ST. LOUIS PUBLIC LIBRARY: PREMIER LIBRARY SOURCES

Resources for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition*

The 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair -- in Special Collections, St. Louis Public Library

*The official heading used in the library catalog for the 1904 World’s Fair is

Louisiana Purchase Exposition (1904 : Saint Louis, Mo.)

Books and periodicals -- 200+ cataloged books and periodicals issued before and at the time of the Fair, catalogs of exhibits, programs, reports on the Fair, guidebooks, later books about the Fair, a small amount of fiction with an LPE setting, and a small number of titles that were part of the Model Library exhibit and later became the opening collection for the library’s Barr branch.

Scrapbooks -- 17 vol. set, with articles from newspapers and periodicals, programs, invitations, tickets, etc. Arranged by country, state, topic, etc. Also available on microfilm.

Pamphlets and ephemera -- 11 document boxes of uncataloged material, chiefly pamphlets, with some clippings, maps, invitations, menus, etc., mostly issued at the time of the Fair; a small amount of more recent material on the Fair, including material on efforts to revive the Fair, on the 2004 developments, locations of LPE buildings, etc. Cataloged in an AskSam file.

Photographs and other graphic materials --

Photographs -- 2 Jessie Tarbox Beals albums, which include photos from the Philippine, Native American and Pygmy exhibits, etc.; 3 albums of Fair photos -- buildings, scenes, people, Olympic Games; 3 boxes of photos, including many showing construction of the Fair, buildings, ceremonies, sculpture, etc.; published photographs of the Official Photographer and from other sources.

Postcards -- 1 box.

Stereograph cards -- 4 boxes; viewers available.

Lantern slides -- 4 boxes.

Glass plate negatives -- Over 1000 glass plates of the Fair; at present these are unprocessed and in storage in the Compton building.

A few examples of maps, posters, sheet music and videos are also in the collection.

Finding aids -- available through SLPL website (www.slpl.lib.mo.us): index to the World’s Fair Bulletin, vol. 1-6 (1899-1905); index to The Greatest of Exhibitions: The 1904 Saint Louis World’s Fair (Riverside Press, 1975; reprint of 1904 edition). -- available in Special Collections: index to the Universal Exposition of 1904, by David R. Francis (St. Louis, 1913, 2 vol.); LPEdoc -- AskSam database with records for LPE pamphlet and ephemera coll.; lists of photographs in Beals and LPE albums and in The Forest City (1904); brief guide to scrapbooks.