A Personal Photo Album of the World's Fair in 1940

n.p.: [Titus Geesey], 1940. Fine. This is a remarkable and unique item - a scrapbook of photos personally taken by Titus C. Geesey in 1940 at the New York World's Fair that took place at Flushing Meadows in Queens, New York in 1939-1940. He mounted his photographs in a large simulated leather scrapbook, with the title "Souvenirs" and his name in gilt on the front cover. Geesey was a renowned collector of American Folk-Art whose collection was left to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This deluxe custom album contains 64 quite exceptional and undoubtedly unique photos of pavilions, sculptures, and more, with special attention shown to the Futuristic dimensions of the Fair. Ten of the 64 photos are delicately hand colored - there is also a black and white copy of each of these hand colored photos. One of the photographs is a self portrait of Geesey that he took at the fair of his reflection in a mirrored wall. There are also eight black and white photographs taken at the famed Cloisters in upper Manhattan. The photos are beautifully shot and their are handwritten descriptions along with the date taken on the back of the gray paper frame. The tipped in photos measure 7.5x 9.25 inches and are on textured gray paper within a thin black outline. The pages are 11.5 x 14.25 inches.

An outstanding photographic record of this consequential world event. With this album Titus Geesey created a remarkable record of one of the most consequential world's fairs perhaps ever held. The 1939-1940 New York World's Fair was particularly noteworthy. The New York World's Fair of 1939 and 1940, was held in Flushing Meadows in the Borough of Queens. The Fair commemorated the 150th anniversary of Washington's presidential inauguration in New York City and took "Building the World of Tomorrow" as its central theme. Participants included close to 60 nations, 33 states and U.S. territories, and over a thousand exhibitors, among them some of the largest corporations in the United States. After enduring 10 harrowing years of the Great Depression, visitors to the 1939–1940 New York World’s Fair found welcome relief in the fair’s optimistic presentation of the “World of Tomorrow.” Pavilions from America’s corporations and dozens of countries were spread across a 1,216-acre site, showcasing the latest industrial marvels and predictions for the future intermingled with cultural displays from around the world. Well known for its theme structures, the Trylon and Perisphere, the fair was an intriguing mixture of technology, science, architecture, showmanship, and politics. Proclaimed by many as the most memorable world’s fair ever held, it predicted wonderful times were ahead for the world even as the clouds of war were gathering. PHOTO/063025. (Inventory #: 38096)