By Frances Bryce, January 28, 2021 — I’ll start with my daughter who was very young when we told her we were going … to the [World’s] Fair, and it was quite different from a state fair, which she had seen before. We told her this was a fair that was called a World’s Fair; countries all over the world would be showing things from their countries. People from those countries would be in abundance, and many she had not seen before except in books and magazines, but not just one or two people who looked different from those she saw in the U.S. — many, many people! [There would be] rides and things we would see.
After many questions, the day finally arrived. We took the train, which was very exciting for her, on a trip out of town. I chose things that I thought would be very interesting to her, and many things in the pavilion displays that would be educational. [At the] Kodak Pavilion rooftop, you could see the view of the fair in all directions. It was probably the gift shops where I bought a Kodak camera that I still own. The gift shop was also where I got most of my photos when I traveled because I could travel from one part of the country to another with a camera and take no pictures and end up buying pictures and postcards of those kinds of stuff.
She got to ride on many things that were of interest to her, and then there was an audio of Abraham Lincoln that was just compelling for her to see. Pictures of future cities and transportation were in abundance. We took the train back late in the evening. She slept most of the way back home. She had a great time telling me how much fun she was having; that made me equally happy. I had to really think about the fair and what I remembered, but I had some help from a friend who reminded me of things that I had moved to the recesses of my mind. The New York fair reminded me of things my brain needed no prompting, such as viewing Michelangelo’s sculpture of the Pieta, (and we were on moving chairs as the Pieta show was showing) and also the King Tut museum was one of the things that I could recall about New York. And then, in London, the royal jewels which were just a wonder to see. The Pieta was Mary cradling her son Jesus. The artistry of it was awe-inspiring, and the King Tut museum was the tomb, most of the thing when he was in reign for a very short length of time. That reminded me more of New York and other places than the World Fair.