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Guide to the Golden Gate International Exposition Records, 1936-1939
MS 1876
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Title: Golden Gate International Exposition Records,
Date (inclusive): 1936-1939
Collection number: MS 1876
Creator:
Golden Gate International Exposition (1939-1940 : San Francisco.
Calif.)
Extent: 1/2 linear feet
Repository:
California Historical Society, North Baker Library
San Francisco, California 94105-4014
National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC) Identification Number:
NUCMC 82-382
Language:
English.
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Copyright has not been assigned to The North Baker Research Library. All requests for
permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the
Library Director. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The North Baker
Research Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or
imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
[Identification of item], Golden Gate International Exposition Records. MS 1876,
California Historical Society, North Baker Research Library.
It has been said that with two great bridges in the course of construction, there began in
San Francisco, in about 1933, a substantial feeling that a celebration or exposition should
be held to commemorate their completion. As the plans for an exposition developed, it seemed
fitting that its theme should be man's progress in communication, transportation, trade and
industry, since these were the fields symbolized by the bridges. The San Francisco business
community promoted a celebration because it would probably stimulate business activity as
the expositions in San Francisco in 1915, Chicago in 1933 and San Diego in 1935-1936 had
done.
Architects W. P. Day and George W. Kelham considered various sites for the exhibition. In
1934, Kelham strongly recommended a watery area adjacent to Yerba Buena Island known as the
Yerba Buena Shoals. The Shoals offered unusual and visible setting, favorable climatic
conditions and accessibility by car, bus, train, ferry and eventually, air. The plan was
that, following the exposition, the new island would become the much needed San Francisco
Bay airport.
The San Francisco Bay Exposition commenced as a corporation on 24 July 1934. A Board of
Directors, composed primarily of business and professional community members, was created
with Leland Cutler as president and Atholl McBean as Chairman of the Board. In 1935 and
1936, grants were made by the WPA in order to help finance the exposition. The sponsoring
agency was then responsible for raising matching funds. The San Francisco Bay Exposition
board raised additional funds by the sale of exhibit space, concession contracts, advance
ticket sales, public subscription and etc.
Construction of the sea wall and the 400 acre island was begun in 1936. The theme of the
Exposition was to be A Pageant of the Pacific. By 1937, a large ground crew began the
landscaping of the island with plants indigenous to the Pacific Basin. Architects who had
worked on the Panama Pacific International Exposition and the Chicago Exposition were asked
to serve on the Architectural Commission. Under the leadership of the San Francisco
architect George W. Kelham, the commission, in keeping with this theme, chose to combine
modern asthetics with a blend of Mayan, Incan, Malayan and Cambodian architecture.
A crowd of 128,697 attended the Exposition on opening day 18 February 1939. They viewed
such splendors as the Tower of the Sun, Court of Pacifica, Court of the Moon and the
Treasure Garden. Other buildings included the California Building, the Court of Nations, the
Federal Building and the Hall of National Defense.
Initially, the Exposition was planned for one year. However, before it closed on 29 October
1939, plans to reopen the fair for a second year were already in the works. In September of
1939, the president of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce Marshall Dill announced the
creation of The 1940 Exposition, Inc. Although financial difficulties nearly put an end to
the 1940 fair, fortunately additional funding pledges were slowly collected through
contributions, city funds, the California Toll Bridge Authority, the Bank of America and
other various sources. Billy Rose, the New York impressario, offered to contribute two
million dollars contingent upon being given control of the fair. The commission rejected his
offer.
The commission was able to garner the financial assistance to extend the fair through 1940.
In January of 1940, Marshall Dill succeeded Leland Cutler as president of the 1940 Golden
Gate International Exposition. Major changes were required in order to assure the fair's
success. Emphasis was placed on Latin America since many European and Pacific Ocean nations
could not participate due to stepped up war efforts. Enough of the 1939 exhibitors
eventually pulled out so that there was actually no direct line of continuity between the
two fairs. The 1940 fair was virtually a new venture in the old buildings on the old site. A
new plan of operations had to be greeted, new attractions had to be secured, old structures
had to be given new beauty and color.
The new streamlined fair opened with great ceremony on 25 May 1940. The theme of the fair
was Fun in Forty. Among the features of the fair were the `Special Days,' times put aside to
honor various nations, trades, states, corporations etc. On 24 August, the California
Building burned out but luckily the debris was cleared in time for Marshall Dill to meet
Elsie the Cow as scheduled.
In September, a grand radio show tracing the history of the Exposition from the beginning
to the last broadcast, 29 September, marked the end of the 1940 Exposition. Closing day
attendance set the fair's record at 211, 020. The grand total attendance for the two year
period was 17 million.
Used by the U. S. military during the war, Treasure Island by the late 1940's was too small
for use as a major airport. The Navy traded the Island for government property in San Mateo.
This resulted in both the current location of the San Francisco International Airport and
the Treasure Island Naval Station.
This collection consists of 2 folders and three volumes documenting the history and
financial aspects of the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition. Folder 1 contains
undated building and cost estimates, recommendations for estimates and drawings detailing
cross sections of the sea wall.
Folder 2 contains an unpublished manuscript titled:
Business
Aspects of the Preparation for the Golden Gate International
Exposition. Written
by Robert B. Hoover and dated June of 1939, the manuscript is a vivid and well written
account of the events leading up to opening day. Partially based on interviews with leading
individuals involved in building the exposition, the information is important, detailed and
well documented. Subjects covered in the 125 pages based on the chapter headings include:
the History of the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges; Choosing the Site at Treasure Island;
Federal Financing; General Subscriptions; The Forecast of Income from Admissions;
Concessions and the Rental of Exhibit Space; the Participation of the State of California;
The United States Government--An Exhibitor; the Publicity and Promotional Program; and,
Labor Relations in the Preparation and Operation of the Exposition.
The remaining three volumes are original and unique copies of the departmental records of
the Division of Estimates. The only copy of these records were bound and issued in 1936 and
1938 to W. P. Day, Vice-President and Director of Works of the GGIE.
- Day, W. P.
- Hoover, Robert B.
- Kelham, George W., 1871-1936
- Treasure Island, San Francisco Bay