Convention Centers and Exhibition Halls

[D'Transporter]

Originally Posted by XP

kasing presyo na lang pala ng Pilipinas ang St. Louis Fair. Hindi pa kasama inflation (ok hangover ng econ).

Pero joking aside, naaawa ako sa mga pinadala sa fair na iyan. Nalaman ko lang ito nung nanoood ako ng play na: "St. Louis loves dem Filipinos." Sa totoo lang, pati naman yung mga Filipino elites dati na mostly mestizos, siyempre, may kasalanan din. Actually, hindi nila tinuring na Filipinos yung mga tribes na pinadala sa US. Para sa kanila, mga "barbarians" lang sila. Yan yung mga nakita ko sa play. Pero siymepre one-sided lang iyon. Di natin alam kung ano talaga nangyari.

Kaunting mga tao lang ang nakakaalam na may ganito palang nangyari noon(kasama na ako). Hindi ko pa malalaman kung hindi ako nanood ng play. Sana naman nilagay nila sa Phil. History books ito. Kahit footnote kasi wala eh.

Yeah, we can't blame just the Americans coz I don't think these Filipinos would be sent there without consenting the Philippine government at that time. So there were a group of people here in the P.I. who allowed our kababayans to leave probably not even knowing what was going to happen upon arriving in the US.

[KulasKusgan]

I think there was no Philippine govt in 1904. Under US govt yata ang Pilipinas nun.

[Lili]

Yeah, we were under American Rule then and the governor general of the Philippines was Luke E. Wright. The fair was meant to showcase Philippines as a territory of the US.

[D'Transporter]

I know, I didn't mean to use the "Phil government" literally, what I really meant was the governing authority at that time in the Philippines.

[Animo]

Savage Acts: Wars, Fairs and Empire. New York: American Social History Project, 1995. 30 min. VHS video. $75.00 ea. Pennee Bender, Joshua Brown and Andrea Ades Vasquez, directors. Pennee Bender, Joshua Brown, Andrea Ades Vasquez, and Stephen Brier, producers. Oscar Campomanes, Amy Kaplan, Roy Rosenzweig, Robert Rydell and Marilyn Young, historical advisors.

Savage Acts is an important and timely addition to the educational multimedia resources available for classes in American Studies, Ethnic Studies, and U.S. history. In a quick 30 minutes, it demonstrates the interaction between the United States' creation of an overseas empire at the turn of the century and the accompanying changes in domestic culture expressed in the major world's fairs held from 1893 to 1904. The video is part of a series building on the American Social History Project's earlier two-volume textbook (New York: Pantheon, 1989, 1992) and CD-ROM (Irvington, N.Y.: The Voyager Co., 1993), both entitled Who Built America?

The video tells the story of the country's shift from expansion across the continent justified by a sense of manifest destiny to the creation of an overseas empire and the new concepts of national and racial mission that supported it. Responding to both a new wave of European imperialism and domestic problems cause by rapid industrialization, the United States declared war on Spain after the explosion on the battleship "Maine" in Havana Harbor. Although the war was ostensibly fought to "free Cuba", the first battle took place in Manila Bay. The decision to annex the Philippines and the resulting three-year Philippine-American War (1899-1902) is given more attention than the three-month "splendid little war" with Spain. The war with Spain created heroes and symbols of national power and greatness, the war in the Philippines divided the nation as the new policy of "imperialism" was debated by citizens' groups, politicians, and soldiers.

Beginning with the Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893, the world's fairs promoted globalization, world trade, and a national identity that supported overseas expansion. They highlighted the country's industrial growth at a time when the frontier was declared closed, and drew a sharp contrast between the "progress" and "civilization" of the United States and the "savage" and "primitive" peoples from other countries who were classified into racial "types" and put on display in midway exhibits of "Darkest Africa" and "Mysterious Asia." At the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, the Philippines exhibit was the largest and most popular midway attraction. Decorated with American flags, it celebrated the newly consolidated empire, displaying, in the words of a contemporary review, "savages made by American methods into civilized workers."

Of course a 30-minute format does not allow the full stories of the wars or the fairs to be told, but the film makes the connections between the two remarkably clear. It does this by shifting back and forth between the war in the Philippines, domestic reaction to it, and the fairs. The contrasts presented are striking. For example, quotations from Philippine President Emilio Aguinaldo's plan for the establishment of an independent Philippine government are followed by McKinley's famous account of his decision to annex the Philippines to "educate, uplift and Christianize" the Filipinos. Photographs of Filipino leaders and of Filipino citizens reading newspapers in Manila cafes are contrasted with contemporary editorial cartoons published in the United States that consistently portrayed the Filipinos as children needing guidance from a benevolent Uncle Sam. Similar images of the Filipinos were presented at the world's fairs. Using archival film, photographs, and images from contemporary publications such as the Chicago Times Portfolio of Midway Types, the video examines the use of contemporary views of racial hierarchy to establish new concepts of national identity and mission. "Viewing man in his primitive state -- black, half-clad -- it occurs to you why you are the only race not on exhibition," one visitor relates. "The exhibit is for you and you are the crowning glory of it all." Another visitor realizes that "if you were not an American you would be a savage of that type."

