Columbian Exposition of 1893--Hagenbecks Wild Animal Circus

Hagenbeck's animal show was a major attraction at Chicago's spectacular Columbian Exposition of 1893. Edgar Rice Burroughs spent the summer of '93 on the grounds of the Exposition - first as a cadet with the Michigan Military Academy that put on regular drill exhibitions on the grounds and then as a worker with for his father's ABC battery company which had a display in the giant Electricty Building. It was at this time that he first saw the wonders of Carl Hagenbeck, and started a fabulous correspondence with a Mr. Walter Winans, who had intitially pointed out to Burrows that he could not have deer in Africa in on of his earlier books, and to confirm that Carl Hagenbeck had told him there were prehistoric reptiles in Africa and that they might be of use in his next Tarzan book. Click the letters to enlarge, as they are incredible zoology history.