New York World Fair 1940, 1940

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Summary

Title:

New York World Fair 1940 album

Dates:

1940

Abstract:

Album of hand-colored photographs by an unidentified amateur photographer documenting a stay in New York City in 1940.

Extent:

1 album(s) (23 photographic prints)

Language:

Collection material is in English.

Preferred citation:

New York World Fair 1940 album, 1940, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 2006.R.6

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2006r6

Background

Scope and content:

The album of hand-colored gelatin silver snapshots taken by an unidentified photographer documents a stay in New York City in 1940. The majority of the photographs document buildings and installations at the New York World's Fair, while the remaining photographs include various sites in Manhattan.

The 19 images of the New York World's Fair, which ran for two summers, from 30 April 1939 to 31 October 1939 and from 11 May 1940 to 27 October 1940, presumably document the fair as it existed in 1940. Included are the Ford Building, General Motors Building, General Electric Building, Sheffield Building, and the Firestone Building. Other installations and exhibits featured are the Perisphere, Constitutional Mall, Billy Rose's Aquacade, and various statues on the midways.

The album concludes with views of Grant's tomb, Riverside Church, and the Brooklyn Bridge, together with a snapshot of three women standing on the deck of a ship.

The album is string bound with textured black paperboard covers with the word "Photographs" gilt-stamped on the front cover. The title of the album is taken from the handwritten caption on the first page of the album. The photographs are mounted with photo corners, two snapshots to a page, excepting the first page which bears a single snapshot. Each photograph is identified by a handwritten caption in white ink, three of which include the date 1940.

Biographical / historical:

The photographs in this album were taken, hand-colored, and compiled taken by an unknown visitor to the 1940 New York World's Fair.

Acquisition information:

Received in 2006 as a gift of Mr. Mrs. Stuart Denenberg.

Processing information:

Processed and cataloged by Amy Sloper and Beth Ann Guynn; finding aid encoded by Holly Larson with grant funding from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR).

Arrangement:

Arranged in a single series: Series I. New York World Fair 1940 album, 1940.

Physical location:

Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the catalog record for this collection. Click here for the access policy.

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:: Brooklyn Bridge (New York, N.Y.)
Exhibitions -- New York (State) -- New York
General Grant National Memorial (New York, N.Y.)
Riverside Church (New York, N.Y.)
General Motors Corporation
Exhibition buildings -- New York (State) -- New York
New York World's Fair (1939-1940)
Ford Motor Company
Hand coloring
Snapshots -- United States -- 20th century
Gelatin silver prints -- New York (State) -- 20th century
Photograph albums -- United States -- 20th century
Places:: New York (N.Y.) -- Description and travel

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:: Beth Ann Guynn and Amy Sloper
Date Encoded:: This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-07-20 08:55:37 -0700 .

Access and use

Restrictions:: Open for use by qualified researchers.
Terms of access:: Contact Library Reproductions and Permissions.