The video makes clear, though, that the United States was not as white, homogenous, and trouble-free as the fairs seemed to indicate. African American and Native American groups protested their exclusion from the 1893 Chicago fair. Frederick Douglass spoke at the fair to address the issue of racism. Racism within the United States also affected the war in the Philippines. Filipinos made appeals for racial solidarity, calling for African American soldiers to desert the U.S. army. The story of David Fagen, an African American who became a successful general in the Filipino army and whose capture became an obsession to the U.S. military and the press at home, is told briefly here.(1) Within the United States, the African American Press also divided on the issues of imperialism and the war. Some opposed the war on the grounds of racial solidarity while others argued that patriotism to the country should come first.

Throughout most of the video, contemporary texts, still graphics and contemporary film clips are allowed to tell the story, with narration and occasional headlines used primarily for transitions and to mark significant historical events. The debate about imperialism in the United States is told with quotes from an AF of L Trade Union Delegate, Susan B. Anthony, a resolution by the Colored Citizens of Boston, and William Jennings Bryan representing anti-imperialist thought, and by Theodore Roosevelt, Senator Albert J. Beveridge and General Frederick Funston representing the imperialists. The debate about the war within army ranks is demonstrated with powerful quotes from letters written home by soldiers in the field expressing either sympathy for the Filipinos and opposition to the government's policy or racist sentiments about the "hot game" of "killing ******s." The Philippine side of the war is presented with quotations from Aguinaldo, Philippine Envoy to the United States Felipe Agoncillo, and the Filipino Central Committee that operated throughout the war from offices in Hong Kong and Toronto. The impact of the fairs is presented with quotes from contemporary guidebooks and letters written by visitors to the fairs.

The historical advisors for the video have produced some of the most important works related to its subject. Among these are Robert W. Rydell, All the World's a Fair: Visions of Empire at American International Expositions, 1876-1916 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984); Amy Kaplan and Donald E. Pease, eds., Cultures of United States Imperialism (Durham: Duke University Press, 1993); and Marilyn B. Young, The Rhetoric of Empire: American China Policy, 1895-1901 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1968). Oscar V. Campomanes co-edited and contributed the "Afterward" to the special Spring 1995 issue of Critical Mass: A Journal of Asian American Cultural Criticism on U.S. Filipino Literature and Culture; and Roy Rosenzweig co-authored the American Social History Project's CD-ROM. Pennee Bender, who wrote the script, and the other directors of Savage Acts are to be congratulated for producing a video that makes its own contribution within this field by combining the wars and fairs more closely and thereby bringing the interaction between foreign policy and domestic culture into sharper focus.

Unlike the American Social History Project's earlier textbook and CD-ROM that were designed for individual use, this video is ideal for in-class use. Its 30-minute format provides plenty of time for discussion, and its attention to both the wars and the fairs will undoubtedly make it a useful supplement to assigned readings in classes dealing with U.S. culture, U.S. history, race and ethnicity, and nationalism. People looking for diplomatic history will not find it here, but that is the easiest resource to find on this era. Instead, Savage Acts focuses on the cultural ramifications of turn-of-the-century foreign policy, a subject that is rarely represented even in specialized studies.

Philippine Commissioner Vicente Nepomuceno is allowed to give the last statement of the film, and it highlights what may be an unintentional benefit of the video. Commenting on the portrayal of Filipinos as savages at the 1904 fair, he says: "It was never intended that the true advancement be disclosed. The impression has gone abroad that we are barbarians . . . and no matter how long we stay here we cannot convince the public to the contrary."

