Cover of the guidebook to San Francisco’s Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island in 1939 depicts Pacifica, the goddess-like, thematic embodiment of the World’s Fair and its celebration of San Francisco as the gateway to the Pacific. Photo Credit: Jeff Miller

Vintage San Francisco Festival Guidebooks Reveal A City on the Rise

Exposition guidebooks from 1894, 1915, and 1939 capture an unbridled exuberance that San Francisco would do well to revive.

The doom-spinning about 2024 San Francisco is old and tired news. But there’s another kind of old news about San Francisco that merits a fresh look.

Souvenir guides from the city’s Midwinter International Exposition in 1894, the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915, and the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939 reveal a city sure about its future and its place on the world stage. Perhaps what this memorabilia represents— minus the cultural triumphalism — could help trigger a 21st-century revival of similar, grand civic moments?

In the meantime, here are some images culled from the three guidebooks that showcase the young city’s exuberance and self-confidence.

A “remembrance” souvenir of San Francisco’s 1894 Midwinter International Exposition in Golden Gate Park. Photo Credit: Jeff Miller

San Francisco was a city of 300,000 inhabitants in 1894. Note the uninhabited, Outside Lands-status of what would become today’s Richmond and Sunset Districts. Photo Credit: Jeff Miller