At the world exhibitions of the 1870s Sweden displayed a schoolhouse, with examples of teaching material and student work. How did Sweden ship an entire schoolhouse to these exhibitions? What impact did the schoolhouse have on visitors to the exhibition? The purpose of this article is to shed light on the transnational influences operating between Sweden and other countries at the world fairs of the 1870s, regarding both policy and practice formation. In this paper, we will explore the exhibited school, the Swedish schoolhouse, as a major political and educational intervention in the growing market of educational goods, into the group of advanced industrial nations, and into the space of leading education nations. The schoolhouse was internally focused while at the same time demonstrating advanced education thinking, closely linked to Sweden’s national future as a leading economy. Exhibitions were not just events or spectacles. They had effects.