Today, this statement has a more profound meaning than it did in 1904. Filipinos are now the seventh-largest racial or national group in the United States, ranking just behind Chinese in the 1990 census as the second-largest Asian American group. They are also the fastest growing Asian group and are expected to outnumber Chinese before the next full census is taken. While the video is an important resource for understanding the creation of racial stereotypes within the United States more generally, it is especially useful for understanding the social history of white American-Filipino American relations. Those relations essentially began in 1898 when, as Finley Peter Dunne's "Mr. Dooley" put it, the people of the United States first learned whether the Philippines "were islands or canned goods." Numerous recent studies have argued that "whiteness" and "blackness" are inextricably connected in American culture.(2) This video argues that the concept of U.S. national mission developed at the turn of the century (an "imperial whiteness") was inextricably connected to how Filipinos were defined. Both the increasing prominence of Filipinos in American society and the approaching centennials of the Philippine Revolution and the Philippine-American War make this aspect of the video especially timely.

http://www.boondocksnet.com/expos/wfe_savacts.html

[Animo]

Originally Posted by Lili

Yeah but once the prisoner goes out, he will be shot with an arrow. (joke, but may be true)

Imagine this fair costed $15 million to build and $1 million to restore (without the additional costs for maintenance, incidentals and demolition) while the US paid Spain $ 20 million dollars for possession of the Philippines under the Treaty of Paris of 1898.

It was needed to justify the promise of 'civilization and christianization' for the island's inhabitants. We should also take note that many (USA) American's were not educated about the situations and cultures of the world. The denizens needed proof or for 'show' what the inhabitants of the new territory that they have acquired from the war.

[Pinoy_ako]

Part of the St Louis Exposition materials from the Smithsonian Institute was repatriated a few years back. I saw some items which I think were better left with the institute, for now, since it will deteriorate rapidly here in our country. One of them was a a dried anahaw leaf, which was used for something. Although specimens are still readily available, the particular item still has its own historical association as part of the early 20th Phil expo.

[Animo]

I think so too. But I do hope items could be lend for a certain amount of time to Philippine museums. Especially the one in the Madrid exposition.



Palacio de Cristal (Cristal Palace)

Descripción: Situado a la orilla de un pequeño estanque, fue construido en 1887 a instancias del Ministerio de Fomento por el arquitecto Ricardo Velázquez Bosco. Se trataba de un invernadero-estufa que servía de pabellón para albergar una gran muestra de plantas exóticas traídas con motivo de la Exposición General de Filipinas,queaquel año se celebró en Madrid.

Inaugurada el 30 de junio de 1887, la exposición filipina pretendía mostrar a los madrileños la exótica vida cotidiana de aquellas islas, que por entonces seguían siendo colonia española. Para ello, se construyó en el Retiro un auténtico poblado indígena, e incluso se trajo desde la isla de Luzón a buena parte de una tribu de igorrotes, a quienes los madrileños podían ver habitando en sus cabañas de troncos, o navegando con sus piraguas por el estanque del palacio. También se trajeron caimanes, una gran boa, y una completa muestra de su flora, que fue la que se expuso en el palacio.



Lago del Palacio de Cristal (Cristal Palace Lake)

Descripción: Los Jardines del Buen Retiro, popularmente conocidos como El Retiro, es un parque de 118 hectáreas situado en Madrid. Es uno de los lugares más significativos de la capital española y dentro de él, el Palacio de Cristal y su lago, son sin lugar a dudas el punto de interés más sobresaliente de los jardines. El Palacio de Cristal, junto con el lago artificial, fue levantado en 1887. Ambos nacen con vocación internacional, con motivo de la Exposición de las Islas Filipinas, donde se dieron a conocer flores diversas de ese lugar. Fue la respuesta española a los magníficos invernaderos ingleses como el Palm House de Kew Gardens.

Indigenous art at the Philippine Exposition of 1887
Arguments for an ideological and racial battle in a colonial context
Luis Ángel Sánchez Gómez1

1 Dpto. de Prehistoria y Etnología, Fac. de Geografía e Historia, Universidad Complutense, Ciudad Universitaria s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain. langel@ghis.ucm.es

The Philippine Exposition was held in Madrid in 1887 with the aim of increasing commercial and economic relation between the archipelago and the metropolis, but also with the objective of showing its indigenous population to the Spaniards. In this sense, one of the Exposition sections was devoted to fine arts of the Philippines. Assessment of the artistic quality of works of art exhibited was the subject of very disparate interpretations. For conservative Spanish critics – and even for some liberals – the low quality of the woodcarvings was presented as a consequence of the inherent abilities of the Filipinos, and this circumstance was explained exclusively in ethnic terms. However, for some liberal Spanish critics and, above all, for members of the Filipino intellectual elite – the ilustrados – the responsibility for this artistic underdevelopment lay with the Spanish colonial system, and more specifically with the Spanish regular clergy, whose educational strategy was basically aimed at the repression of Filipino intellect.

[D'Transporter]

I didn't even know there was a Philippine exposition in Madrid 1887, thanks for the information Animo!

