Pan-American Exposition Photograph Collection
Special Collections Department
Robert E. Kennedy Library
1 Grand Avenue
California Polytechnic State University
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Phone: (805) 756-2305
Fax: (805) 756-5770
Email: archives@calpoly.edu
URL: http://www.lib.calpoly.edu/specialcollections/
© 2008
Trustees of the California State University. All rights reserved.
Pan-American Exposition Photograph Collection, 1901
Special Collections Department
Robert E. Kennedy Library
1 Grand Avenue
California Polytechnic State University
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Contact Information
- Special Collections Department
- Robert E. Kennedy Library
- 1 Grand Avenue
- California Polytechnic State University
- San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
- Phone: 805/756—2305
- Fax: 805/756—5770
- Email: archives@calpoly.edu
- URL: http://www.lib.calpoly.edu/specialcollections/
- Processed by:
- Nancy E. Loe and Laura Sorvetti
- Date Completed:
- 2008
- Encoded by:
- Byte Managers and Marisa L. Ramirez, 2008, 2009
© 2008 Trustees of the California State University. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Pan-American Exposition Photograph Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1901
Collection number: MS0159
Creator:
Unknown
Extent:
1 box (.5 LF) and 2 books
Language:
English
Repository:
Special Collections, Robert E. Kennedy Library
California Polytechnic State University
San Luis Obispo, California 93407
Abstract: Contains 36 photographs of the Pan-American Exposition, including candid snapshots of the Midway and various concessionaires,
street views of the Exposition, and prominent buildings, including the Electric Tower. The photographer is unknown. Also included
are two souvenir books:
One Hundred Views of the Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo and Niagara Falls: An Up-to-Date Souvenir Booklet for the Visitor,
the Resident and for Universal Transmission to Show Something of the Great Exposition and of the Queen City of the Lakes;
With a Brief Descriptive Guide to these Great Attractions; with Suggestions for Pleasure Trip by Lake and Land
and
Pan-American and Niagara Falls Views, both published in 1901.
Provenance
Purchased.
Restrictions on Access
Collection is open to researchers by appointment only. For more information on visiting, access policies, and reproduction
requests, please visit our
Reference Services page .
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Digital Copies are provided to researchers for the purpose of study, research, and personal use only, unless otherwise specified
in writing. Materials that are the property of Cal Poly Special Collections and Archives require written permission priorto
publication. No complete collection may be reproduced.
For print and online publication, please visit our
Reproduction Services page . Special Collections and Archives reserves the right to review all reproduction requests and to withhold permission if scanning
would endanger the material, would violate copyright law, or would violate institutional restrictions.
Preferred Citation
Pan-American Exposition Photograph Collection, Special Collections, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.
Biography
The Pan-American Exposition was held in Buffalo, New York, from May 1 through November 2, 1901. Informally known as the Buffalo
World's Fair, the Exposition's purpose was to create a place where the Americas could exhibit and share their cultures. Exhibition
participation was limited to countries in the Western Hemisphere.
Manhattan architect John Merven Carrère (1858—1911) chaired the Board of Architects charged with creating the Exposition's
master plan. Born in Rio de Janeiro and trained at the École de Beaux-Arts in Paris, Carrère was an influential Beaux-Arts
practitioner at his New York firm, Carrère & Hastings. For the Exposition, the favored style was Spanish Renaissance, the
traditional architecture of the former Spanish colonies in the Americas. The Pan-American Exposition site covered 350 acres.
Carrère hired a "director of color," Charles Turner, to oversee multiple hues for the buildings, in contrast to the "White
City" of the 1893 Columbian Exposition. Marketing for the Exposition stressed the "Rainbow City," which was transformed each
evening into the "City of Lights," a breathtaking display of incandescent light reinforcing the fact that Buffalo, with its
plentiful hydroelectric power, was the most extensively lighted city of its time.
A contemporary review of the Exposition noted: "Upon entering the Exposition's Esplanade, visitors are surrounded by buildings
dealing with arts and politics, such as the U.S. Government building, the Ethnology Building, the Temple of Music, and the
Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building. Further along the major axis are buildings with a more contemporary and scientific
theme, like the Machinery and Transportation Building, the Electricity Building, the Electric Tower, and the Railroad Exhibit
at the top."
Today the Buffalo World's Fair is largely remembered as the setting for the assassination of President William McKinley. On
the second day of his visit, McKinley was at the Temple of Music greeting the public, when anarchist Leon Frank Czolgosz fired
twice at the president. McKinley died of gangrene eight days later in Buffalo.
Sources
Brush, Edward Hale. "The Artistic Side of the Pan-American Exposition."
Architectural Review v. 9, 1901: 99-107.
Linkswiler, Matt. "Buffalo 1901: Pan-American Exposition Bird's Eye View of Grounds and Map of Exposition."
http://hdl.handle.net/
"Visual Culture at the Pan-American Exposition: Architecture and the Pan-American Exposition,"
http://library.buffalo.edu/libraries/exhibits/panam/art/architecture.html
Scope and Content Note
The Pan-American Exposition Photograph Collection contains 36 photographs of the 1901 Buffalo World's Fair, including candid
snapshots of the Midway and various concessionaires, street views of the Exposition, and prominent buildings, including the
Electric Tower. The photographer is unknown.
