Category Archives: World and State Fairs and Expositions

Treasure Island, California, 1939 or 1940

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Vintage photo from film reel. Circa 1939 – 1940

Price:  $10.00          Size:  About 2 and 1/2 x 2 and 3/8″

See the next post for a possible related photo.

Treasure Island, San Francisco, California:  Three very smartly-dressed gentlemen, of Asian descent, pose next to a sign which points the way to the Parisian theater extravaganza, Folies Bergère, which was held at the California Auditorium. In the background is the California Building on the left and the San Francisco Building on the right. (The tips of the “pillars” for lack of a better word, that we’re looking at there, between the two buildings, are cut off in the photo.) And that is what was called the Lake of the Nations, or Pool of Nations, directly behind the flower bed.

Treasure Island is a man made island that was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to host the Golden Gate International Exposition (GGIE), a world’s fair, that helped to celebrate the openings of the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge. The island had originally been scheduled to become an airport, after the fair was over but was instead turned over to the U.S. Navy, who used it for training grounds and education for a number of years. And, it’s very faint, but you can see one of the bridges in the background.

Check eBay for images of Folies program ephemera. For more on the history of Treasure Island and the GGIE, including videos, see the Treasure Island Museum.

Sources: Treasure Island, San Francisco. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_Island,_San_Francisco (accessed January 23, 2022).

Folies Bergère. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folies_Berg%C3%A8re (accessed February 14, 2022).

Golden Gate International Exposition. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Gate_International_Exposition (accessed February 14, 2022).

Treasure Island Museum. https://www.treasureislandmuseum.org/media (accessed February 14, 2022).

Colorado State Fair Postcard Ad, 1908

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Undivided back, used postcard. Postmarked September[?] 1908 from Pueblo, Colorado. Publisher:  Clark Eng. Co., Pueblo. [?]

Availability Status:  SOLD

This is the only one of its kind found online, at the time of this posting. Great graphics on this postcard ad showing a goat pushing a blindfolded guy off of a high board into a big wooden tub of water. And at the top right, an enticing bag of money with coins all around. It reads as:

“Don’t fail to visit the big Colorado State Fair at Pueblo, Colorado on Fraternal Day. Sep. 14 to 19 1908. William will be there. $3,000.00 to be given as prizes to drill teams and attendance.”

Who was William?

Stamped at the bottom of the card is  “W. R. McFarren, clerk.”  The 1908 Pueblo city directory shows Wm. R. McFarren, clerk, Woodmen of the World (Camp No. 2) Office 218 W. 4th, residence 1420 E. 9th. Ahhh, makes sense, a clerk for a fraternal organization for Fraternal Day. Per the 1920 Federal Census for Pueblo, William Rush McFarren was born in New York, about 1849, married to Annette, born Missouri, about 1846. And the 1920 shows he’s still working for this organization.

This card is another in the Alice Ellison Collection, a large group of  postcards that we’re still scanning and adding. It’s addressed to:   “J. M. Ellison, 26th and Cheyenne, City.”

Last but not least, our best guess on the publisher is Clark Eng. Co. of Pueblo, appearing in very small print on the front of the postcard.

Sources:  R. L. Polk & Co.’s Pueblo City Directory, 1909. p. 305. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.

WoodmenLife. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WoodmenLife. (accessed October 23, 2016).

Year: 1920; Census Place: Denver, Denver, Colorado; Roll: T625_158; Page: 3B; Enumeration District: 11; Image: 170. (Ancestry.com)

Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition

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“Hello Bill! Meet Me on the Pay Streak at the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition. June 1st – Oct 16th. Seattle USA. 1909.”

Here’s a beauty in fairly good condition. Love all those colors and the jam-packed visual info:  The oval inserts tell us to come by ship or train to celebrate the Yukon and the Pacific Northwest. There’s a depiction of an Alaskan totem pole, musher and his sled dog team, a north woodsman felling trees, and a broad-range expo scene with the sun setting behind Mount Ranier.

The sender dated the card and it was postmarked the same day, July 10, 1909. If you look closely the signature appears to be “Paul.”  The card was addressed to:   “Mr. Joseph Norsen, Wheaton, Minn.”

Joseph Norsen would have been about thirteen years old when this card was sent to him. He appears with his family on the 1910 Federal Census for Lake Valley, Traverse County, Minnesota, which is about four miles northeast of Wheaton. The record shows:  Head of household John A. Norsen, age 53; his wife Johanna, age 55, both born in Sweden, emigration year about 1882; and eight of their ten children, Ruth, age 27; Hanna, age 26, Jemimah, age 23; Ester, age 22; Philip, age 18; Marie, age 16; Joseph, age 14; and Martha, age 12. John Norsen is employed as a farmer, and all eight children on this census were born in Minnesota.

Divided back, used postcard. Postmarked July 10, 1909 from Seattle, Washington. Publisher:  Edward H. Mitchell, San Francisco. Made in America. Number or series 1853.

Price:  $12.00

Source:  Year: 1910; Census Place: Lake Valley, Traverse, Minnesota; Roll: T624_715; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 0175; FHL microfilm: 1374728. (Ancestry.com)