Jeremy Norman Collection of Images - Creative Commons
Trade card advertising Hub Gore shoes featuring their 10 foot tall Edison automaton at the Columbian Exposition.
At the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, held in Chicago to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World, the Hub Gore Shoe Co. used a 10 foot tall automaton dressed as "Uncle Sam" to tou their latest products. Using an Edison phonograph concealed within its costume, the automaton delivered 40,000 speeches during the Exposition.
Jeremy Norman’s
Jeremy Norman Collection of Images - Creative Commons