Trays and plates were common and popular souvenirs of the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. These could be displayed on a bric-a-brac shelf, used for mints or candies, or placed on a dressing table, where the owner would be reminded of the enjoyable time they had at the Fair.

(Again, I apologize for the quality of the pictures.)

Yes, this is really called ‘Goofus Glass.” Here is the reverse, so you can see the painting:

Many of the metal trays were finished to look like copper, which was very popular during the Arts & Crafts/Craftsman movement prevalent  during the early 1900s.

I hope that you have enjoyed this series that looks back to the souvenirs that our ancestors might have purchased during their trip to the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. They would have enjoyed the memories of their time at the Fair for many years, reinforced by these objects that would have a place of honor in their home. Our ancestors were probably in awe of all the wonderful things they saw at the Fair that looked forward to the technology of the future- they would be amazed at how much farther our world has progressed, far beyond imagination!

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1) Goofus glass: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goofus_glass

2) Purchased artifacts, not our family heirlooms, in author’s collection.

 

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Commemorating the Louisiana Purchase Centennial was the theme for many World’s Fair souvenirs. This letter opener has an image of the Cascade Gardens, but also a beautiful eagle, symbol of America. Native Americans are depicted on front and back, and a globe joins the handle and blade, reminding us that the Lewis & Clark Expedition traversed the huge expanse of the lands of the Louisiana Purchase.

[Again, I apologize for the quality of the images. These items are hard to photograph, especially at night.]

Souvenirs might have sentimental meaning in later years, an opportunity to recall pleasant times with family and friends (or perhaps, with NO family or friends around). Many souvenirs held a special place in the home, whether one kept them for oneself or gave them as a gift to the neighbor who fed the dog while one was off traveling, or to a family member who had to stay home. Anna May Beerbower Helbling was one of the latter. May collected silver spoons, and many people brought them to her from many places, since she could not travel in her later years. She had leg ulcers and was often bedridden- the family thinks she probably had diabetes, in the days before insulin. She may have benefitted from the introduction of insulin in 1921 when she was 40 years old, as family remembers her beloved husband G. W. Helbling giving her injections, but the damage of diabetes may have already been done. The lack of good antibiotics at the time also likely compromised her health.

Often silver plate so they were more affordable to the middle class, collectible spoons were common souvenirs around the country, and at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair as well. The spoons in these images were purchased, not a legacy of May Beerbower Helbling. Her collection as I know it did not include a World’s Fair spoon, though she did collect before that date so maybe that spoon ended up with another family member. (It seems strange for her to not have one, but she was a newlywed that year and money may have been very tight.)

Some World’s Fair spoons were a finer quality, and sterling silver, such as this one produced by Mermod-Jaccard, a fine jeweler in St. Louis.

Hatpins were another useful souvenir of the fair. Both hair and hats were very big at that time, and the hatpin would hold the hat on through fairly big winds, since it went through the hat, the big hair, then the hat again (sometimes). Having a souvenir hatpin showed folks back home that you were a well-travelled lady.

These hatpins are enameled, and some of the enamel has come off of the fleur-de-lis hatpin, a symbol of the French settlement of St. Louis and surrounding areas. The red, white, and blue of the pennant reflect the French flag that flew over St. Louis for so many years; the fleur-de-lis sported those colors originally too.

Hatpins became a favorite collectible of mine because of a story told about Anna May Beerbower, discussed above. May was born in 1881, and was probably in her later teens before she started dating. May had gone on a date to a movie, possibly circa 1897-1903, which would have been a silent movie with an organist providing appropriate music for the action. The lights went down and the couple settled in to enjoy the movie. May felt a hand wander to her knee, which was covered by her long dress of the time. She moved the hand gently, since she was a gentle woman who could never even kill a bug. The hand, as male hands are wont to do, returned soon after to her innocent knee. May calmly took the hatpin out of her hat and stabbed the errant hand with it. The movie was finished in silence by the two of them, with hands in their appropriate places. She did not go out with him again.

May and G.W. married in 1904, so I like to think of the two sweethearts strolling through the fair. Maybe G.W. bought her a hatpin such as one of these. They also took friends to the Fair, and there is, somewhere in my treasure chest (but not in my digital images), a letter from their friends, thanking them for the enjoyable visit and tour of the World’s Fair.

Watch fobs would have been very useful souvenirs, too, that also showed one’s sophistication in travel and looking forward to the future, as was the Fair’s theme.

