1 How did they build these buildings 2 Where are pictures of them pouring the foundations? 3 Why for the love of everything holy would you tear these magnificent buildings down???? Why did they all of a sudden stop building these types of masterpieces? Mainly horse and buggy people could not build those monstrosities, but go ahead and make believe............. They were here before we came along!

I worked for nearly 30 years in the research labs of the Geological Survey of NSW in Australia.When I first started there we were based in the Geological and Mining Museum in Sydney until we were moved out to make way for the redevelopment of the museum. As a school student obsessed with minerals and fossils the museum and the Australian Natural History museum were my main haunts on weekends so i got to know the displays very well and when I worked there got to know the collections and history of the museum even better. When we relocated I had to relocate the petrology and Palaeontology collection as well and worked on maintaining both of them over those 30 years. The museum was founded in 1886 and moved into its final home in a converted DC power station in 1908. As part of the redevelopment it was rebadged as the Earth Exchange and when reopened was more like a low tech Disney land than a museum. After an increasingly rocky period the government decided to close it in 1995. Because I was one of the few people who had worked on the site, I had the sad job of packing up and relocating the economic mineral collection, compiling a proper register of a significant mining and laboratory artefact collection and contacting the department photographer to relocate the historic photographs collection as well as the departments record people and the state archives to recover and register significant archives. Among these artefacts were medals from various international exhibitions, including the Columbian exhibition. Part of the New South Wales display, (Australia was not yet an independent nation) included stacks of ingots and a pyramid of large ore and mineral samples. I had managed to recover most of these and it was when I was setting up a large Copper ore sample on its original plinth for display in our laboratory that I remembered there were two more of these ore specimens I hadn't seen. I last remembered them stored under a basement stairwell in the old Museum about 10 years previously but thought there was no chance they would still be there given the large internal changes made to the building. Thankfully they hadn't demolished the old staircase and had walled it off with a low access panel. There were no lights in the pitch dark under the stairs but groping around I managed to find the two specimens. They were so large that it took two of us and a large trolley to get them out to the van to transport them and a forklift to unload them at the other end. I also had to take my lab's Geiger counter with me because at one stage a large specimen of very radioactive Pitchblende was also stored with them. Thankfully that had already been removed. So the last specimen out of the museum was one of the earliest specimens in the collection and also one of its most travelled. All of the geology, mineralogy and palaeontology collections are now under the one roof at our Geoscience centre named after the Reverend W.B Clarke one of the colony's early geologists. The artefacts collection is now distributed and displayed among the Department's regional offices and laboratories along with some historic furniture and old display cases. Had I not recovered and registered these as historical artefacts they would have gone to auction along with the rest of the movable bits of the Earth Exchange. I have one souvenir from this exercise. Among the furnishings that went to auction was an old very dilapidated desk. I noticed thaed stamed into the legg was a crown with the initals V1R meaning it was a Victorian Era government desk from the old museum. I made sure I was the successful bidder and it is now a restoration project.

Many people in the United States don't realize that world's fairs still happen because we haven't had one in North America since Vancouver's Expo '86. The largest in history was in 2010 in Shanghai. The next three are in Milan, Italy (2015), Astana, Kazakhstan (2017), and Dubai, UAE (2020). There are groups organized in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Houston, and San Francisco looking at the years 2023 and 2025. Chicago would later go on to host the 1933-1934 Century of Progress Exposition, but lesser known, even in Chicago, were the plans to host Expo '92 there, in conjunction with Seville's Expo '92. Sadly, Chicago's plans was cancelled for budgetary reasons. Chicago's city flag features four stars which represent Fort Dearborn, the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, and their two world's fairs. If they'd won the right to host the 2012 Olympics, there were plans to add a fifth star. Many of the items exhibited at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition were put on a train and exhibited at the 1894 California Mid-Winter Exposition, the first of San Francisco's three world's fairs... so far! More information: www.ExpoMuseum.com/

It still has history on it...

Emily is articulate and well spoken and these informational episodes are so well put together, I can't help but think... "I would live to see an out take episode someday." Keep up the excellent work!!

(05:06) This is one of the many reasons why I love this channel. You make the internet more awesome *****.

I get so excited when I see a new episode the The Brain Scoop has been uploaded!

I literally just finished watching the live stream from last night and you announced this video and here it is!

Very cool. I love how you guys bring wisdom to us while talking about the past and the advances and studies then.

The two most important inventions of all time, in no particular order: 1. Fire 2. Plumbing

This was an absolutely fantastic episode. Granted, all episodes are fantastic, but as a Chicagoan, this fills me with pride. Thank you!

This was such a great episode! Thanks Emily and Team

Excellent recitation of “facts.” I totally understand why critical thinking is no longer taught in American public schools.

What! Is nobody going to mention the elephant in the room?

