Program and Menu for the International Ball and Banquet Held at the Worlds Columbian Exposition. August 16, 1893. Extremely Fine. 7.25 inches x 4.75 inches, as folded and printed. Printed on white card in blue, the cover with an ornate vignette celebrating the international participants of the Exposition. A small pencil attached by a string through a hole at the upper left is intact, though its purpose is unclear. The inside front gives the program of musical entertainment, the inside back, the evenings menu. The back cover served an entirely different purpose: namely, to stereotype and ridicule the traditions of others. This is an unsurprising entry into the fair, an event which served largely to celebrate the concept of <em>civilization</em> in the New World as a triumph over <em>savagery</em> of traditional peoples everywhere. Most notable among these so-called triumphs, not specifically stated yet clearly implied in numerous ways at the Exposition, was over people of African descent. While the "International Menu" included such as "Hard Boiled Potatoes, a la Irish Village" and "Boiled Camel Humps, a la Cairo Street," it is notable that the dish offered from Dahomey (now Benin), was "Roast Missionary," laying a not-so-subtle label of cannibalism and anti-Christian sentiment upon the people of that African nation. The "Monkey Stew a la Hagenbeck" offering is another particularly egregious entry, the mention of "Hagenbeck" being a reference to human zoos that were popular exhibits at large fairs of the period.
