The Great Exhibition of 1851 in London Featured Controversial Ethnographic Displays
The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, held in London in 1851, is recognized as the first large-scale international exhibition of its kind. While it showcased industrial progress and technological innovations, the event also included controversial ethnographic displays. Historians Laura Hollengreen and her coauthors argue that the exhibition served as publicity for British industry and its colonial empire, presenting other societies as 'primitive' stages of human development. Scholar Fanny Robles highlights the presence of a Tunisian attendant presiding over the Tunis Court, an early instance of a living foreign person becoming part of an exhibit. The Crystal Palace, where the exhibition was housed, also featured over 60 groups of model figures illustrating Hindu castes and wax figures of North and South American peasants in national dress. After the exhibition, the Crystal Palace was rebuilt in Sydenham, South London, where its Court of Natural History displayed life-size plaster fi...
