Talk:Great Exhibition

question in 2005
Should the link under exhibition go to the world exhibition page rather than to the disambiguation page? --BozMo|talk 12:30, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)


 * Not neccesarilly, as the World's Fair is mentioned later in the paragraph.

I heard that this is considered the 'first' International Expo, yet there were obviously exhibitions before this?


 * it happened in queen victoria's reign stupid

The Great Exhibition was not referred to as Crystal Palace as the article suggests. The building the exhibition was housed in was know as the Crystal Palace not the exhibition itself. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kilfinan (talk • contribs) 11:54, 4 June 2008 (UTC)


 * However, it's often been called the "Crystal Palace exhibition"... AnonMoos (talk) 03:58, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

This article should discuss the beauty of the exhibit as well. For example, Charlotte Bronte described it as an event "with splendid carriages of all kinds, with harness of every description, to the glass-covered and velvet-spread stands loaded with the most gorgeous work of the goldsmith and silversmith, and the carefully guarded caskets full of real diamonds and pearls worth hundreds of thousands of pounds." That is a beautiful description. - http://www.mytimemachine.co.uk/greatexhibition.htm There should also be information about the area surrounding the exhibition. For example, "The Crystal Palace itself was almost outshone by the park in which it stood, which contained a magnificent series of fountains, comprising almost 12,000 individual jets. The largest of these threw water to a height of 250ft." - http://www.victorianstation.com/palace.html -Beccamichelle

Should mention the Greek Slave statue, which attracted a lot of attention... AnonMoos (talk) 17:05, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

I reckon soz... etc. etc. you know whifflers. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.156.206.208 (talk) 21:26, 23 September 2008 (UTC)

After consulting Kishlansky’s, Civilization in the West, I found some small but important facts that I believe should be included in the article. Kishlansky notes that when exhibits such as the Great Exhibit of 1851 introduced new art and cultural artifacts, they fostered a “growing appreciation and understanding of the cultures of different continents” (p. 738). Kishlanksy also mentions the important part that the railroad played in making the event accessible to the six million attendees. The text also offers an addition to the notable exhibits section of the Wikipedia article which in and of itself is an ambiguous title, as ‘notable’ will vary from source to source. Kishlanksy notes that household items such as coal burning ovens, artificial flowers, inkstands, and cooking utensils were exhibited. Yet another interesting note left out of the article is that while nearly half of the floor space was given to Great Britain’s exhibits, the French won the most design and style medals (p. 684). Some additional information could be included, perhaps under the notable exhibits section of the article. Gisele Weiss notes that Charles Goodyear exhibited items made of his vulcanized rubber including musical instruments, furniture, and hydrogen filled balloons. Marco Beretta explains a small but relevant fact in his book that the Crystal Palace was covered with over a million square feet of glass. After consulting Hermione Hobhouse’s, The Great Exhibition Art, Science and Productive Industry: A History of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, I found an interesting note on what Henry Cole, Francis Fuller, and Mathew Wyatt had to overcome in persuading the world’s best manufacturers to display their best work in the face of competitors copying their work. These names should be mentioned for their part in putting on the exhibition. Further reading into this topic led me to Lara Kriegel’s, Grand Designs Labor, Empire, and the Museum in Victorian Culture. In her book Kriegel explains that these concerns were so loudly voiced that in 1850, Parliament was actually more or less forced by the copyright issue as it pertained to the upcoming exhibition to pass a revised Designs Act in August of 1850. Kriegel goes on to explain that the law “sought to encourage exhibitors, both English and foreign, by providing a year’s provisional registration” (p. 84). Beretta, Marco. "Glassware." History of World Trade Since 1450. Ed. John J. McCusker. Vol. 1. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2006. 318-320. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 14 Apr. 2010.

Hobhouse, Hermione. The Crystal Palace and the Great Exhibition: Art, Science and Productive Industry : a History of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851. London: Athlone Press, 2002.

Kishlansky, Mark, Patrick Geary and Patricia O'Brien. Civilization in the West. 7th Edition. Vol. C. New York: Pearson Education, Inc., 2008.

Kriegel, Lara. Grand Designs: Labor, Empire, and the Museum in Victorian Culture. Radical perspectives. Durham [N.C.]: Duke University Press, 2007.

