The Great International Exhibition of 1851 – The Crystal Palace Exhibition

The Industrial Revolution transformed Western Europe and Britain had become the “workshop of the world” (Beaver,1970, 12). The need to access wider world markets was crucial to the country’s survival as an industrialized nation.  Borrowing from neighboring France, (who had been staging art exhibitions since 1667 and national trade exhibitions since 1798) the British under the leadership of Henry Cole, Joseph Paxton and Albert, Prince Consort, decided in 1849 that a trade exhibition was the only way to readily access world trading markets, creating the “Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations,” otherwise known as the Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851. 

The central exhibit hall, the Crystal Palace, covered 19 acres of land; was constructed using 900,000 square feet (293,655 panes of glass); and housed almost 1,000,000 square feet of exhibit space, all constructed in less than 9 months.  Thirteen thousand, nine hundred and thirty-seven exhibitors (6,556 were foreign) occupied 991,857 square feet of exhibit space, showing over 100,000 products and /or services. A total of 6,039,205 people visited the exhibition over its tenure which ran from May 1 to October 11,1851 (Beaver, 1970).

The Great Exhibition was the first international trade fair.  It was the ultimate example of a horizontal exhibition where a multitude of products and services in specific industry groupings as well as by country or geographic region were presented – not only to industrial users by to the general public as well.

Exhibitions in the United States – In the Beginning

The rash of world and state fairs that were hosted throughout the United States from the late 1800s to the early 1900s played a significant role in the development of the exposition industry in the United States.  However, in many cases, the focus was international and outward – showcasing American products to the wider world.  While entrepreneurs and businessmen relished the idea of showcasing their goods to a global audience, it did  have a downside. Exhibiting at three, six month or even year long trade fairs was expensive and drained the fiscal and human resources of many firms.  The country was growing, markets were expanding westward. “As business an industry become more and more sophisticated, they began to develop their own specialized trade shows” (Lifshey, 1974,27).  American manufacturers and wholesalers started using exhibitions to get their goods to the end user.  Exhibiting locally manufactured goods in a temporary local or regional marketplace gained increasing popularity in the 1800s.

An Industry in the Making

Trade exhibitions as a form of marketing had firmly established itself by the early 1900s.  The overall success of local, state, national and international fairs helped to create a foundation on which commercial trade exhibitions were able to build.  The general public, by the turn of the century, was used to seeing wares on display at exhibitions.  The addition of exhibits to convention programs by associations added industrial end-users to the list of audiences trade exhibits were serving.  The exposition as a direct form of marketing was here to stay!