Karen Howell
Then and Now: Visualizing the World of Tomorrow
Then and Now: Visualizing the World of Tomorrow
February 28, 2018 - March 1, 2018
When: 1:00pm - 4:00pm
Location: Leavey Library
Spring 2018 Mid-Semester Study Break from the USC Libraries
FREE refreshments, 1000-piece custom puzzle of World’s Fair images, stereoscopic photo experience, and DIY World’s Fair magnets
Wednesday and Thursday
February 28 and March 1, 2018
from 1-4 p.m.
Leavey Library Reflection Pool
The World’s Fairs are places where innovations and inventions are introduced to millions of visitors from around the world. These include the Eiffel Tower, the Seattle Space Needle, the world’s first Ferris Wheel, and models for autonomous cars, electromechanical robots, and virtual reality.
Explore images of the World of Tomorrow as seen through past World’s Fairs, and learn about how the Libraries can help you visualize and create the future.
Images are from the database World’s Fairs: A Global History of Expositions, available to all members of the USC community at: bit.ly/worldsfairs. For more information, access the USC Libraries research guide at libguides.usc.edu/worldsfairs.
clockwise from upper right:
COCA-COLA PAVILION - 1964/65 New York World’s Fair ©Hagley Museum and Library
THE SPACE NEEDLE - 1962 Century 21 Exposition, Seattle ©Hagley Museum and Library
BRIDGE OF TOMORROW - 1939 New York World’s Fair, ©Univ. of Illinois at Chicago Library, Special Collections
GENERAL MOTORS BUILDING - 1933 Century of Progress International Exposition, Chicago, ©Univ. of Illinois at Chicago Library, Special Collections
GUSTAVE EIFFEL AND THE EIFFEL TOWER - 1889 Exposition Universelle, Paris, ©Special Collections Research Center, Henry Madden Library, CSU Fresno
BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION BUILDINGS - 1876 Centennial International Exhibition, Philadelphia, ©Historical Society of Philadelphia
center photo:
THE UNISPHERE - 1964/65 New York World’s Fair, ©Special Collections Research Center, Henry Madden Library, CSU Fresno
Documentary by USC faculty member Mina Chow
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Film Screening & Conversation: Face of a Nation - at USC on February 28 and April 12, 2018Film Screening & Conversation: Face of a Nation, February 28, 2018, 6:00pm, Gin D. Wong, FAIA Conference Center, Harris Hall 101, USC. A Q&A with panelists will follow the screening.
Documentary by Mina Chow, interdisciplinary faculty, a licensed architect and filmmaker who teaches 1st year building science studio and professional practice at USC. -
Face of a Nation - What Happened to the World's Fair?A feature documentary about the erosion of America's international image in the loss of the World's Fair dream.
Daughter of immigrants, an idealistic architect struggles to keep her dream alive as she journeys to discover why America abandoned World's Fairs. -
Film Review of Face of a Nation, Feb. 21, 2018, Architectural Record“Architecture reflects who we are,” Mina Chow says in her new documentary, Face of a Nation, which premiers at Washington D.C.’s inaugural Architecture & Design Film Festival this week. The film, which makes connections between world fair architecture and national identity, examines the implications of the United States’ waning role in international expositions.
Databases -- Primary Materials
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World’s Fairs: A Global History of ExpositionsIncludes a diverse range of primary source material that documents the planning of fairs, the experience of visiting them and the physical, cultural and political legacies they leave behind. The resource is provided by Adam Matthew.
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Smithsonian Collections OnlineA result of Gale's partnership with the Smithsonian Institution to create searchable archives of the Smithsonian's vast collections, this resource combines rare nineteenth and twentieth century archival materials on such topics as World's Fairs and trade literature and is paired with modern Smithsonian Magazine and Air & Space Magazine backfiles to present unique and comprehensive insight into history, science, nature, the arts, innovation, technology, and world culture.
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ProQuest Historical Newspapers and MagazinesThis database provides access to 45 major national and international newspapers (1812-2012) including 9 African American Newspapers and 4 Jewish American newspapers. ProQuest's American Periodicals database is also included, providing access to 1,800+ popular magazines published between 1740-1940.
Images
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ARTstorNonprofit digital library of more than one million images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and social sciences with a suite of software tools to view, present, and manage images for research and pedagogical purposes.
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Credo ReferenceSearch for images in the Bridgeman Images: DeAgostini Library, e.g.
