SCHS: 1939 NY World's Fair Commemorative Stamps: 'NY -- The State That Has Everything'

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FROM THE SCHS LIBRARY & ARCHIVE

“How shall we know it is us without our past?”
– John Steinbeck

New York World’s Fair Commemorative Stamps. (From the Collection of the Suffolk County Historical Society’s Library & Archive.)

About the 1939-40 World’s Fair

“New York: The State That Has Everything!” the official guide proclaims. The 1,216 acres of exhibition grounds were occupied by pavilions, exhibits, and open-air amusement centers.The New York State Exhibits featured 12 regions. Long Island, Region 1, included exhibits from Kings, Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk Counties:

Do you wonder now that Long Island is really a remarkable island? Kings and Queens packed with people and houses, filled with the noises of a metropolitan area; Nassau and Suffolk, six times as large as Kings and Queens, and supporting only a ninth of their population, and for the most part peaceful and countrified. Hundreds of thousands of men and women who work in Manhattan have built themselves little homes in Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk…. – 1939 Official Guide

The New York State Exhibits were conceived for the purpose of acquainting World’s Fair visitors with the development and resources of the Empire State. New York’s role in American history from the earliest days of the country was told in murals, documents, and other varied exhibits. General fair admission was 75 cents for adults and 25 cents for children.

INFO. SOURCES: “History of an Idea and a Fair,” New York Herald Tribune, World’s Fair Sec. XI, April 30, 1939; Pictorial Souvenir: New York State Exhibits: Official Guide, 1939.

by Wendy Polhemus-Annibell, Head Librarian

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