The Order of the Eastern Star at the Chicago World’s Fair

On August 18th, 1920, the United States Congress ratified the 19th amendment, guaranteeing women the right to vote. Throughout August, to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of this momentous occasion, Museum staff will highlight items from our collection related to women’s fraternal groups. Many of these groups offered not only a place of community for women but also a place to organize. A number of these groups were actively involved in the suffrage movement and had members who championed women's equality. We first feature this recently donated photograph from the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.

Order of Eastern Star Booth at Columbian Exposition, 1893. Lorraine J. Pitkin (1845-1922), Chicago, Illinois. Gift of Thomas Nelson, 2020.008. 

On May 1st, 1893, thousands of visitors streamed into the newly opened Columbian World Exposition at Jackson Park in Chicago, Illinois. This exposition, commonly referred to as the Chicago World’s Fair, celebrated the 400^th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ (1451-1506) arrival in the Americas in 1492. Organizers built over 200 new structures and pavilions that spanned over 600 acres in the South Side of Chicago, including a “Woman’s Building,” designed by architect Sophia Hayden (1868-1953). The structure, created to showcase women artisans and highlight women’s achievements, was managed by an all-female board. A number of female associations were featured in the building, including the Women's Christian Temperance Union, Order of the Eastern Star, and Ladies Catholic Benevolent Association. 

Board member Lorraine J. Pitkin (1845-1922), a women's activist and high-ranking member of the Order of the Eastern Star (OES), a Masonic women's auxiliary group, advocated for this Eastern Star exhibit (pictured at left) to be displayed in the Woman’s Building. The photograph shows various Eastern Star charts, signets, and banners from over nine of the organization's chapters in the Upper Midwest.

Pitkin also participated in the World’s Congress of Representative Women on behalf of OES. The Congress, a week-long conference managed and attended by women as part of the World's Fair, included a day of programming devoted to the Eastern Star on May 16, 1893. Sessions from that day included "The Value of the Eastern Star as a Factor in Giving Women a Knowledge of Legislative Matters"  and "Eastern Star and the Benefit it Has Been to Women as an Educational Organization." Pitkin later served on the Board of Directors of the World's Fair Fraternal Building Association held in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1902. This photograph will be featured in our upcoming Flickr album about women and fraternalism. Stay tuned!

Have a favorite item related to women's suffrage or fraternalism at the World's Fair? Let us know in the comments below!

 

References

May Wright Sewall, ed., The World's Congress of Representative Women... (Chicago, IL: Rand McNally, 1894), 68-72.

Maude Howe Elliott, ed., Art And Handicraft in the Woman's Building of the World's Columbian Exposition Chicago, 1893 (Chicago and New York: Rand, McNally & Company, 1894), 180-185.

 

 

The 1964-65 World's Fair and Freemasonry

Lots of folks have memories of the 1964-65 World's Fair, held in the borough of Queens in New York City, and recognized by the Fair's memorable icon, the Unisphere. There were lots of popular pavilions and attractions at the Fair, ranging from the memorable - like General Electric's Progressland (developed by Walt Disney and later transplanted to Disneyland as the Carousel of Progress) - to the perhaps less-than-memorable, like the AARP's Dynamic Maturity pavilion.

But did you know that there was also a Masonic pavilion at the 1964-65 World's Fair? The theme of the Fair was "peace through understanding," and so it seems a natural fit that the Grand Lodge of New York decided to sponsor The Masonic Brotherhood Center, with its theme of "Brotherhood: the Foundation of World Peace."

Outside, the pavilion featured 50-foot tall (and very space-agey) square-and-compasses. Inside the building, items on display included the bible that George Washington used when he first took the Presidential oath of office, as well Simon Bolivar's 32nd degree Scottish Rite apron and his 32nd degree Scottish Rite collar.

If you go to Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens today, you can still see the Unisphere as well as the Tent of Tomorrow, but you won't find too much of the 1964-65 World's Fair beyond that - certainly not those huge square-and-compasses. (Although I'm happy to report that our colleagues over at the Livingston Library at the Grand Lodge of New York inform us that those great space-age square-and-compasses still survive.)

If you've got memories of The Masonic Brotherhood Pavilion, we'd love to hear about them - just share them in the comments below.

Pictured above is a small booklet produced by the Grand Lodge of New York for the World's Fair:

The Masonic Brotherhood Center at the New York World's Fair, 1964-1965. [New York: Grand Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York, 1964.]
Call number: 52 .M4125 [1964]