"World's Fairs: Visions of Tomorrow" Archival Footage | Wolfsonian–FIU

Описание: World’s fairs are among history’s most documented events, often using the era’s latest technology.

Before the invention of motion pictures, photographs captured every angle of the 1889 Paris Exposition. Later fairs, like Barcelona, fully embraced film; official newsreels showcased construction and grander spectacles, centering attention on fair highlights. By the 1930s, portable cameras entered the market—and with them, an explosion of home movies. The amateur footage often captured side attractions and attendees’ more intimate moments, providing insight into the on-the-ground experience of fairs in Chicago, New York, Brussels, Montréal, and Spokane. This video of historic photographs and film clips presents the many perspectives of fairgoers over a century of international expositions.

wolfsonian.org

Credits
Paris 1889 | "La Tour" (1928) by René Clair; Eiffel Tower construction timelapse photographs by Louis-Émile Durandelle; films of the Eiffel Tower by Thomas Edison (c. 1900); anonymous photographs and map from the fair.
Barcelona 1929 | "Expo 1929" and construction newsreels; nighttime photographs by Gabriel Casas; German Pavilion footage of the building’s 1986 reconstruction.
Chicago 1933–34 | Amateur footage from the Fred Isserman Collection at Chicago Film Archives
New York 1939 | Amateur footage by Philip Medicus and Gustave Martens; amateur and newsreel footage; "The Middleton Family at the New York World’s Fair," official promotional film by Westinghouse.
Brussels 1958 | "Expo 58" color film preserved by the International Institute for the Conservation, Archiving and Distribution of Other People’s Memories.
New York 1964 | "To the Fair!," official promotional film; amateur footage from archive.org
Montréal 1967 | Amateur footage by Peter A. Leavens.
Spokane 1974 | "Man Belongs to the Earth," IMAX film created for the U.S.; "Expo ’74 World’s Fair," official promotional film; "The Spokane River" (1970), a film by Robert L. Pryor; "Fountain Sculpture" (1974), a film by the City of Spokane featuring George Tsutakawa’s fountain for Expo ’74.