Did you notice the Google Doodle for May 1, 2011 celebrating the anniversary of the first World's Fair held in London 160 years ago?
It was charming and reminded me that I have this old postcard from the 1939 New York World's Fair to show you. I think this is a particularly beautiful vintage postcard and so will remind you that you can view it in greater detail by clicking on the image.
The World's Fair that began in 1756 in London has continued through each decade since, with the most recent one, Expo 2010, held in Shanghai, China. For a comprehensive list of all world's fairs, that includes the notable permanent buildings built and more links to additional information than you might care about, click here.
World's Fairs held sweet importance in my mother's family because my grandparents lived in Berkeley and attended the Panama-Pacific International Exposition held in San Francisco in 1915 before she was born, and my mother later attended several world's fairs and loved them. Now I wish I had notes identifying which ones she visited. I think one was the Golden Gate Exposition in 1939. That was a big year for world's fairs in general. According to the list linked above, the New York World's Fair depicted in this old postcard was one of six world's fairs held throughout the world in 1939:
- New York, New York - 1939 New York World's Fair exhibits included The World of Tomorrow Futurama Trylon Perisphere
- San Francisco, California - Golden Gate Exposition (1939) also called the Golden Gate International Exposition
- Wellington, New Zealand - New Zealand Centennial Exhibition
- Dresden, Germany - Deutsche Kolonial Ausstellung (1939)
- Liege, Belgium - Exposition internationale de l'eau (1939)
- Zurich, Switzerland - Schweizerische Landesausstellung (1939)
There is also an excellent tour of the Fair that is not video/not virtual world, but that contains other goodies at the #1) NY World's Fair website. The following info is from the index page (I have kept the link hot so you can jump right to the tour):
- 1939 World's Fair TOUR - Hailed as the greatest World's Fair ever held. Revisit this amazing time in our history though the 1939 World's Fair FREE tour.
- All of the maps on this site have "hot spots" for links to other pages, as well a standard Menu of links on each page. Enjoy your "Step back in time" to look at the "Building of Tomorrow" from the year - 1939.
- [Movie Clip Icon]: When you see the Movie Clip icon, you will be able to view a short movie clip from on the Amateur movies taken at the Fair. These clips require QuickTime movie viewer to be installed on your computer. {The website gives you the link to install the movie viewer.} Editing and adding the movie clips is a time consuming process, I will make every attempt to add one as often as possible. . .
It so happens that April 30 was the 72nd anniversary of the opening of the NY World's Fair, and it kicked off a week-long celebration on ReactionGrid commemorating the opening. It is going on this week! Mr. Van Dort also has a World's Fair Blog where the schedule and updates for the celebration are noted. Unfortunately, the presentation that specifically covered the features on this old postcard was held on the first day, May 1, but you can catch the final presentation (by Mr. Van Dort himself) at 1:00 p.m. at the NYC Auditorium (I assume that is a virtual auditorium and, sorry, I do not know if you need to register for an Opensimulator Avatar -- link in paragraph above video -- in order to attend).
As a wrap-up, I found this background information on World's Fair in general quite interesting:
World's Fair is the generic name for various large expositions held since the mid 19th century. The official sanctioning body is the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE)
Of the BIE approved fairs, there are universal and international or specialized, lasting from 3 to 6 months in duration. In addition, countries can hold their own 'fair', 'exposition', 'exhibition', without BIE endorsement.
Universal expositions
Universal Expositions encompass universal themes that affect the full gamut of human experience, usually at a unique period of time for mankind. Universal expositions are usually held less frequently than specialized or international expositions because they are more expensive. To distinguish them from lesser fairs, they require total design of pavilion buildings from the ground up. As a result, nations compete for the most outstanding or memorable structure - . . .
With the 1980s and 1990s overflowing with expos back to back, some see the BIE's moves to only sanction expos every 5 years, starting with the 21st century, as a means to cut down potential expenditure by participating nations. . .
Whether or not the BIE will be successful in regulating expos to only every 5 years or so, we'll have to wait and see...it may well be that Universal expositions will be restricted to every 5 years or so, with international and specialized expositions in the in-between years for countries wishing to celebrate a special event.
International or Specialized expositions
International expositions are usually united by a common theme - such as 'Leisure in the Age of Technology' (Brisbane Expo '88), and Universal Expositions are meant to be broader still, encompassing universal themes that affect the full gamut of human experience, usually at a unique period of time for mankind.
Specialized expositions have a narrow theme, such as the International Garden Expositions, held in Osaka 1990 and Kunming, China, 1999. Specialized and international expositions are usually smaller in scale and cheaper to run for the host committee and participating nations . . .
After the Fair
With certain exceptions, the majority of the structures are temporary, being dismantled at the end of the expo. Some outstanding exceptions are the remainders from Expo '92 in Seville, Spain where the 'Plaza de España' forms part of a large park and forecourt, and many of the pavilions have become offices for Consulate-Generals. The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago is housed in the last remaining building of the 1893 World Columbian Exposition.
Some expo sites become parks incorporating some of the expo elements (Montreal Expo '67, Brisbane Expo '88, Seville, Spain Expo '92, Taejon, South Korea Expo '93, Lisbon, Portugal Expo '98).
Some pavilions get moved overseas, lock, stock & barrel; Montreal's USSR Pavilion is now in Moscow.
[Source: Fact-Index.com]
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