Graduation Year
2021
Date of Submission
5-2021
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Environmental Analysis
Second Department
Classical Studies
Reader 1
Professor Michelle L. Berenfeld, Ph.D
Reader 2
Professor Char Miller, Ph.D
Rights Information
2021 Kazandra E Zelaya
Abstract
Daniel Burnham’s vision of a classical revival in the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 brought ancient Roman triumph with its captives and spoils to Chicago, Illinois. Burnham’s restorative urban utopia used Beaux-Arts architecture in the exposition’s White City that evoked the image of Roman triumphal processions. Beaux-Arts architecture did not extend into the Midway Plaisance, however, the model of Roman triumph extended into the ethnographic exhibits. By examining the ethnographic exhibits of the Midway as a version of a Roman triumphal procession, the exhibits highlighted novel types of captivity through sponsorships, wages, and erasure. Illustrations of American imperialism in the Columbian Exposition were reliant on performative displays of captivity and spoils to anchor itself to successful Roman imperialism. Burnham’s restorative urban utopia was an attempt to reestablish pride in America’s built environment and restore a connection to a distant Roman lineage. I reveal the Columbian Exposition's triumphal procession by examining its comparative relationship to ancient Roman triumphal processions through the White City's architecture and the Midway Plaisance's ethnographic exhibits.
Recommended Citation
Zelaya, Kazandra, "Captives & Spoils in Chicago: Examining the Columbian Exposition’s Triumphal Procession of 1893" (2021). CMC Senior Theses. 2603.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/2603
Included in
Architectural History and Criticism Commons, Classical Archaeology and Art History Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, Urban Studies and Planning Commons