Fascinating stuff. Love your presentations Emily and this one is one of the best. Thanks.

The Devil in the White City is a fantastic book about this Exposition.

Super-excited that I'll be in Chicago in May to check this exhibit out!

The Chicago World's Fair has interested me since I first read about it in high school. Thank you for making awesome, engaging, inspiring, & thoughtful videos. I hope you continue doing what you do. As an aspiring anthropologist, I look up to you.

I love this video! I am sharing it with my students, it is an interesting commentary into what society was like back then.

I love everything about this episode. It felt like an episode of Crash Course. Emily is so amazing at what she does.

I love your passion for all kinds of historical research. I'm a bit squeamish so while I appreciate your enthusiasm for dissection, I can't watch much of those videos. But your scientific and cultural knowledge, not to mention your interest in all aspects of an event or era or species (dealing with all the human waste at the fair), coupled with your great sense of humor ... I can't get enough of your work. And I share it widely. Kudos to you!

Your enthusiasm is infectious! I had no idea I would be so interested in a trade fair, thank you for the video :)

I really love these videos, great job!

How far in advance are these limited-time exhibits planned? Are there records for when/how long each specimen has been on display? I know that at any given time, a very small percentage of the museum's collection is on exhibit, but what percentage of the total collection has never been on display (and maybe never will be)?

Holy crap, for me that was the most mind blowing episode I have seen. I absolutely love learning about how people used to think the past and how the perceived the world. I know there probably wont be more episodes like this, but I would love if there were. Does anyone know of any channels with this kind of content published regularly?

Is no one going to mention how these fairs supposedly took 2 years to fully construct, featuring hundreds of buildings made out of stone, with 40,000 men on top of a swamp, with no modern machinery?

Can we please replace the olympics with a world fair? I'd love to see it! It's like a giant temporary museum with loads of souvenirs!

My grandmother rode the train from Texas to Chicago to see the 1933 "Century of Progress" exposition, which was held in roughly the same fairgrounds as the Columbian Exposition. Maybe you could do a show on that fair sometime? Pretty please?

I went and saw the exhibit right after Christmas. I really enjoyed it!

Fantastic to see and recognize the origins of conservation and sustainable science. Thanks Emily!

Thank you!

This video was great! I love that you did something that doesn't require the Grossmeter.

saw the exhibit in November. thanks for the extra info!

Can you please do a video (or more, preferably) on north american megafauna? It is one of my favorite topics, and I am sure the field museum must have an amazing collection.

Congo in that time... Oh god Belgium what the fuck!

I've loved the WCE since I read Devil in the White City and subsequently wrote a paper about its influence on American history and culture. It's one of the few things I can write a 10 page paper about without getting tired of it.

Wow, you touch on subjects here that would make many, many fascinating future "Brain Scoop" episodes if you take them one at a time! Strange specimens! Anthropology! Cultural imperialism! 19th-century education! Early museum craft! Sewage engineering! I want to delve into all of it!

As a historian, I feel that it's also noteworthy that H.H. Holmes, one of America's first recorded serial killers, used the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition as his hunting grounds.

Emily... i want your chair...

Wonderful. I still haven't made it to the Field Museum to see the exhibit, but I will!

I wonder what people thought when they saw the first ferris wheel. That probably blew their mind :) Liked the video Emily!

This was one great episode.

I went to this exhibit over winter break. It's fantastic! Everyone should go and see it!

This is amazing. Thank you!

3:52 We do this today, we call it reality television...

200 temporary buildings?🙄🤔 really? Smh simply amazing how they covered up our true history and architecture with stupid lies and foolishness. Remember TartariYAH!

Thanks, Emily! Hoping I can get there soon!

There is also some important history about Ida B. Wells and this exhibition: digital.library.upenn.edu/women/wells/exposition/exposition.html

I live in Chicago and I haven't been to the Field Museum since 2005. Are there any new interesting things they added to it?

Loved the video! I was at the exposition and still remember it vaguely

I recently read The Devil in the White City this summer about the World Fair. It is so cool to get to see its prevalence still in the culture of Chicago today!

After seeing hearing you comment about your hands in the live video last night...all I could focus on was them while watching this video.

I would recommend the book 'To Chicago and back' by Aleko Konstantinov on this subject. He and a few Bulgarians traveled to the fair and this is the story of their journey. The book can be found online for free

this excites me SO MUCH. I am reading Devil in the White City right now. need to plan my visit soon

I love you for this!!!!!!

It's always interesting to see how the world was becoming... increasingly globalized in the late 19th century. Watching stuff they've never seen before or let alone imagined of must've been an amazing experience for the visitors. Exhibiting people from other parts of the world however was a crime in my opinion although it might not've been perceived as such back then. All that stuff makes me wonder how the moral value we think is right today will change in another century time. Thanks for the episode! I enjoyed it :)

Re: the "new, novel concepts of sanitation at the 1:55 mark, is there any documentation to the toilets and wastes systems designed for and employed at the fair?

