1876 Japanese Allure By Diane DeBlois The year is 1876; the
place, Philadelphia. The great Centennial exposition (formally,
the International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures, and products
of the Soil and Mine) had been open since May 10, but it was now
June and the city was suffering in a heat wave. On the
promenades of the fair, and in the buildings, ladies were
cooling themselves by fluttering large paper folding fans. The
fans were available, inexpensively, at newsstands and city
shops, and were given away as souvenirs at exhibits throughout
Fairmont Park. Most of the fans were printed with some image of
the fair -- fine chromolithographs, crude woodcuts, or
appliques. The folding fan had originated in Japan in the first
century BCE, and had become popular amongst fashionable
Europeans in the 17th century. In America, such fans were an
'upscale' accessory -- made of silk, lace, or feathers attached
to ivory or tortoiseshell sticks. With Japanese imports flooding
the 1876 fair, a sandalwood and paper fan w