1939-1940 New York World's Fair Souvenir Button, "I Have Seen the Future"
date: label: Date made
content: 1939
label: Associated Date
content: 1940
label: Associated Date
content: 1939
notes: label: Description
content: Visitors to General Motors' "Highways and Horizons" Pavilion at the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair were given these pins reading "I Have Seen the Future" after riding the exhibit's "Futurama" attraction.
label: Description
content: A precursor to the modern theme park dark ride, "Futurama" was the Fair's most popular exhibit. Seated in moving chairs attached to a conveyor belt, Fairgoers were carried over a 35,000 square foot diorama representing America as it might look thirty years into the future.
label: Description
content: The experience was envisioned by designer Norman Bel Geddes, who predicted an extensive streamlined highway system connecting the nation, expanding suburban populations, and the use of technologies to improve societal systems. The future imagined by Geddes was so compelling, that President Franklin Roosevelt asked him to consult on America's transportation issues, influencing the passage of 1944's Federal-Aid Highway Act.
label: Description
content: The ideas of the "Futurama" coincided with the overall ambitions of the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair, whose theme was "The World of Tomorrow." Held in Flushing Meadows, the Fair attracted almost 45 million people, who were introduced to advancements in such technologies as television, color photography, synthetic materials and robotics.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, Queens
label: Associated Place
content: United States: New York, New York City
label: Associated Place
content: United States: New York, Queens
topic: label: Subject
content: Expositions and Fairs
label: related event
content: New York World's Fair (1939)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: The Larry Zim World's Fair Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1989.0438.1470A
label: catalog number
content: 1989.0438.1470A
label: accession number
content: 1989.0438
label: catalog number
content: NY1939B14A
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Button (Pinback)
label: Object Name
content: button
label: Object Name
content: pin
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic, celluloid (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 in; x 2.54 cm