The photographs have been removed from the original photo album and rehoused, preserving the original organization and order
of the collection; additionally, each photo has a sequential number on the back reflecting the original order of two images
per album page. The collection is housed in one box and has one series and one subseries:
Also included are two monographs" "One Hundred Views of the Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo and Niagara Falls: An Up-to-Date
Souvenir Booklet for the Visitor, the resident and for Universal Transmission to Show Something of the Great Exposition and
of the Queen City of the Lakes; with a Brief Descriptive Guide to these Great Attractions; with Suggestions for Please Trip
by Lake and Land", and "Pan-American and Niagara Falls Views", both published in 1901.
Series 1. Photographs.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Subjects
Pan-American Exposition (1901 : Buffalo, N.Y.) -- Pictorial works
Pan-American Exposition (1901 : Buffalo, N.Y.) -- Archives
Fairs -- New York (State) -- Buffalo
Genre and Forms of Materials
Photographs
Related Material
Materials Cataloged Separately:
One Hundred Views of the Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo and Niagara Falls: An Up-to-Date Souvenir Booklet for the Visitor,
the Resident and for Universal Transmission to Show Something of the Great Exposition and of the Queen City of the Lakes;
With a Brief Descriptive Guide to these Great Attractions; with Suggestions for Pleasure Trip by Lake and Land
. Buffalo, N.Y.: Robert Allan Reid Publisher, 1901.
Pan-American and Niagara Falls Views, 1901. [Buffalo, N.Y.?]: Niagara Envelope Manufactory, 1901.
Related Collections:
California Fairs Collection, 1856-1997 (MS 009)
1. Photographs,
1901
Scope and Content Note
Contains one subseries: A. Photographs of the Pan-American Exposition.
A. Photographs of the Pan-American Exposition
Scope and Content Note
Contains 36 candid black-and-white snapshots in folders with headers based on landmark buildings at the fair, arranged in
original order, 1901. 1 box.
Box 1, Folder 1
12-inch rifle, Ordnance Exhibit, in front of Government Building
Box 1, Folder 2
Cannons, War Department Exhibit, in front of Government Building
Box 1, Folder 3
Native American man, Electricity Building
Box 1, Folder 4
Woman with umbrella, Court of Lilies pond, Machinery and Transportation Building
Box 1, Folder 5
Electric Tower, front view from Esplanade
Box 1, Folder 6
Triumphal Bridge, side view
Box 1, Folder 7
Esplanade, view of Electric Tower
Box 1, Folder 8
Fountain of Abundance in front of Ethnology Building
Box 1, Folder 9
Canal, Venice in America exhibit
Box 1, Folder 10
Jinrickshaws, Fair Japan exhibit (Japanese Village), close view
Box 1, Folder 11
The Feature of the Midway: Akoun's Beautiful Orient, front view
Box 1, Folder 12
Darkest Africa exhibit (African Village) on the Midway, side view
Box 1, Folder 13
Entrance to Trip to the Moon ride
Box 1, Folder 14
Entrance to Midway attraction (Esau?)
Box 1, Folder 15
On the Midway, Bostock's Trained Wild Animals in distance
Box 1, Folder 16
Old Nuremberg/Alt Nurnberg, on the Midway
Box 1, Folder 17
Lions at Bostock's Trained Wild Animals
Box 1, Folder 18
Entrance to Bostock's Trained Wild Animals
Box 1, Folder 19
Man with banjo, Midway exhibit
Box 1, Folder 20
Press Headquarters, on the Midway
Box 1, Folder 21
Midway attractions: Lubin's Cineograph, Buffalo Café, Streets of Cairo
Box 1, Folder 22
Dreamland attraction, on the Midway
Box 1, Folder 23
Philippine Village, on the Midway
Box 1, Folder 24
Darkest Africa exhibit (African Village) on the Midway, front view
Box 1, Folder 25
Streets of Cairo exhibit, on the Midway
Box 1, Folder 26
Esquimaux Village, on the Midway
Box 1, Folder 27
Esquimaux Village, on the Midway
Box 1, Folder 28
Souvenir sculptures (Tower of Pisa and others)
Box 1, Folder 29
Drill of U.S. Life Saving Crew, lakeside (1 of 2)
Box 1, Folder 30
Drill of U.S. Life Saving Crew, lakeside (2 of 2)
Box 1, Folder 31
Six Native American men on horseback
Box 1, Folder 32
The Great Northwestern R.R.; on verso: "Mrs. Bliss wasn't sure this was in Fair—Engine is to [sic] early"
Box 1, Folder 33
The Feature of the Midway: Akoun's Beautiful Orient, side view
Box 1, Folder 34
Jinrickshaws, Fair Japan exhibit (Japanese Village), side view
Box 1, Folder 35
Gondola on canal by Manufacturer's and Liberal Arts Building
Box 1, Folder 36
Alice Espiridiona (also known as Alice Zenda and Chiquita the Doll Lady); signed: "Mite" fully yours, Chiquita