"paris world's fair" - https://search-credoreference-com.libproxy2.usc.edu/search/all?include=paris%20world%20fair&books[]=bridgemandeag
Streaming Media
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Eiffel Tower [1889 Paris Exposition Universelle]produced by Bruce Nash, 1947-, in Modern Marvels, Season 1, Episode 19 (New York, NY: A&E Television Networks, 1994), 45 mins
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The Middleton Family at the New York World's Fair [of 1939]Produced by Westinghouse. About 31:37 in, there is a short bit about the modern kitchen with an electric dishwasher. About 34:00 in, there is a short sequence demonstrating Elektro, the first electro-magnetic robot.
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World's Fair Report with Lowell Thomas [1964 New York World's Fair]in Prelinger Collection, of United States. Library of Congress. Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Collection; directed by Jack Tobin; produced by John Campbell Films, Inc. (New York, NY: New York World's Fair 1964 -1965 Corporation, 1963, originally published 1963), 13 mins
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1964 World's FairRelive the dazzle, wonder and fun of The 1964 World's Fair, an extraordinary documentary narrated by Judd Hirsch that takes a fresh look at the sights and sounds of this once-in-a-lifetime event. 53 mins. 1996. Janson Media. Filmmaker: Rich Hanley.
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After The Fair The Legacy of the 1964 World's FairA look at the legacy of the 1964-65 New York World's Fair and how it still influences us today. 103 mins. 2014. R Cubed Networks. Filmmaker: Ryan Ritchey
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Where's the Fair - What Happened to the World's Fair?The simple question, 'What happened to the World's Fair?' launches a journey that uncovers the sorted past, present, and future of the United State's role in the largest global event in human history. 82 mins. 82 mins. R Squared Films. Filmmaker: Jeffery Ford.
In Movies and Music
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Meet me in St. Louis [1904 St. Louis World's Fair] by Call Number: Leavey Library CIRDSK-DVD LVYDVD 3730ISBN: 0883929221776Publication Date: 2004Stars Judy Garland. Sally Benson's short stories about the turn-of-the-century Smith family of St. Louis were tackled by a battalion of MGM screenwriters, who hoped to find a throughline to connect the anecdotal tales. Meet Me in St. Louis is lensed in rich Technicolor, shown to best advantage in the climactic scenes at the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904.
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New York World's Fair - 1940/The Blue Room, Hotel Lincoln 1941
Produced by Alastair Robertson, fl. 2006; performed by Harry James, 1916-1983 and Dick Haymes, 1918-1980 (Hep Jazz, 2009), 1 hour 15 mins, 26 page(s)
First 13 tracks played at the World's Fair in July and August 1940. Remainder of tracks broadcast from The Blue Room at Hotel Lincoln in May and June 1941.
Liner notes at http://https://cdn.alexanderstreet.com/dorp/liner/0/e9a9/7bb3/1005392365-liner.pdf
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The album collection by Call Number: Music Library CD-AUDIO 27301mus v. 18ISBN: 0888751145627Publication Date: New York, N.Y. : RCA/Legacy 2016It happened at the world's fair -- disc 18
Soundtrack to the 1963 movie "It Happened at the World's Fair" starring Elvis Presley and filmed at the 1962 World's Fair in Seattle. -
Walt Disney and the 1964 World's Fair by Call Number: Music Library CD-AUDIO XX(5054756.1)ISBN: 0050087128906Publication Date: 03/24/2009Walt Disney and the 1964 World’s Fair is a rare behind-the-scenes look at Walt Disney’s contribution to the 1964 World’s Fair. It was here where Walt unveiled several unique attractions and exhibits that would forever change not only Disneyland but greatly influence the future of Disney theme parks yet to be imagined. This 5-CD Set includes a 24-page full color booklet and more than three hours of recordings from the classic attractions and exhibits Walt Disney and his team of artists created for the 1964 New York World’s Fair.
