Vintage San Francisco Festival Guidebooks Reveal A City on the Rise | by Jeff Miller

The cover of the guidebook for San Francisco’s Golden Gate International Exposition, held on Treasure Island in 1939, features Pacifica as a goddess-like embodiment of the theme celebrating the World’s Fair and San Francisco as the gateway to the Pacific. Photo by Jeff Miller.

Guidebooks to the 1894, 1915 and 1939 fairs paint a picture of the irrepressible enthusiasm that San Francisco wanted to revive.

Pessimism about San Francisco in 2024 is old, tired news. But there’s another kind of old news about San Francisco that’s worth taking a fresh look at.

Souvenir guides to the Winter International Exposition of 1894, the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915, and the Golden Gate International Exposition of 1939 reveal a city confident about its future and its place on the world stage. Perhaps what these souvenirs represent, minus the cultural triumphalism, can inspire a revival of similar grand civic moments in the 21st century.

In the meantime, here are some images taken from the three guidebooks that show the vibrancy and confidence of the young city.