[Animo]

Originally Posted by D'Transporter

I didn't even know there was a Philippine exposition in Madrid 1887, thanks for the information Animo!

Actually during the Spanish era 'Filipinas' has several exposition in Europe: London (1851), Paris (1855 y 1867), Viena (1873), Philadephia-USA (1876), Barcelona (1888), Amsterdam (1883). The country also participated under the Spanish banner in the Chicago Exposition in 1893. Another exhibition called 'Exposicion Regional de Filipinas' in 1895 occued too.

Here is a great site with photos: http://www.seacex.com/catalogo.cfm?idExposicion=296

The expositions shows different stages of Filipino development from Pre-Hispano to Hispano Filipino. You can see the development of the country (achitecture, policies, government stuff etc. ) and culture (clothings, arts, literature, etc.) in those photos in contrast with the 'Native' only 1904 American exposition.

It is under 'Un imperio en la Vitrina' (Showcase of an empire). Items such as these are in the Anthropology Museum in Madrid.

image hosted on flickr

image hosted on flickr

[Lili]

The bolos were very ornate. Such craftsmanship.

[ibeam]

Great Stuff Animo. Here is a close up of the intricately carve handle.

Do u mind sharing some more pictures from the museum?

D'T
According to J. Fermin, the entire ethnological collection from the show was purchased by the American Museum of Natural History in New York from the US War Department. The AMNH museum opened a permanent full sized hall Philippine section/exhibit and was on display until 1961. And now only a few items are shown in the Asian section and most of the other items are laying in storage. This must be quite a collection. The AMNH musuem had all the items shipped back from St. Louis to New York in 20 railroad cars.

[Lili]

Oh so that collection is in AMNH but in storage. I wonder if those are still there. It would be nice to exhibit those again. When I visited last there, there was one exhibit case for Philippine ethnological items.

[Pinoy_ako]

^
They may have defined ethnological collections differently from how we use them today, or the collection could have been parceled when they reached AMNH, or whether the Smithsonian a part of AMNH. There is a specific item in the Inculcation exhibition at the National Museum which could have been part of the fair, most likely part of the collection that was repatriated a few years back.

[bitoy]

The First Philippine Exposition and What It Accomplished

An epoch in American colonial history was marked by the opening of the first Philippine Exposition, held in its own grounds and buildings on the outskirts of Manila, during the first weeks of the present year. The progress made by the islands under American guidance in all the arts of peace were shown by native processes and products.
The exposition, under the general presidency of the Hon. C. E. Elliott, Secretary of Commerce and Police of the Islands, was the medium through which the four chief Philippine agricultural products, hemp, sugar, cocoanut, and tobacco, were exploited. Under the management and through the hard work of Mr. W. W. Barclay, the Director General, the exposition indicated what the native Filipinos can and will do under American direction, education, and encouragement. Even the buildings were of native material, chiefly sualie and woven bamboo. More than 100,000 pesos' worth of handiwork by the pupils of the public schools, made under the direction of American teachers, and more than 50,000 pesos' worth of goods from the provincial exhibits were sold during exposition week.
products marked the buildings, and their beauty was noted by Western visitors. It would be difficult to describe to those not familiar with the tropical East the color effects produced by the combination of the cream tints of the hemp fiber, the pale green of the sugar cane, the gray of the cocoanut and the dark brown of the tobacco, particularly when used as coverings for the pillars and other structural work of the buildings.

The chief exhibits were from the Pangasinan and Moro provinces. Pangasinan is known as the granary of the Philippines, and its wheat exhibit was remarkable. Among the industries from this province were represented the famous Calasio hat. Moro Province exhibit won many first prizes, chiefly for rubber, hemp, corn and tobacco. This province also sent samples of coffee, pronounced by experts to be equal in flavor to any in the world. Peanuts, tapioca, beans, and barley were shown in brilliant profusion. From a number of separate localities native brasswork was exhibited, and much admired, as was also pottery products from Lanao.
The exposition, which was a surprise even to many of the Manilans themselves, apparently justified itself. It seems probable that the easy success of this exhibition will encourage and stand as a model for the working out of the Filipino native section at the coming Panama-Pacific Exposition at San Francisco, to mark the opening of the canal.

http://www.boondocksnet.com/expos/wf...ppineexpo.html

[Sinjin P.]

Photos and information of convention facilities, such as multipurpose rooms and conference halls, seminar rooms, meeting lounges, etc. Post away.

[SleMarKen]

CICC open house tour
05.08.07

[SleMarKen]

CICC open house tour
05.08.07

[SleMarKen]

CICC open house tour
05.08.07

[FrancisXavier]

another one is on the rise...

CAGAYAN DE ORO INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CENTER