Would anyone else consider it an inspiring experience today to have a conversation with people who were raised and worked in unique tribal societies? If they were paid for their time away from home and treated respectfully, couldn't there be gains on both sides? How often do we have the chance to meet people with experience and environment so different from ourselves?

I read the title as 1893 World's Cambrian Explosion. huh?

Love this very educational and insightful.

Great vid! I got really interested in the Columbian Exposition after Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City, and now I want to go to this exhibit even more. :)

Shame I'm a pauper and in another country as well, otherwise I'd love to visit this exhibition. I once played a text adventure all about the 1893 World's Fair and it was amazing walking around the fair, visiting all the buildings and examining all the artifacts, It was at turns bemusing, dismaying, and fascinating.

The Pinky Show made a very interesting video about the history, impact, and legacy of the World's Columbian Exposition a few years back; do a KZfaq search for "Fabulous Imperialism!: The 1893 Columbian Exposition". The '93 Columbian Exposition massively re-sculpted American's identity, yet it is now lost to popular memory. So glad Emily brings it to light here.

I was there after New Years and it was awesome

The 1893 Chicago World's Fair was where the phonograph was introduced to a wide audience. How I would love to have attended the Fair, bought one of the machines and many recording cylinders, and then spent years thereafter recording the folklore and autobiographies of numerous Amerind elders in their native languages.

Being a science show I misread the title as Cambrian Explosion... followed by wondering what that had to do with 1893.

Emily, I wish I had met you and Nancy M. ( I think you know who I mean) when I was in college. We would have raised entomology to the heights of practical studies of insects. You and Nancy are absolutely brilliant in your fields.

'As, I currently read"Devil in White City", I truly thank you for Enthusiastic explanation of of gaps i find. Nice

Good Job on 200,000 😘

You are one of my favorite teachers.

As always : Great edutainment. And I find myself waiting for "... It still has brain on it..." at the end.

grats on 200k subs =]

Hola from argentina, I was trying to get some picture from the electrician squad doing the magnificent job they did. good video , cheers!

As a Chicagoan, I love that Emily is in my town.

"It belongs in a museum!" "No, Dr. Jones, YOU belong in a museum!"

Expos and science fairs were the shit back in the day! I think I have been to the field museum before.

no HH Holmes?

Ok, have to get to the Field Museum before September then....this may take some doing.

I am so sad that I am unable to make it there for this exhibit, or just the museum in general. The museums seem to be really lacking in Australia in comparison.

great video

Best quotation from this video: "... it was plain to see that limits and boundaries needed to be placed on the collection and exploration of our natural world, before things went totally out of control." It's still so important today.

You mentioned while at the University of Montana that the pangolins were some of your favorite specimens. What's The Field Museum's collection of pangolins like?

You are extremely clever, it makes me wish I could retain information

I love the animals, but I would love to see more Brain Scoop videos about anthropology!

very enjoyable! I had heard of this fair but didn't realize the cultural importance of it. a very good presentation. plz do another video on an update of this show?

thumbs up to bring back the worlds fair!

i LOVE the elephant pin!!

Are the items in this exhibition kept in storage usually and taken out for this one-time show, or have they been on exhibit for a long time and now only collected together for a short while before being put into the examination/storage area?

I highly recommend the book "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson. It is a fascinating look at some of the good and bad sides of the Chicago World's Fair.

Admission to the fair cost $12 in today's dollars. So it was cheaper than admission to the Field Museum is now.

I understand that there is only a finite amount of space to display thing at the museum. How do you decide what gets displayed and for how long?

Cool my brother's birthday is September 7th! Also I don't know why, but the way Emily said youtube was really funny to me for some reason :)

"...researchers tend to value them in terms of their historical, scientific, or cultural value rather than assigning arbitrary market values. Plus by selling items they become prizes for individuals and their scientific value may never be fully realized if they remain in the hands of private individuals. These new thoughts about collections and ownership were beginning to take shape at the Columbian exposition." SAME war today - privatization vs. government protections. Here's your "rugged individualism" in action, individuals monetizing and profiting off of nature. As stylish as exotic bird feathers were in ladies hats at the time we all know where the birds would be today if we were counting on free market corrections.

You are so well spoken. Do read for Q cards? It never appears that way. I really do wish I lived closer to Chicago.

In Hank Green we trust!

How much for the clam muff? Hmm, that sounds wrong.

Have you read, "The Devil in the White City?" It's a great book on the exposition and the first serial murder. Feel free to skip the chapters on Holmes cuz it does get creepy. But the chapters on the exposition were fantastic!

No HH Holmes?

Could you comment on the beautiful chair you are sitting upon and also the rug under the chair (origin?) TNX

I went over winter break!