Louisiana Purchase Exposition Souvenir Statuette, Great Alabama Vulcan
date: label: Date made
content: 1904
notes: label: Description
content: Souvenir statuette commemorating the Louisiana Purchase Exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri in 1904. The object is a replica of the "Great Alabama Vulcan" statue.
label: Description
content: In 1904 a World’s Fair was held in St. Louis, Missouri to commemorate the 100th anniversary of “The Louisiana Purchase”, a land deal with the French that greatly expanded the boundaries of the United States. Between April and December, over 19.5 million visitors attended the Fair, hosted on a 1,270-acre site constructed at the city’s Forest Park as well as the Washington University campus. While the Exposition presented advances in technology and the arts and sciences, it is remembered today for its racist and dehumanizing displays of living foreign peoples. The Exposition also served as the site of the 1904 Olympic Games, the first ever held in the United States.
label: Description
content: The city of Birmingham, Alabama’s contribution to the St. Louis World’s Fair was a massive 56-foot-tall cast-iron statue of Vulcan, the Roman God of fire and metalworking. Designed by Italian-born sculptor Giuseppe Moretti, <i>Vulcan</I> was displayed at the Exposition’s Palace of Mines and Metallurgy to honor Birmingham’s iron industry. Souvenir statuettes of the work were sold at the Fair to help defray the costs of its production. Today, <i>Vulcan </i> remains the largest cast-iron statue in the world. It’s current residence in Birmingham has been added to the National Register of Historic Places.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Missouri, St. Louis
label: Associated Place
content: United States: Alabama, Birmingham
label: Associated Place
content: United States: Missouri, Saint Louis
topic: label: Subject
content: Expositions and Fairs
label: Subject
content: Sculpture
label: related event
content: Louisiana Purchase Exposition
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: The Larry Zim World's Fair Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1989.0438.1024
label: catalog number
content: 1989.0438.1024
label: accession number
content: 1989.0438
label: catalog number
content: 1904MD02
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Statuette, Great Alabama Vulcan
label: Object Name
content: statuette
label: Object Name
content: souvenir, statuette
label: Object Name
content: statue
label: Object Name
content: souvenir
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 5 1/2 in x 2 3/4 in x 9 in; 13.97 cm x 6.985 cm x 22.86 cm