Related Collections and Media
There are plenty of great resources available to anyone interested in studying or reliving the world’s fairs. This select list includes physical and digital sites designed to point potential researchers to interesting an helpful sources.
Queens Museum of Art:
Any fan of the fairs should visit the Queens Museum of Art, which is located on the site of the fairs in Flushing Meadow Park. They have a wonderful collection of objects housed in visible storage so they are available even when the museum is not showing an exhibit on the Fair. They also exhibit The Panorama of the City of New York, the scale model of the city that Moses commissioned for the 1964 fair.
In addition to physically exhibiting objects, the Queens Museum also offers a digital project called ChronoLeap: The Great World’s Fair Adventure, which uses virtual reality technology to recreate the 1964/65 fair and offers a number of interactive historical games as a part of that project.
While you’re at Flushing Meadows Park, you can see The Unisphere and the remains of the 1964 New York State Pavillion. Unfortunately, the Pavilion has fallen into less than pristine condition, but it still offers a sense of scale. And for movie fans, the New York Pavilion served as a backdrop for Men in Black (1997), The Wiz (1978) and Iron Man 2 (2010), to name just a few films.
The Queens Memory Project:
The Queens Memory Project, a Queens Library supported venture, compiled community photos and audio recordings of people sharing their recollections of the fairs. The collection is available online here:
Queens Memory Project: World’s Fair Memories
Museum of the City of New York:
The Museum of the City of New York also has a large collection of photographs of the 1939 fair. The photos were produced by government photographer Samuel Gottscho and are available online here:
Museum of the City of New York Digital Collections
New York Public Library:
The New York Public Library also holds stellar collections from both the 1939/40 and 1964/65 fairs, both of which are available online. NYPL also produced an exhibit and a series of podcasts exploring the 1939/40 fair.
New York Public Library Digital Collections: 1939/40 New York World’s Fair
New York Public Library Digital Collections: 1964/65 New York World’s Fair