Documentation

Official Guide to the world's Columbian exposition

"The Chain O' Lakes region has been one of Chicago's premier vacation spots since the 1880s. The nine major lake basins - Catherine, Channel, Grass, Bluff, Marie, Fox, Nippersink, Petite, and Pistakee - are all connected by the Fox River waterway and have for over 100 years been northern Illinois leading destination for inland boaters, fishermen, picnickers, or those just hoping to relax and play at the beach. Luxurious mansions and swank resorts once dotted the more than 6,000 acres of shoreline. Many are gone today; some remain but have been vastly changed, but none are forgotten. Captured here in over 200 vintage postcards are scenes from the chain's heyday, scenes that will seem at once faraway and familiar to the water-skiers, windsurfers, and other-outdoor recreationists who populate the Chain O' Lakes today."

The official guide to the 1933 Chicago World's Fair.

Pictures of the Chicago 1933 World's Fair

"The shores of Lake Michigan, with towering bluffs and heavily wooded ravines, have attracted many to Lake Bluff during the past two centuries. The Potowatomis were the first to come, using the ravines for their tribal council meetings. The German and Irish came in 1830s, drawn by the cheap land prices. The 1870s brought the Methodists, who, seeing the beauty of the lake and ravines, purchased 200 acres and formed the Lake Bluff Camp Meeting Association. The summer chatauqua brought thousands of visitors every year to its quaint cottages and hotels. It was in Lake Bluff where Frances Willard, president of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, brought together other temperance leaders to form the national Prohibition party, which led to the ill-fated 18th Amendment. In the 20th century, Lake Bluff had retained its charming cottages and tree-lined village streets. It remains today a picturesque and historic northern suburb of Chicago, nestled along the shores of Lake Michigan."

Pictures from the Chicago World's Fair of 1893.

The Modern Wing: Renzo Piano and the Art Institute of Chicago is a book of photography and essays documenting the construction of the modern wing.

Pictures from the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition

Book about Columbian World's Fair of 1892

Contemporary book about the Chicago World's Fair