1853 New York Crystal Palace

The New York Crystal Palace exposition was America’s first world’s fair. Exhibitors from around the world showed off their latest machinery, consumer products, and raw materials.

The catalog of the 1853 New York Crystal Palace listed most of the items on display and indicated where they might be found.

More about the exposition and its catalogs

This tool allows you to list the items on display based on their country of origin, and item type (called a "class" in the catalog).

To see what was on display and where in the fair it was located, choose country and product class of interest.

To select more than one country or class, hold down the command (⌘) or control (ctrl) key.

The authors of this tool are: Brian Croxall, Emily Esten, Steffani Gomez, Steven Lubar, and Patrick Rashleigh.

Select from the Catalog

Items on Display

Position in the building

First floor

Machine Arcade

Second floor

West Gallery East Gallery

Catalog entries