Who Were They?

Well, sometimes the prompt for Sepia Saturday sends me in different directions than the actual subject matter of the prompt. Such is the case this week, when the prompt shows a baby elephant and some children. However, this got me thinking circus, carnival, zoo, etc. When I came across this feature from Life Magazine on the 1939 World’s Fair in New York, I stopped searching. This marks my first magazine article for Sepia Saturday, although I’m not saying it’s my last.

Click on any thumbnail to bring up a gallery of images. The copy of Life that I have is actually printed crooked and no matter how I tried I could not get these images exactly straight. I find the photo of the USSR building and the DuPont building particularly interesting. The USSR one simply because it is a celebration of communism in America right before World War II, and the DuPont building because my grandfather was working for DuPont at that time. I do wonder if he took a tour through the exhibit.

Many of these displays featured what at the time was cutting edge tech, but today seems so “quaint.” A display of searchlights, colored lights shining on water, ho hum you may think, but at the time, this was probably amazing! This link will take you to a wiki on the fair with lots more information than the article could have provided.

Take a moment and click over to Sepia Saturday to find out where others have followed the trail of peanuts left by our pachyderm prompt. You’ll be glad you did!