Pan-American Exposition, 1901, Buffalo, N.Y., U.S.A.
- Title:
- Pan-American Exposition, 1901, Buffalo, N.Y., U.S.A.
- Alternate Title:
- Pan-American Exposition
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Beck, Raphael
- Date:
- 1899
- Posted Date:
- 2024-04-25
- ID Number:
- 2432.01
- File Name:
- PJM_2432_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1870 - 1899
- Subject:
- Advertising & Promotion
Pictorial - Measurement:
- 6 (diameter) (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- A promotional paperweight for the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, in 1901. The paperweight features a map of the Western Hemisphere chosen as the logo of the Exposition.
Over 400 entries were submitted in a competition among artists to design the promotional logo, or seal, for the Exposition. The winning design was submitted by Raphael Beck, an artist from Lockport, NY, with a studio in nearby Buffalo. His elegant design featured North and South America in the shape of two women in flowing dresses, locking arms across Central America. The models were selected in a contest by the New York World to find “the most representatively beautiful women in America” from hundreds of entrants. The two winners were Maxine Elliot ("too well known as the most beautiful woman on the stage to need further introduction to the public”) and Maude Coleman Woods ("honored as the leading beauty of Virginia, her native state, by the Daughters of the Confederacy”). Lockport Union-Sun, December 4, 1900, http://panam1901.org/panamlogo.htm, accessed April 21, 2016.
While the Exposition Committee had originally intended to use Beck’s design only for “dignified purposes,” it proved so popular and profitable it was eventually used (sometimes without permission) not only in booklets, folders and circulars, but on 3 x 5 cards in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese, 9-inch hanger cards, paperweights, pins, toothpick holders, decks of cards, clocks, ceramics, pillow covers - “everything that didn’t move and some things that did.” https://www.shorpy.com/node/5487, accessed December 20, 2019. For other examples of the Exposition logo in the collection, Search > “Pan-American”.
Cornell University Library is pleased to present this digital collection of Persuasive Maps, the originals of which have been collected and described by the private collector PJ Mode. The descriptive information in the “Collector’s Notes” has been supplied by Mr. Mode and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cornell University. - Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.