Public Displays. The late nineteenth century has been identified as an "age of exhibitions" as European, North American, and various colonial governments sponsored public displays that celebrated imperial power and the march of industry. These events emerged out of older European traditions of the collection and display of curiosities, ethnological artifacts, and technological wonders. Yet, where eighteenth-century collectors were from elite backgrounds and their collections were either private or attached to exclusive institutions, the late nineteenth century witnessed a democratization of display as states invested heavily in the Imperial Exhibitions, Expositions Universelles, and, later, World's Fairs that were aimed at the masses. Although an important French tradition of public exhibitions emerged at the close of the eighteenth century (beginning with the large exhibition organized by the Marquis d'Aveze at the Maison d'Orsay in 1798), the age of exhibitions was truly inaugurated...