The origins of the registry date to 1893, when the Hamidie Society sponsored an exhibit of Arabian horses from what today is Syria at the World Fair in Chicago. This exhibition raised considerable interest in Arabian horses. Records are unclear if 40 or 45 horses were imported for the exposition, but seven died in a fire shortly after arrival. The 28 horses that remained at the end of the exhibition stayed in America and were sold at auction when the Hamidie Society went bankrupt. These horses caught the interest of American breeders, including Peter Bradley of the Hingham Stock Farm, who purchased some Hamidie horses at the auction, and Homer Davenport, another admirer of the Hamidie imports.