Taking Home a Souvenir

Everyone wanted a souvenir of the 1904 World's Fair.  There were souvenirs of all types and costs. To make it easy to get a souvenir, each palace included space for novelty booths.  Many restaurants and concessions on the Pike advertised souvenirs for sale.

Postcards were among the most popular souvenirs.  Allowing fair-goers to take home pictures of their favorite buildings or attractions.  Beautiful colors and the hold-to-light features of these cards made them inexpensive gifts.  There was even a wooden postcard. 

Tickets, engraved invitations, and menus commemorating special events, often including dates and signatures of fair officials and visiting dignitaries, were prize souvenirs. 

Other souvenirs included Fair guides daily programs,  and souvenir medals minted daily at the U.S. Mint's exhibit.  Novelty items such as a small set of photographs in  a nut-shaped container marketed as 'the World's Fair in a nutshell' were favorites.

Many of these souvenirs today are sought by collectors and have gained in value.