Weiss, Giselle. "Charles Goodyear Discovers the Process for Creating Vulcanized Rubber." Science and Its Times. Ed. Neil Schlager and Josh Lauer. Vol. 5: 1800 to 1899. Detroit: Gale, 2000. 527-530. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 14 Apr. 2010. Rhparkerhum313 (talk) 06:48, 15 April 2010 (UTC)rhparkerhum313

Is the "Great Shalimar" actually another name for the Crystal Palace? Through my research, I found no suggestions of this being true. Even the source cited in the article fails to produce such evidence. Also, just as rhparkerhum313 suggests, there surely needs to be an inclusion of the significance of the railroads. According to the Kenneth Spencer Research Library: "track mileage had doubled in five years before the Exhibition opened; without those railways it would have been impossible to assemble the exhibits—or to bring the hordes of visitors to London." -http://spencer.lib.ku.edu/exhibits/greatexhibition/contents.htm Additionally, this claim from the article surely needs support: "It can be argued that the Great Exhibition was mounted in response to the highly successful French Industrial Exposition of 1844." A great source for such support can be found here: http://www.answers.com/topic/the-great-exhibition under the section from the Modern Design Dictionary. Scottytakeda (talk) 23:43, 26 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Nice 37.231.156.33 (talk) 17:13, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

Exclaimatory statement
"Queen Victoria and her family visited 3 times!"

Maybe such an exclamatory statement of the fact is not necessary? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.235.58.2 (talk) 16:29, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Source?
"...whilst radicals such as Karl Marx saw the exhibition as an emblem of the capitalist fetishism of commodities."

Since Das Kapital was first published in 1867 and it was not up until then that Marx introduced his concept of commodity fetishism, I'm wondering whether this statement is at all true.

If it is though, I think it would be a very interesting fact to document properly and without bias.

Karl Marx, one of the most influential philosophers of the 19th century, shouldn't have words put in his mouth so lightly while being dispatched as a simple "radical". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.195.7.190 (talk) 02:03, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

Number of Exhibits
Since 3 February 2009 this article has reported that there were over 13,000 exhibits. This was cited to a website called victorianstaton.com which contained that information at least as early as February 2000, and through 2013, though the website may now be defunct, see. An IP editor just tried to change the number to 100,000, claiming it came from his history textbook, which was reverted as unsourced. See. I see a 1999 book reporting 100,000 and other sources saying 13,000 (1973 book:). So which is it? I suspect there is some definitional difference as well as some sloppiness somewhere which has led to divergent reports.--Milowent • hasspoken 19:48, 16 December 2014 (UTC)

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Requested move 13 March 2019

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: moved (closed by non-admin page mover)  SITH   (talk)   12:27, 20 March 2019 (UTC)

The Great Exhibition → Great Exhibition – See Article titles: 'Do not place definite or indefinite articles at the beginning of titles' and Naming conventions (definite or indefinite article at beginning of name). Great Exhibition already redirects here and has always done so. Celia Homeford (talk) 09:50, 13 March 2019 (UTC)
 * Support. Per WP:THE, absolutely no need for the definite article. -- Necrothesp (talk) 13:42, 13 March 2019 (UTC)
 * Support  Jim.henderson (talk) 15:06, 17 March 2019 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

My fiance found this in NJ many years ago while digging for rocks, not sure how to share a picture but it looks like a stamp. Exposition universelle 1855 hopson hatter
please let me know if you have any info on it. We are curious Nahnee56 (talk) 17:44, 3 December 2023 (UTC)


 * Hi @Nahnee56 talk pages are discuss improvements to articles so no one here will be able to help you. However, you can upload images at Commons, a sister project then ask your question at the WP:Reference desk with a link to the image to see if anyone there can help. S0091 (talk) 17:55, 3 December 2023 (UTC)
 * A different international Expo was held in Paris in 1855. Like this 1861 exhibition, it was very well attended by an international audience. The United States was then, relative to European countries technologically and economically backward; the 1851 and 1855 Expos attracted a lot of American visitors [1].
 * Quite honestly, your 'find' is of mild curiosity value only. There must be thousands of such event souvenirs in the USA still.
 * [1]"Passionate pilgrims : the American traveler in Great Britain, 1800-1914"
 * LOCKWOOD, Allison (1981).
 * New York : Cornwall Books ; Rutherford [N.J.] : Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.2A01:4B00:AE0E:6200:DC7D:D977:5E79:92BB (talk) 11:31, 22 May 2024 (UTC)