SAHARA Highlights: Fairs and Expos

Fairs and Expositions is an important sub-collection theme in SAHARA. These events represent national and local pride, high ideals, and promote innovations in science and industry. They have been an opportunity for visitors to learn about other people and cultures, albeit it in a very idealistic and controlled way. SAH members have attended and recorded recent international fairs, such as Expo 2010 in Shanghai, and digitized their analogue images from the iconic Expo ’67 and New York World’s Fair, as well as local state fairgrounds. Most of the structures from these limited-time events are long-gone, while others were designed to have a post-Fair life, such as the Pacific Science Center and Museu de Art Popular. Thank you to all SAHARA contributors, as always, for enriching the collection with your important documentation.

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Arthur Erickson, the Man in the Community pavilion, Expo ’67, Montreal, Quebec, 1967.  Expo ’67 was a Category One World’s Fair, focused on the theme Man and His World, and was considered the most successful of the 20^th century, with 62 participating nations and single-day attendance records. Photograph by William Kessler, 1967.

Mikhail Posokhin, the U.S.S.R. pavilion, Expo ’67, Montreal, Quebec, 1967. The United States pavilion, Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome, can be seen in the background. The U.S.S.R. pavilion was the most-visited of Expo ’67. Photograph by William Kessler, 1967.

Aerial view of the 1964 New York World’s Fair, Flushing Meadows, NY. The view includes the New Jersey pavilion, the Unisphere, and the United States pavilion. The Fair’s theme was Peace Through Understanding. Photograph by Richard Longstreth, 1964.

The Radio Corporation of American pavilion, 1964 New York World’s Fair, Flushing Meadows, NY, 1964. Photograph by Richard Longstreth, 1964.

George Browne Post, Manufacturing and Liberal Arts Building, World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, Illinois, 1893. Photo from a souvenir album, contributed by Dell Upton.

Vietnam pavilion, Expo 2010, Shanghai, China, 2010. The Shanghai World’s Fair, with the theme Better City – Better Life, set new records for attendance. Photograph by Lisa D. Schrenk, 2010.

Thomas Heatherwick, the United Kingdom pavilion, Expo 2010, Shanghai, China, 2010. Nicknamed “the Dandelion,” the building was constructed with 60,000 translucent and flexible acrylic rods. Photograph by Lisa D. Schrenk, 2010.

Veloso Reis and João Simões, Museu de Arte Popular, Lisboa, Portugal, 1940. Built for the Portuguese World Exhibition (Exposição do Mundo Português) as the Pavilion of Popular Life, 1940. Photograph by Dell Upton, 2018.

Minoru Yamasaki, Pacific Science Center, Seattle, Washington, 1962. Originally built as the United States Science pavilion for the 1962 World’s Fair, it stands on the site now named Seattle Center. Photograph by John Stec, 1979.

William Crawford Smith, the Parthenon, Nashville, Tennessee, 1896; 1925. Built with plaster and wood for the 1897 Tennessee Centenary Exposition, the to-scale building was intended to be temporary but was so popular it was recreated in concrete 1920–31. Photograph by Sun-Young Park.

Matthew Nowicki and William Henley Dietrick, Dorton Arena, North Carolina Fairgrounds, Raleigh, NC, 1950–52. Photograph by Dell Upton, 1986.