At the time of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, the United States was fast becoming the world's leading economy. Chicago, the host city, had grown in less than half a century from a village to the country's second-largest metropolis. During this, the Gilded Age, the world's most extensive railroad and steamship networks poured ceaselessly through Chicago, carrying the raw goods and finished products of America's great age of invention and industrial expansion. The Fair was the largest ever at the time, with 65,000 exhibitors and millions of visitors. It has been called the 'Blueprint of the American Future' and marked the beginning of the national economy and consumer culture.

Chaim M. Rosenberg is the author of The Great Workshop: Boston s Victorian Age, and Goods for Sale: Products and Advertising in the Massachusetts Industrial Age. His collection of colorful trade cards and catalogs from the Fair form the heart of America at the Fair.