Centennial International Exhibition of 1876

William Brotherhead, “Virginia,” Centennial Book of Signers (1874)

Pension applicants sometimes referred to events in their personal lives as having occurred before, during, or after a major historic or social event, for example, “two years after the fall of Richmond” or  “second marriage was before the civil war.” Some claimants mentioned the 1876 centennial.

The Centennial Intenational Exhibition of 1876 was the first official World’s Fair in the United States.  The celebration of the 100th anniversary of the signing of the founding of the United States of America, was held in Philadelphia, the city where the Declaration of Independence was signed. The fair was open from May to November and welcomed over 10 million visitors at newly constructed sites in the city’s Fairmount Park. Organizers boasted that this “Exhibition is the largest ever held,” with 150 temporary and permanent structures created to display machinery, horticultural specimens, and works of art.

William Brotherhead designed a series of lithographs to commemorate the centennial of the thirteen original colonies. They were published in the Centennial Book of Signers in 1874; the lithographs were printed by H.J. Toudy & Co. in 1876.

The Centennial Exhibition, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
http://www.lcpimages.org/centennial/

Stephanie Grauman Wolf. “Centennial Exhibition (1876),” The Encylopedia of Greater Philadelphia Pennsylvania
https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/centennial/

“Philadelphia World’s Fair, (Centennial International Exhibition, 1876),” Topics in Chronicling America
https://www.loc.gov/rr/news/topics/worldsPhila.html