As evidenced by the various posts I’ve made on the subject, I’m quite fond of all things surrounding the World’s Fair Expositions. So when I found this gem on Ian Henry Smith’s Blog, Smallcano, I was pretty blown away. For someone who has fetishized all manner of official documentation since childhood, seeing an artifact that somehow combines the ideas of a passport and a 60’s-era World’s Fair Expo was pretty much the holy grail. The stamps send this thing over the top; it really doesn’t get any better. And check out the Habitat 67 stamp on the last image! I swear I’m going to get a tattoo of one of these.
According to Ian from Smallcano, he found this thing while “rooting around in [his] parents’ basement”. For me, this is basically the equivalent of those old stories about digging up a cigar box with a Honus Wagner in it. My only gripe is that the images are scans and not photos; scans don’t do objects like this justice. So Ian, if you’re reading this (I found the link through a comment he left here), thanks so much for posting these, but please shoot the passport on a nice wood table or something, a’la Insect54. That is, if you have the time, we’ll all thank you!
Via Smallcano
You can’t beat retro memorabilia from the 1950-80’s. My local junk yard shop in South London had some fantastic examples of European Trade Fair Posters which sadly I didn’t get at the time.
On a similar theme some old posters were uncovered when Notting Tube Underground Station was being refurbished with some quality designs circa 1950’s. Link is as follows: http://www.flickr.com/photos/36844288@N00/4669837584/in/set-72157624079183751/
I’m like a kid in a candy store when it comes to documented and recorded events from various time periods.
i love the way design consumes your mind scott…..
Definitely will photo a better version soon! Sorry about the scans, I have few resources being a college student, but I guess that’s no excuse.
Thanks for the advice/link love!
I suggest making a trip to Montreal to see this stuff in the flesh. Lots of it still exists and turns up on Craigslist (montreal) regularly.
Scott, have you heard of this guy that does 3D projection events here in NY? He’s got a big collection of World’s Fair stereo slides. It looks like he hasn’t done a show in a while, but I went to one in 2009 and it was weird/fun.
http://www.depthography.com/projection.html
I can’t agree more. I actually used images from an Expo 67 passport in the background of my header image on my site. It should stay the theme when I do the full design, as well.
Ian, if you have time you should definitely take some photos of this!
Increasingly, we see images of Expo 67 on the internet and it’s a good thing for our children who do not know much about this period of our history.
Dan