Featured Exhibition: A Trip to the Fair, 1939 - The Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco

Extendend through September 31!

This exhibit marks the 70th anniversary of the Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island and features original souvenirs, art work, photographs and ephemera from the collections of the San Francisco History Center. The exhibition will be on display through August 23 on the 6th Floor of the SFPL Main Library, just outside the San Francisco History Center.

The Golden Gate International Exposition (GGIE) on Treasure Island celebrated the completion of the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge. The theme of the fair, “Pageant of the Pacific,” gave a Pacific Rim influence to the art, architecture and landscape design at the fairgrounds while blending in modernism and technological innovations.

Initially opened from February 18, 1939 to October 29, 1939, the Fair was not a financial success because of the Great Depression and it was re-opened for a second round from May 25 – September 29, 1940.

[View of the Court of the Moon with the Tower of the Sun in the background, Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island]. Courtesy of the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection, San Francisco Public Library.

You can also "tour" the Fair from your own home by viewing the San Francisco Historical Photographs related collection of selected photographs from the Golden Gate International Exposition of 1939.

These digitized images are a small sample of over 2,000 GGIE visual materials -- including photographs, postcards and photo postcards, view books, snapshots and photograph albums -- in the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection. For more information about the GGIE, contact the San Francisco History Center for books, ephemera, business files, brochures, guidebooks, and posters.
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