APPENDIX A. 



REPORT UPON THE EXHIBIT OP THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, INCLUDING THE I . S. 

 NATIONAL MUSEUM, AT THE CENTENNIAL EXPOSITION OP THE OHIO VALLEY AM) CEN- 

 TRAL STATES, HELD AT CINCINNATI, OHIO, IN 1888. 



By R. Edward Earll. 



1. HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT. 



The series of industrial exhibitions which culminated in the recent 

 Centennial Exposition at Cincinnati had their origin in the annual fairs 

 of the Ohio Mechanics' Institute. These fairs, though limited in scope, 

 and depending largely both for their exhibits and patronage on the im- 

 mediate vicinity, were very successful. They were held regularly for 

 about tweuty years prior to the war of the rebellion, but owing to the 

 nearness of the city to hostile territory it became necessary to tempo- 

 rarily abandon them during this period. When revived in 1868 it was 

 decided to greatly enlarge their scope. The Mechanics' Institute invited 

 the co-operation of both the Chamber of Commerce and the Board of 

 Trade, the result being the Cincinnati Anuual Industrial Exposition, 

 with a board of fifteen directors consisting of five representatives from 

 each of the bodies named. The expositions, which from that date were 

 held almost yearly, met with much encouragement, not only from the 

 local population, but from residents of other portions of Ohio and of the 

 adjoining States. This encouragement led to the erection of perma- 

 nent buildings in the center of the city at a cost of more than a million 

 dollars. 



As early as 1883 it was decided that the exposition for the centennial 

 year (1888) should exceed any of those previously held, and that an 

 attempt should be made to show the progress "of art, science, aud in- 

 dustry'' in the States comprising the original Northwest Territory dur- 

 ing the first century of their occupation by civilized man. This was 

 in accord with the action taken at the semicentennial celebration of 

 the settlement of Cincinnati in 1838, when a committee was appointed 

 to see that "the one-hundredth anniversary of the settlement of Cin- 

 cinnati, occurring in 1888, be properly celebrated." An organization 

 was soon perfected and plans developed for holding "the Centennial 

 Exposition of the Ohio Valley and Central States," including" the States 

 of the Northwest Territory and those which border upon the Ohio and 

 even farther to the south." After considerable discussion it was de- 

 cided, in view of the central location of the permanent buildings, that 



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