Avenue of Flags, Chicago, c. 1933. National Building Museum.
The National Building Museum is currently featuring an exhibition, “Designing Tomorrow: America’s World’s Fairs of the 1930s,” which explores the architecture and design of the six world’s fairs that occurred in America during that decade. The fairs were: A Century of Progress International Exposition (Chicago, 1933–34); California Pacific International Exposition (San Diego, 1935-36); Texas Centennial Exposition (Dallas, 1936); Great Lakes Exposition (Cleveland, 1936-37); Golden Gate International Exposition (San Francisco, 1939-40); and the New York World’s Fair (1939-40).
During the development of the exhibition, the curatorial team discovered many stories that could not all fit within the physical space of the exhibition, and so this blog was created. Here, we will share these stories, along with interviews, resources used for the exhibition, information about world’s fair programs at the Museum, and links to related world’s fair content.
Please leave a comment if you have any questions or suggestions for topics that we could explore in this blog. And come visit the Museum in person! For more information, check out www.nbm.org.
This blog is written by:
Deborah Moore Sorensen
National Building Museum Assistant Curator
Stephanie Hess
National Building Museum Exhibitions Assistant