The French fleur-de-lis is seen in the top panel, the Palace of Machinery is next, with the impressive Cascade Gardens below. A U.S. shield with 1904 to denote year of the Fair, and the round medal at the bottom promoted the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase. “1803” is on the left, “1903” on the right. Uncle Sam is on the left with the US Capitol in the background, and France on the right with her Eiffel Tower in the background, handing over the signed Louisiana Purchase documents. (The Fair was planned for 1903 originally, but they waited until 1904 so that more states and foreign nations could participate.) Napoleon, who ruled France at the time of the Purchase, is depicted on the left side of the medal, and President Thomas Jefferson on the right. The words, “Historic Souvenir” make the medal a bit less imposing, I think, but at least no one could try to sell it as an original.

The reverse of the fob begins at the top with the fleur-de-lis, and then showcases St. Louis’ Union Station, which many of the Fair tourists would have passed through as most travelled by train. Union Station had opened in 1894, the largest passenger station in the country. It became the busiest as well, and those of us of a certain age will remember standing at the edge of the many tracks inside, with the acrid smell of the new diesel train engines and the loud hiss of the older but more beautiful steam engines. The station has now become a multi-use hotel-retail-restaurant-convention center, and is a great destination in St. Louis to visit today.

The next panel showcases the 1874 engineering marvel that connects St. Louis to Illinois, the Eads Bridge. It was the longest arched bridge of the time, and made wide use of the new material called steel for its arched trusses, which were considered daring and unproven to handle the weight necessary for such a bridge. The construction of the bridge was novel in that it was the first use of cantilevered support exclusively, and its very deep pneumatic caissons were some of the few used at that time in bridge construction. St. Louisans were very proud of their bridge, and featuring it on this watch fob was one way to tell the world that while St. Louis might be an older city, it was looking forward to the future with advanced engineering and city planning.

The bottom section states, “Louisiana Purchase Exposition St. Louis 1904.”

The metal piece to the upper right above may also have been used as a watch fob, or attached to a bar-pin and worn as a medal. (There may have been a top portion that is missing.)

Many of the US states had a pavilion, and small buttons such as the above  would have been procured there. I don’t know if these would have been given out or purchased- more research needed. The pin on the bottom right has some water damage. These pins are likely celluloid on metal backings.

A last few of my 1904 souvenirs will be featured in an upcoming post.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1) Items in the collection of the author, but sadly, they are not OUR family heirlooms, but were those of someone whose descendants did not appreciate heirlooms.

2) St. Louis Union Station- http://www.stlouisunionstation.com/about/

3) Eads Bridge: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eads_Bridge

 

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We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.

 

Original content copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.

 

Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.

 

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The word “souvenir” comes from the French for a memory or remembrance, and the promoters of the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair produced a lot of trinkets to keep the memories alive for many years. Unfortunately I do not know of any of these souvenirs that have come down in our family; those in this post are from my own collection. I do know the Helbling family attended the fair with friends, as did the Greens, and probably any of our families that lived in St. Louis during that exciting time strolled the avenues and marveled at the exhibits. I sometimes like to imagine that one of these objects may have belonged to them and found its way back to family.

[I apologize for the poor photography. Many of these items are really hard to photograph without a lot of light-rigging, camera fussing, etc.]

The fair sold many useful items that could be displayed as well:

Items promoted each of the major buildings at the fair, such as the glasses above and below.

Below is one of my favorite items- a collapsible cup.

I remember having little plastic collapsible cups bought at souvenir stands while on vacation, and it seems I had a Girl Scout one as well. It was therefore fun to find this one from a much earlier time. I always loved these cups because you could carry them in a pocket until needed. OK, they did often leak, though this one from 1904 made from metal still holds water pretty well.

Appropriately, the image on the top was of the Palace of Mines and Metallurgy.

 

More 1904 World’s Fair memorabilia to come.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1) Items from the author’s collection.

2) The Missouri History Museum (mohistroy.org) is located in Forest Park on the site of the 1904 World’s Fair in the old Jefferson Memorial building, and has expanded to house a wide range of exhibits. (Their Lewis and Clark exhibit was outstanding.) The museum has an excellent continuing exhibit about the 1904 Fair. If you can’t get to St. Louis to see it, they have developed a wonderful interactive website with photos, maps, etc.: The 1904 World’s Fair: Looking Back at Looking Forward.

 

Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images. Click to enlarge images.

We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.

 

Original content copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.

 

Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.

 

Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright of our blog material.