By Lynn Sally Visually sophisticated and easily navigated, this website, part of the Paul V. Galvin Library Digital History Collection of the Illinois Institute of Technology, is an important contribution to the preservation of world fair materials. The main page of the website instantly catapults viewers back to the by-gone Age of Expositions with a wonderful photo from the Columbian Exposition that fills the majority of the screen. The site is laid out well, both visually and conceptually. The website s main page fits into the viewer s screen, thereby preventing the burdensomeness of scrolling down to view the entire screen. The major contribution this site adds to public history is the preservation and digitization of four primary documents from the World Columbian Exposition.
Public historians can view the documents in graphic and textual form.
The thumbnail sketches of each page can be viewed in three different sizes, allowing for detailed viewing of the images. Selecting view text puts viewers into a text version of the image. The photographs in The Dream City are stunning and varied. The Master Index allows for quick and easy clicking to the image or topic that you are interested in viewing. The Index is also organized by topic.