volume contains photographs of the Exposition Universelle (p. 1-31). Numerous structures from the Exposition are photographed. Those identified include the Porte Monumentale (p. 1), Eiffel Tower (p. 1), Petit Palais (p. 2), Pont Alexandre III (p. 2), Palais de Électricité (p. 3-4), Palais Lumineux (p. 7), the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company pavilion (p. 10), and several country pavilions including the Italian (p. 4), German (p. 4), Spanish (p. 4), United States (p. 5), Hungarian (p. 5), Belgian (p. 6), Chinese (p. 9), Algerian (p. 10), Moroccan (p. 13), and Greek (p. 14) pavilions. There are additionally numerous photographs of the Vieux Paris portion of the Exposition (p. 28-31) and what appears to be the Swiss Village, which included a recreation of a Swiss mountainside (p. 22-28).

The latter portion of the album contains other travel photographs including those from the Alps (p. 36); Venice (p. 37); the Crystal Casino in Nice, France (p. 38); Staffa Island, Scotland (p. 40); Forth Bridge, UK (p. 41), and Mont Saint Michel (p. 43-45). There is additionally a photograph of the carriage of King George V and Queen Mary (p. 38), and several family photographs, likely of the volume's creators (p. 39). The volume's creators also seem to appear in several of the Exposition and travel photographs.