World fairs and expositions collection

Collection

Identifier: MSS 0630

Staff Only

Scope and Content Note

This artificial collection comprises a variety of material documenting world fairs and expositions, spanning the dates between 1851 and 1967, with the bulk of the collection dating from the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. Material consists of printed matter and ephemera, including newspapers, programs, invitations, maps, brochures, viewbooks, advertisements, stationery, contracts, bonds, trade cards, and a scrapbook; photographs and prints; and realia souvenirs.

The collection is arranged chronologically by fair, in ten series: I. The Great Exhibition, London; II. Centennial Exposition, Philadelphia; III. World's Cotton Centennial, New Orleans, Louisiana; IV. World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago; V. Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, New York; VI. Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, Missouri; VII. Panama-Pacific Exposition, San Francisco; VIII. 1939 New York World's Fair; IX. 1964 New York World's Fair; and X. 1967 International and Universal Exposition (Expo 67), Montreal.

As the world fairs were venues for commercial enterprise, a variety of advertisement and trade cards are present in the collection, including Pears Soap, a company which made significant use of pictorial advertising in the nineteenth century.

Further materials related to the world fairs and expositions are cataloged with imprints in Special Collections and can be found by searching DELCAT.

Dates

Creation: 1851-1967
Creation: Majority of material found in 1893

Language of Materials

Materials entirely in English.

Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce isrequired from the copyright holder. Please contact Special Collections Department, University of Delaware Library, https://library.udel.edu/static/purl.php?askspec

Historical Note

Beginning with the Great Exhibition of 1851, world fairs have promoted and stimulated industry, progress, commerce, education, and amusement. International in scope, yet an opportunity for national and local pride, each fair attempted to outdo its predecessor in size, grandeur, and novelty. World's Fairs have made lasting contributions to technology and architecture, as well as to the development of a new commodity culture born from the emphasis on industry and progress.

It was at these exhibitions that many advancements in science and technology made their debut, including Alexander Graham Bell's telephone (at the Centennial Exhibition in 1876) and the Ferris wheel (at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.) The impermanent structures that housed the exhibitions and transformed a space into a different world have also made a lasting impact on architecture and urban planning. Buildings and centerpieces in an array of architectural styles, many designed by leading architects of the time, such as Norman Bel Geddes (the Futurama exhibit of the 1939 New York World's Fair), from the traditional to the ultra-modern, embody progress and reflect the theme of peaceful cultural exchange.

Jackson, Anna. Expo: International Expositions, 1851-2010. London: V&A Publishing, 2008.Meyer, Jonathan. Great Exhibitions: London, New York, Paris, Philadelphia, 1851-1900. Woodbridge, Suffolk, England: Antique Collectors Club, 2006.

Extent

0.6 linear foot (2 boxes)

5 oversize box

Additional Description

Abstract

This artificial collection comprises a variety of types of material documenting world fairs and expositions, spanning the dates between 1851 and 1967, with the bulk of the collection dating from the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. Material consists of printed matter and ephemera, including newspapers, programs, invitations, maps, brochures, viewbooks, advertisements, stationery, contracts, bonds, trade cards, and a scrapbook; photographs and prints; and realia souvenirs.