Mystery and Marvel: Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exposition

The centennial of the signing of the Declaration of Independence was destined to be a celebration of the founding of the United States and a retrospective of the country’s last century of accomplishments; however, thanks to other factors, such as the Civil War and an ongoing industrial revolution, the 1876 Centennial Exposition also became a display of modern marvels and an expression of cohesion for an otherwise still-healing nation. This world’s fair, the first in the United States, hosted about 10 million visitors who came to view exhibits like the famous Corliss steam engine as well as mingle among the throngs of their countrymen and foreign tourists in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park. In Mystery and Marvel John Henry Hepp, IV, explores how organizers and exhibitors at the Centennial Exposition presented modernity to these visitors through its fairgrounds and displays. He accomplishes this by relying not only on their official records but also on the words of fairgoers who documented their impressions of new technologies and cultural shifts in personal diaries and journals.Hepp sets expectations in his introduction by explaining that this book “is not a complete history of the Centennial but instead an examination of how people—some famous but most not—both shaped and reacted to the presentation of a modern world at the fair” (xi). Through seven chapters, he introduces the reader to various aspects of the exposition not only as a physical space, but also as one meant to foster intellectual discussion. The ability for the Centennial to initiate such conversation, Hepp argues, was a product of that specific point in time, where revolutions in science, industry, communication, and transportation intersected. Before diving into what visitors saw at the exposition, the first chapter details how Philadelphia residents and nonresidents prepared for a visit to the vast fairgrounds and their initial impressions by exploring the experiences of four individuals.Chapter 2 explains how many exhibitors utilized historic artifacts as a means of celebrating those whose efforts allowed the United States to develop into its current form and emphasizing economic and industrial progress on the journey to modernity. The following chapter continues this discussion by expanding on the various technologies displayed at the fair including locomotives and the Corliss engine, which powered almost everything in Machinery Hall. Chapter 4 focuses on the exposition’s incorporation of the Victorian material culture that resulted from these industrial advancements, particularly the fascination with size and abundance, and its influence on John Wanamaker as he conceived his new Philadelphia department store. Hepp posits, though, that in its attempt to be the greatest world’s fair, the Centennial became an intimidating labyrinth of cluttered exhibits for fairgoers despite the efforts of guidebooks, which contributed to the confusion by emphasizing trivia about the enormity of the buildings, and a complex classification scheme (detailed in chapter 7).The next two chapters explore impressions and influences of various spaces at the fairgrounds. Chapter 5 notes that the exposition’s buildings were enormous achievements of iron and glass that provided some of the largest open interior spaces visitors had ever experienced. By comparing these structures to similar buildings, like train stations, in European metropolises and their quainter American counterparts, Hepp demonstrates how impressive the exhibit halls would have seemed to the average fairgoer. In the next chapter, he contrasts these vast buildings to the many smaller residences commonly found throughout Philadelphia’s older neighborhoods and the ephemeral “Centennial City” that opportunists quickly constructed in anticipation of the fair. Hepp identifies this juxtaposition as a fork in the road for American urban development, in which cities of the future faced a decision to build either cramped unplanned quarters like those outside the exposition’s gates, or large, majestic buildings lining broad boulevards as exemplified within. This second option, he argues, is the true origin of the City Beautiful movement.While Hepp set lofty goals for this volume, there are several additions and tangents that consume valuable space in this short work without adding much relevant information. These include suggested reading sections at the end of each chapter that duplicate the sources found in the chapters’ endnotes and many photographs of the exposition that are ultimately too small to properly analyze. In the latter instance, Linda Gross and Theresa Snyder’s Images of America, Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exhibition more effectively presents half- and full-page photographs of the fairgrounds and exhibits.1 Ultimately, the book struggles to identify as a scholarly or introductory popular work. Casual readers with some knowledge of the Centennial Exposition will be pleased overall, but academics may be disappointed by omissions or minimal coverage of topics like representations of race and Reconstruction at the fair and analysis of the Sunday closure of the fairgrounds, all of which directly influenced the visitors’ experience and speak to the fair organizers’ portrayal of the modern world. Furthermore, all the attendees referenced in the volume are white and so readers are left without exposure to the experiences of African American and other minority fairgoers.Where the book does shine, though, is in the extensive bibliography, which includes copious archival, contemporary, and secondary sources. In Designing the Centennial Bruno Giberti claimed that “good autobiographical evidence of the Centennial is hard to come by” when seeking information about the experiences of fairgoers, but Mystery and Marvel proves this is not the case.2 Overall, Hepp’s book is an interesting introduction to how people perceived the 1876 world’s fair and how exposition organizers presented the modern world to the masses.