-- From the Label
Books
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Musical Encounters at the 1889 Paris World's Fair by Call Number: Music Library BOOKSTACKS ML270.4 .F38 2005ISBN: 1580461859Publication Date: 2005-10-15The 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris has become famous as a turning point in the history of French music, and modern music generally. For the first time, Debussy and his fellow composers could be inspired by Javanese gamelan music, while the Russian concerts conducted by Rimsky-Korsakov brought recent music by the Mighty Five to Parisian ears. But the 1889 World's Fair had much wider musical and cultural ramifications; one contemporary described it as a "gigantic encyclopedia, in which nothing was forgotten." Music was so pervasive at the 1889 Exposition Universelle that newspaper journalists compared the sonic side of the affair to a "musical orgy." Musical encounters at the fair ranged from bandstand marches to folk and non-Western ensembles to symphonic and operatic premieres by Massenet to the mass-marketed Edison phonograph. A rich and vivid literature (from newspaper columns to memoirs that are plumbed here for the first time) comments about this sonic landscape, reflecting the reactions and responses of composers (Saint-Sa#65533;ns), writers (Judith Gautier), and journalists (Gaston Calmette). Musical Encounters at the 1889 Paris World's Fair explores the ways in which music was used, appropriated, exhibited, listened to, and written about during the six months of the Exposition Universelle. It thereby also reveals the role and the sociopolitical uses of music in France and, more generally, Europe during the late nineteenth century. Annegret Fauser is Associate Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her many publications include books on French Wagnerism, Massenet's opera Esclarmonde, and French orchestral songs from Berlioz to Ravel. -
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America [1893 Columbian Exposition, Chicago] by Call Number: Doheny Memorial Library BOOKSTACKS HV6248.M8 L37 2003ISBN: 0609608444Publication Date: 2003-02-11In The Devil in the White City, the smoke, romance, and mystery of the Gilded Age come alive as never before. Two men, each handsome and unusually adept at his chosen work, embodied an element of the great dynamic that characterized America's rush toward the twentieth century. The architect was Daniel Hudson Burnham, the fair's brilliant director of works and the builder of many of the country's most important structures, including the Flatiron Building in New York and Union Station in Washington, D.C. The murderer was Henry H. Holmes, a young doctor who, in a malign parody of the White City, built his "World's Fair Hotel" just west of the fairgrounds--a torture palace complete with dissection table, gas chamber, and 3,000-degree crematorium. Burnham overcame tremendous obstacles and tragedies as he organized the talents of Frederick Law Olmsted, Charles McKim, Louis Sullivan, and others to transform swampy Jackson Park into the White City, while Holmes used the attraction of the great fair and his own satanic charms to lure scores of young women to their deaths. What makes the story all the more chilling is that Holmes really lived, walking the grounds of that dream city by the lake. The Devil in the White City draws the reader into a time of magic and majesty, made all the more appealing by a supporting cast of real-life characters, including Buffalo Bill, Theodore Dreiser, Susan B. Anthony, Thomas Edison, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, and others. Erik Larson's gifts as a storyteller are magnificently displayed in this rich narrative of the master builder, the killer, and the great fair that obsessed them both. To find out more about this book, go to http://www.DevilInTheWhiteCity.com. -
Sesqui!: greed, graft, and the forgotten world's fair of 1926 [Philadelphia] by Call Number: Doheny Memorial Library BOOKSTACKS T826.3.B1 K44 2017ISBN: 9781439903292Publication Date: 2017-03-20In 1916, Philadelphia department-store magnate John Wanamaker launched plans for a Sesqui-Centennial International Exposition in 1926. It would be a magnificent world's fair to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The "Sesqui" would also transform sooty, industrial Philadelphia into a beautiful Beaux Arts city.However, when the Sesqui opened on May 31, 1926, in the remote, muddy swamps of South Philadelphia, the fair was unfinished, with a few shabbily built and mostly empty structures. Crowds stayed away in droves: fewer than five million paying customers attended, costing the city millions of dollars. Philadelphia became a national scandal--a city so corrupt that one political boss could kidnap an entire world's fair. In his fascinating history Sesqui!, noted historian Thomas Keels situates this ill-fated celebration--a personal boondoggle by the all-powerful Congressman William S. Vare--against the transformations taking place in America during the 1920s. Keels provides a comprehensive account of the Sesqui as a meeting ground for cultural changes sweeping the country: women's and African-American rights, anti-Semitism, eugenics, Prohibition, and technological advances. -
The City [1939 New York World's Fair] by Call Number: Leavey Library CIRDSK-DVD LVYDVD 3355 and Architecture and Fine Arts Library CIRC-DESK AFADVD 771ISBN: 0747313523153Publication Date: Canada : Naxos 2009Made for the 1939 New York World's Fair ("The World of Tomorrow"), The City is a seminal documentary film distinguished for the organic integration of narration (scripted by city planner Lewis Mumford), cinematography (Ralph Steiner and Willard Van Dyke), and music (Aaron Copland). The score, arguably Copland's highest achievement in film, was also his ticket to Hollywood; it has been called "an astonishing missing link not only in the genesis of Copland's Americana style but in American music and cinema." (Mark Swed, The Los Angeles Times). As the film contains no dialogue, it is possible to create a fresh soundtrack and discover musical riches inaudible on the original monaural recording. As Copland created no suite from The City, the present DVD at the same time marks the world premiere recording of this music in its entirety. -
See the New York World's Fair in pictures. byCall Number: Architecture and Fine Arts Library CAGE T785.C1 A3 1939Publication Date: New York : Rogers-Kellogg-Stillson 1939Officially licensed NYWF © 1939 Rogers-Kellog-Stillson, Inc., New York. Message from the New York World's Fair President, color front and back cover, black and white photos, descriptions of the World's Fair.
