Lecture: Gender, Culture and Politics at the Chicago World's Fair

Among the most popular attractions at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair was the Woman's Building, an exhibit hall filled with the products of women's labor, including a library of more than 8,000 volumes of writing by women. Wayne Wiegand will discuss his new co-authored publication, Right Here I See My Own Books, which situates the Woman's Building Library in its historical context. He examines the significance of this effort to assemble a comprehensive library of women's texts, touching on such topics as the women's movement, literary culture, racial politics, and the professionalization of librarianship. Wayne Wiegand is the F. William Summers Professor of Library and Information Studies Emeritus at Florida State University.