Jay T. Last Collection of Fairs and Expositions Prints and Ephemera

The Jay T. Last Collection of Fairs and Expositions Prints and Ephemera contains more than 1,965 printed items that relate to fairs, exhibitions, expositions, and other similar gatherings and events in the United States from 1834 to 1970, with the bulk of material pertaining to the United States Centennial Exhibition held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1876. The collection consists of advertising prints, promotional ephemera, business records, and illustrations produced for specific events, for exhibitors at these events, and for businesses that provided collateral services to event-goers including food, lodging, and transportation.

Materials are arranged in two series: small-size items (11 x 14 inches or less) and large-size items (bigger than 11 x 14 inches). Small-size items are described broadly at the series level; large-size items are fully inventoried, and all printers, artists, and publishers are indexed by name. The collection includes approximately 100 large-size items comprised mainly of lithographic and engraved prints, including advertising and promotional prints, souvenir programs and specialty newspapers, and view prints depicting exhibition buildings. Small-size items number approximately 1,865 and contain a variety of promotional materials including trade cards, calendars, booklets, programs, tickets, leaflets, guides, stationery, and printed billheads and letterheads with manuscript text. Each series is divided into three subseries and sorted by fair or exhibition. General Fairs and Expositions materials form Subseries A and are arranged chronologically, with the United States Centennial Exhibition and World's Columbian Exhibition each contained in their own subseries (Subseries B and C, respectively).

Prints and ephemera pertaining to international, regional, and local fairs and expositions make up the collection. The bulk of the material is related to the United States Centennial Exhibition held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1876, but also prominent are materials related to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition held in Chicago, Illinois, to commemorate the 400th anniversary of explorer Christopher Columbus' arrival in the New World. Other fairs and exhibitions represented in the collection include the Great International Exhibition in London, England, the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, California, the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations in New York City, the World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition in New Orleans, Louisiana, and various local county fairs.

The collection touches on topics of American business development, tourism, industrial advances, agricultural exhibitions, community events and celebrations. The images are primarily promotional in nature and provide information about the history of fairs and expositions in the United States and their roles in both small and large communities, as well as the evolution of advertising strategies in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The collection also reflects America's progression from a rural agricultural society to an urban industrial environment, and the technological innovations that developed during this transformation. As graphic materials, the items offer evidence of printmaking techniques and trends, as well as information about the artists, engravers, lithographers, printers, and publishers involved in the creative process.