Before the PPIE (Part 6 of 6)
Channel: Mechanics' Institute
Date: 01/10/2015

Before the PPIE – The Mechanics’ Institute and the Development of San Francisco’s “Fair Culture” (1857–1909) with Mechanics' Institute librarian Taryn Edwards.

Presented on April 16, 2015 at the Mechanics' Institute, San Francisco.

Between the years of 1857 and 1899 the Mechanics' Institute hosted thirty one Industrial Expositions that displayed and promoted the products of local entrepreneurs and inventors. These Expositions bolstered California's infant economy, encouraged the demand for local goods, and whetted the public's appetite for elaborate, multi-attraction fairs. Given the Mechanics' Institute's vast experience with putting on such spectacles they were involved as consultants on larger state-wide fairs including the California Midwinter Fair of 1894, the Golden Jubilee Mining Fair of 1898, the Portola Exposition of 1909, and the Panama Pacific Exposition in 1915.