Devil in the White City

Online Exhibits

We’re working on creating a new template for online exhibits for the Library.  As part of the process, I’ve been looking at a number of online exhibits, and found the subject matter of “She is More to be Pitied than Censured” at Brown University to be particularly interesting.  The case of Mary Rogers reminded me of the young women lured to the big city, that Erik Larson so expertly describes in The Devil in the White City .  H. H. Holmes would also prey on similar young women who traveled to Chicago.  The Brown exhibit highlights a number of cases, including many that took place in Massachusetts and throughout New England.  It also deals with the Beecher-Tilton scandal, in which Harriet Beecher Stowe’s brother was accused of adultery.  The exhibit is organized around the 1894 song “She is More to be Pitied than Censured” by William B. Gray.  I was able to find an old recording of the song by Marguerite Newton at the Internet Archive! Explore on your own, and let me know what you think.

Chicago

Over the weekend, I visited Chicago for the first time, to attend a friend’s wedding.  It was a good trip, but a very busy time.  While I saw a lot of the city and surrounding area, there were still some sights that I wasn’t able to see.  I’ve read The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, and while I know there’s not much left in terms of the fair site, I had wanted to see more of the city that dealt with that part of its history.  I did manage to take an architecture boat tour, where I heard more about Daniel Burnham and John Root.  Also, the architecture in the city is really grand-in addition to skyscrapers, there are many great Art Deco buildings.  Our guide also mentioned that a several buildings had recently been filmed as part of Gotham City in The Dark Knight.  The trip also made me want to pick up a few books on the Chicago Fire of 1871.