Highlights of the Golden Gate International Exposition Historical Photographs

Browse a selection of Golden Gate International Exposition images

Crowd at the Golden Gate International
Exposition on Treasure Island

The Golden Gate International Exposition (GGIE) on Treasure Island celebrated the completion of the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge. The theme of the fair, “Pageant of the Pacific,” gave a Pacific Rim influence to the art, architecture and landscape design at the fairgrounds while blending in modernism and technological innovations.

Statue 'Pacifica', by sculptor Ralph
Stackpole, with lei on Hawaiian Day

Initially opened from February 18, 1939 to October 29, 1939, the Fair was not a financial success because of the Great Depression and it was re-opened for a second round from May 25 – September 29, 1940.

These digitized images are a small sample of over 2,000 GGIE visual materials -- including photographs, postcards and photo postcards, view books, snapshots and photograph albums -- in the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection. For more information about the GGIE, contact the San Francisco History Center for books, ephemera, business files, brochures, guidebooks, and posters.