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Governor's Day

Governor's Day, October 27, was an important day to the exposition. It was a celebratory day for the governor and a mural was unveiled to represent the new South. J.H Moser was the artist and named his mural "The New South Welcoming the Nations of the Earth." The painting was highly admired by those who had the chance to see it. The mural was actually never found and no images of the painting were ever recovered but should be acknowledged, since the image summed up the message intended by the exposition. There were many written detailed descriptions of the mural by viewers and newspapers. The image was centered around an attractive brunette girl with the American flag wrapped around her. She is depicted with one hand pointing towards the exhibit, on her right, while having her other hand above a bale of cotton. Above her, Uncle Sam is shown also welcoming the visitors. Columbia is in the background displayed with a smile of approval and Clio is shown with a pen ready to keep record of this special event. The image also included African Americans in a cotton field picking the staples.

The exposition also demonstrated the cotton gins in action and on Governor's day the machines were set up to make two suits. A machine would first pick the cotton straight from Oglethorpe's field in the morning and from there it was taken to a Cromptom loom. In the Cromptom loom it was woven into cloth and taken to the main building, the Wheeler and Wilson exhibit. At the end of the day two professional suits would be created and tailored for the governor to wear in the evening. The whole process was exhibited in the exposition and done in only one day. On Governor's Day the two governors of the North and South wore their freshly made suits to the ball clad. This was seen as a huge milestone for the union of the North and South.