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NOTE TO USERS This reproduction is the best copy available. ____ ® UMI THE IRISH VILLAGESATTHE 1893 WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION CONSTRUTING, CONSUMING AND CONTESTING IRELAND AT CHICAGO A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Guelph by CHRISTOPHER QUINN In partial fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Arts January, 2011 © Christopher Paul Murray Quinn, 2011 Library and Archives Bibliothèque et ?F? Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l'édition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 OttawaONK1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-71501-7 Our file Notre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-71501-7 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant à la Bibliothèque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par télécommunication ou par l'Internet, prêter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des thèses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, à des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non- support microforme, papier, électronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriété du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformément à la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privée, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont été enlevés de thesis. cette thèse. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1*1 Canada ABSTRACT THE IRISH VILLAGES ATTHE 1893 WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION: CONSTRUCTING, CONSUMING AND CONTESTING IRELAND AT CHICAGO Christopher Quinn Advisor: Professor Kevin James University of Guelph, 2010 This thesis examines Alice Hart and Lady Aberdeen and their efforts to construct two separate Irish villages on the Midway of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in the midst of the Second Irish Home Rule debate. Using the lens of current tourism scholarship, the thesis examines why Hart and Aberdeen produced romantic countryside villages featuring thatched cottages, Irish peasants and ancient castles as well as why it was a popular and disputed representation. The villages shared characteristics with other exhibits on the Midway, both developed nations' construction of their past and exotic villages produced as contemporary ethnographic displays. The thesis concludes that the construction fulfilled expectations of an experience of Ireland while placing the Irish villages in an ambiguous position on the Midway which reflected Ireland's contested place in the United Kingdom. Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Kevin James, for not only the opportunity to pursue this thesis under his advisement, but for his continuing support throughout the process. My experience would not have been the same without his great advice and even better company. I'd also wish to thank Dr. Eric Zuelow for his guidance both in our engaging graduate class and during the lengthy thesis writing period. His notes and thorough reviewing of my drafts proved invaluable. I'd like to thank my committee members, Dr. Susan Nance and Dr. Alan Gordon, for their helpful advice in shaping the paper following my examination. Valerie Harris and the staff at the University of Illinois at Chicago Special Collections department were extremely accommodating, both during my visit and in the follow-up communications. All the staff at the Media Commons at the University of Toronto deserve thanks for their friendly and helpful service during my months of research there. I am grateful for everyone in the History Department at the University of Guelph. My undergraduate and graduate years there were made better by the fantastic professors and staff at the University. I wish to thank my girlfriend, Erica Rodd, for her unwavering support over the years. She has helped me in an innumerable amount of ways, both with this thesis and with life. Finally, I'd like to thank my family: my sister, Erin, my mother Susan, and my father, Paul. I could not have done this without their backing and encouragement, not only in the past two years but for my whole life. I find it hard to believe some days that I am lucky enough to have you guys. Table of Contents Abstract Acknowledgements i Table of Contents ii List of Figures iii Introduction 1 Historical Background Concept and Methods Other Literature Primary Sources Conclusion Chapter One: Contesting Ireland at Chicago 18 Beyond the Villages: Irish Exhibits at the World's Fair Alice Hart and Lady Aberdeen The Hart-Aberdeen Conflict Contesting Authenticity Chapter Two: Constructing and Consuming the Landscape of the Villages 54 The Embodied Experience of the Irish Villages Sound Touch Taste Performance Landscape: The People Landscape: The Cottage Landscape: Consuming the Nostalgiascape of the Villages Conclusion 92 Bibliography 100 List of Figures Figure 1. Map of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. From the Official Guide to the World's Columbian Exposition. Courtesy the University of Waterloo. (7) Figure 2. Celtic cross inside Aberdeen's village. From The World's Fair in Watercolors. Courtesy the University of Illinois at Chicago Library. (54) Figure 3. Muckross Abbey in Aberdeen's village. From The World's Fair in Watercolors. Courtesy the University of Illinois at Chicago Library. (60) Figure 4. Craftswoman inside a cottage in Aberdeen's village. From The World's Fair in Watercolors. Courtesy the University of Illinois at Chicago Library. (66) Figure 5 Dancer in the Algerian theatre on the Midway. From the Portfolio of Photographs of the World's Fair. Courtesy the University of Illinois at Chicago Library. (75) Figure 6 Entryway to Aberdeen's village in The Dream City. Courtesy the University of Illinois at Chicago Library. (83) Figure 7 Exterior of the German village on the Midway. From The Vanishing White City. Courtesy the University of Illinois at Chicago Library. (93) Figure 8 inside the Vienna town square on the Midway. From the Portfolio of Photographs of the World's Fair. Courtesy the University of Illinois at Chicago Library. (95) Figure 9 Interior of the Java Village. From the Picturesque World's Fair. Courtesy the University of Waterloo. (96) III Introduction Next day a little chap of twelve or thirteen, from Tralee, was in the Kilkenny man's place, and an anxious girl ventured timidly to throw doubt on the genuineness of the stone. "Oh, indeed it is genuine," he answered. "You ask the Custom House officer an' he'll tell you" - omitting to mention that the official was in New York. "Well, now, if it is really genuine, how is it that you have not the whole of it, and how much did you pay for this piece?" "Four thousand dollars," was the prompt reply. "Sure the man that owns it wouldn't let us take it all away an' spile his income." That removed all doubts and the girl invested with a kiss.1 In the square of cottages around [Blarney] Castle there is exhibited everything that delights the Irish heart— poteen and fighting excepted.2 The Irish villages at the World's Columbian Exposition promised visitors authentic experiences of the Irish countryside. Two prominent British women who are examined in this study, Lady Aberdeen and Alice Hart, achieved this by displaying familiar objects associated with Ireland as well as with the performance of the Irish peasants who populated the villages. However, the landscape they represented was not neutral, despite their efforts to avoid conflict. Ireland's contested position in the United Kingdom could not be separated from the romanticized rural villages at the Chicago World's Fair, nor from these women's personal rivalries and wider political sympathies.3 1 "The Irish Village at Chicago," Freeman's Journal, 22 July 1893. 2 "World's Fair at Chicago," Galway Vindicator, 24 May 1893. 3 The World's Columbian Exposition will be refered to as the Chicago World's Fair throughout the thesis. This is not a reference to the 1933 World's Fair at Chicago unless specified, 1 This thesis explores why Hart and Aberdeen constructed romanticized countryside Irish villages for the Midway of the Chicago World's Fair and how this reflected Ireland's contested position in the United Kingdom. It argues that Hart and Aberdeen constructed the Irish villages to fulfill the expectations of rural Ireland and served as places of contest over work, femininity and authenticity. These developments are explored in the context of the Midway, where exhibits featured ethnographic displays of the exotic as well as romanticized representations of the past. Historical Background The Irish villages at Chicago were part of several years of work by the Irish Industries Association (I. I.A.) and the Donegal Industrial Fund (D. I. F.). The villages were part of the two organizations' efforts to promote home industries and cottage crafts from the Irish countryside. The villages were a construction of the peaceful, friendly countryside present in popular descriptions of Ireland. As David Brett discusses in Construction of Heritage, Ireland's position as a peripheral nation to Britain made it subject to representations from the metropolitan center.4 This included a picturesque vision of the Irish rural which disregarded the urban, modern industrial aspects of the country.

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