UB Lecture Series to Focus on Pan-American Exposition

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The focus on the 1901 Pan-American Exposition will continue at the University at Buffalo this fall as UB's Pan-Am Community Partnership, in conjunction with the Baird Foundation, presents a lecture series entitled "The Latest and Best Views of the Pan-American Exposition."

Topics to be addressed will range from the motivations of William McKinley assassin Leon Czolgosz and the controversy surrounding the African village at the exposition to the titillating midway rides and the social impact of world's fair souvenirs.

All lectures in the series, which will be free of charge and open to the public, will be held at 7 p.m. in the Screening Room of the Center for the Arts on the North (Amherst) Campus. For further information, call Michele Gallant at 645-6000, ext. 1171.

The schedule:

o Sept. 8: "The Enigmatic Assassin: Anarchist Leon Czolgosz," Daniel Coleman, author of "The Anarchist," which explores the life, motivations, political views and psychology of Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of President William McKinley. Coleman will read from his novel, discuss his research and answer questions about the event that in September 1901 placed Buffalo at the center of world attention. The lecture is co-sponsored by the Polish Collection of the UB Libraries.

o Sept. 11: "Treasured Objects or Meaningless Trinkets? Collecting World's Fair and International Exposition Souvenirs," Jon B. Zachman, researcher and cataloguer of the Larry Zim and the Edward J. Orth World's Fair Collections at the National Museum of American History. Beginning with the first world's fair -- the Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851 -- world's fairs and international expositions have generated a wealth of material culture that survives long after the gates of these ephemeral events close. This talk will survey the range of world's fair collectibles and explore their potential meanings.

o Sept. 20: "The Invincible Eagle Greets the Dawn of a New Century: Music at the Pan-American Exposition," Tom Bingham, freelance music journalist, lecturer on American popular music history and host of "Scratchy Old Vinyl" on WCVF-FM in Fredonia. Music played such a significant role at the Pan-Am that an entire building -- the Temple of Music -- was devoted to it. Bingham will discuss the musical life of the Pan-Am, which went far beyond the temple and included band concerts, organ recitals and a midway filled with strange new sounds from around the world.

o Oct. 9: "Midway Pan Am-ania: Thompson & Dundy's New Century Buffalo Babylon of Technology, Tiny Tots, Thrills, Tom Toms and Titillation," Judith Adams-Volpe, director of university and external relations for the University Libraries and author of "The American Amusement Park Industry: A History of Technology and Thrills." The Pan-Am midway reflected American popular culture at the turn of the 20th century. Adams-Volpe will examine amusement entrepreneurs Thompson and Dundy's use of technology and illusion; their glittering career at Coney Island's Luna Park, which launched their success at the Pan-Am; the stereotypes and racial attitudes reflected by the midway "shows," and the promotion of new technologies -- especially electricity -- through the fun and spectacle of the midway.

o Oct. 18: "Reflections on Africa at the Pan-American Exposition," Kevin P. Smith, associate curator of anthropology at the Buffalo Museum of Science. One of the largest of the midway's installations, "Darkest Africa," has become its most controversial. Darkest Africa was an ethnological village where 98 African men, women and children worked and performed for visitors. In recent years, Darkest Africa and other ethnological villages at the Pan-Am -- and other world's fairs -- have been interpreted as human zoos that served to justify the oppression of non-Western cultures by colonial European and American states, and ridicule the heritage of African Americans. It has been assumed that the Africans who lived in these villages were brought from Africa and forced to perform; that they were passive or oppressed victims rather than active and creative participants. Current and on-going research suggests that many aspects of these assumptions may be too simplistic. This presentation will introduce some of the more recent findings of research currently under way as background to the Buffalo Museum of Science exhibit, "Through a Clouded Mirror: Africa at the Pan-American Exposition."

o Oct. 23: "Nikola Tesla and Niagara Falls," Robert Dischner, director of corporate education and technical training for Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. At the Chicago Colombian Exposition in 1893, President Grover Cleveland pulled a switch that illuminated the grounds by means of an alternating electrical current -- the product of the ingenuity of George Westinghouse and a visionary immigrant named Nikola Tesla. Tesla and Westinghouse would go on to Western New York and harness the Niagara River and falls to produce hydroelectric power. The life and inventions of Tesla will be discussed, with a special emphasis on his interest in developing Niagara Falls and his controversial polyphase system of alternating current power generation.

o Oct. 25: "Reluctant Neighbor: Canada at the Pan-American Exposition," Kerry S. Grant, vice provost for academic affairs and dean of Graduate School at UB, and author of "The Rainbow City: Celebrating Light, Color and Architecture at the Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo 1901." This lecture will examine the initial resistance to Canadian participation in the Pan-Am and the subsequent inclusion of the Dominion of Canada in the exposition.