Partly-printed DS as president, signed “Benj. Harrison,” one page, 8 x 10, September 5, 1892. President Harrison directs the Secretary of State to “cause the Seal of the United States to be affixed to my letter inviting Their Majesties the King and Queen Regent of Spain to attend the opening ceremonies of the World’s Columbian Exposition at Chicago, agreeably to the Joint Resolution of Congress approved August 15, 1892.” Signed neatly at the conclusion by Benjamin Harrison. In fine condition. Encapsulated and graded by PSA/DNA as “NM-MT 8.”
The World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in Chicago from May 5 to October 31, 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The celebration of Columbus was an intergovernmental project, coordinated by American special envoy William Eleroy Curtis, Pope Leo XIII, and the Queen Regent of Spain, Maria Christina of Austria, who is mentioned in the offered document. Among the fair’s highlights was a large water pool representing the voyage that Columbus took to the New World, and life-size reproductions of Columbus' three ships—the Nina (real name Santa Clara), the Pinta, and the Santa María—which were constructed in Spain and then sailed to America for the exposition.