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Dawn of a New Day: the New York World's Fair, 1939/40 by Call Number: Doheny Memorial Library BOOKSTACKS T785.B2 D38 1980ISBN: 0960451404Publication Date: 1980-01-01Extensive look at the World's Fair of 1939/40 with essays and many b&w photos along with some color photos. -
1939: music & the world's fair by Call Number: Music Library BOOKSTACKS ML3477.8.N48 N56 1998xISBN: 0964808323Publication Date: 1998-05-01Published by Art Data, United Kingdom (1998)
Originally published by Eos Music Inc (December 30, 1899)
Small book on the music and the arts that were seen & heard at the great fair of 1939. Published in conjunction with a concert that was held at Lincoln Center in 1998. Includes articles on the World's Fair Puppet Theater, Aaron Copland at the fair, Architectural modernisms, art at the fair, and popular songs heard at the fair. Illustrated with photos. -
World's Fair [1939 New York World's Fair] by Call Number: Grand Depository BOOKSTACKS PS3554.O3 W6 1992ISBN: 067973628XPublication Date: 1992-06-30Something close to magic. The Los Angeles Times The astonishing novel of a young boy's life in the New York City of the 1930s, a stunning recreation of the sights, sounds, aromas and emotions of a time when the streets were safe, families stuck together through thick and thin, and all the promises of a generation culminate in a single great World's Fair . . . From the Paperback edition. -
Tomorrow-Land: the 1964-65 World's Fair and the transformation of America by Call Number: Doheny Memorial Library BOOKSTACKS T786 1964.B1 T57 2014ISBN: 9780762780358Publication Date: 2014-01-07Though considered a financial failure, the 1964-65 World' s Fair was a Sixties flashpoint in areas from politics to pop culture, technology to urban planning, and civil rights to violent crime.In an epic narrative, the New York Times bestseller Tomorrow-Land shows the astonishing pivots taken by New York City, America, and the world during the Fair. World's Fairs have always been collisions of eras, cultures, nations, technologies, ideas, and art. But the trippy, turbulent, Technicolor, Disney, corporate, and often misguided 1964-65 Fair was truly exceptional.
View World's Fair artifacts in Special Collections and USC Digital Library
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The world's fair : being a pictorial history of the Columbian Exposition ; containing a complete history of the world-renowned exposition at Chicago ; captivating descriptions of the magnificent buildings and marvelous exhibits, such as works of art, textSpecial Collections RARE-BOOKS DML LVL 7 T500.C1 C2 1893
William E Cameron (William Evelyn), 1842-1927 Thomas W Palmer (Thomas Witherell), 1830-1913; Frances Elizabeth Willard 1839-1898.; World's Columbian Exposition (1893 : Chicago, Ill.) Dayton, OH : R.H. McDowell c1893 -
Samantha at the World's FairSpecial Collections RARE-BOOKS DML LVL 8 810 H738 TSAM
Grand Depository BOOKSTACKS 810.H738 TSAM
Marietta Holley 1836-1926
New York : Funk & Wagnalls Co. 1893
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Meet me in St. Louis byCall Number: Special Collections RARE-BOOKS DML LVL 8 810 B474 TMPublication Date: New York : Random House c1942Story of four sisters living in St. Louis at the time of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair in 1904.
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1789-1939, the world of tomorrow : New York world's fairSpecial Collections VAULT T785.L1 H37 1939
Elizabeth Sage Hare Warren Chappell 1904-1991.; New York World's Fair (1939-1940); Railroads on parade (1939-1940 : New York, N.Y.)
New York? : s.n. 1939? -
Los Angeles World's Fair scrapbook, 1943.Special Collections OFFSITE Collection 5283
Scrapbook containing photographic reproductions of clippings about the proposed Los Angeles World's Fair. The clippings came from many different local newspapers.
Creation Date: 1943
List of World Fairs and International Expositions
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World Expositions TimelineThe Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) is the intergovernmental organisation in charge of overseeing and regulating World Expos, since 1931.
“World Expos” include all International Registered Exhibitions (2010-present), World Exhibitions (1992-2000), and General Exhibitions of the 1st and 2nd category (1935-1970) organised under the auspices of the BIE, as well as World Expos dating from before the creation of the BIE that are considered of historical importance.