CHICAGO, SEPTEMBER 1893

An Actual Scene at One of the Sessions of the Parliament
This photograph was taken on the morning of September 21, 1893-the eleventh day of the parliament. It was published in 1893 as the frontispiece of John Henry Barrows’, The World’s Parliament of Religions, Volume 1.In New Discoveries we find this reference:
In passing it should be noted that in Barrows’ history there are three published photographs of the "historic group on the platform." These were taken on the morning of September 14, the morning of September 21, and the evening of September 27. In the second of these, [photo 18] which has been reproduced in the second edition of the Life, Swamiji has been tentatively identified in the front row of the delegates; I am sorry to say that a comparison with an enlarged and annotated copy of the same picture shows that this is not Swamiji but that "loafer" Narasimhacharya.

Swami Vivekananda and Narasimhacharya

This unposed snapshot is one of the first pictures of Swamiji in America. "Perhaps it is not so clear as one would like his pictures to be, but it nonetheless belongs to his history." It can be reasonably assumed that it was taken in the room marked "No. 1-keep out."

The following appeared in the Boston Evening Transcript on September 30, 1893:

There is a room at the left of the entrance to the Art Palace marked "No. 1-keep out." To this the speakers at the Congress of Religions all repair sooner or later, either to talk with one another or with President Bonney, whose private office is in one corner of the apartment. . . . The most striking figure one meets in this anteroom is Swami Vivekananda, the Brahmin monk. He is a large, well-built man, with the superb carriage of the Hindustanis, his face clean shaven, squarely molded regular features, white teeth, and with well-chiseled lips that are usually parted in a benevolent smile while he is conversing. His finely poised head is crowned with either a lemon colored or a red turban, and his cassock (not the technical name for this garment), belted in at the waist and falling below the knees, alternates in a bright orange and rich crimson. He speaks excellent English and replied readily to any questions asked in sincerity.