The 1904 St. Louis World's Fair
Memorabilia:  Staff

1904 W.F. Society

Pieces of Staff

In particular, the re-landscaping projects uncovered many pieces of soft, lightweight, white 'rocks'. They were easily seen by their bright color, or even found in dumpsters. A simple 'clunk' with another rock leaves a dent and white dust, and confirms the identification of staff, a mixture of plaster and hemp used extensively at the Fair.

These pieces of staff likely came from one of the Fair's Palaces, a statue, or perhaps even Festival Hall. A stick or trowel is all that was needed to unearth the staff, once found and identified. Most pieces are finger sized, though occasionally fist-sized pieces can be found. Most rare is finding a piece with a design on it, from a building exterior or statue.

Several times, I've gone "staff hunting", and eventually found enough staff for my souvenir collection and for 'special projects'. I found it interesting that staff came in different 'varieties', including 'very soft' staff (that broke apart easily), 'dense' (very firm), and some staff was very 'porous', somewhat like lava or pumice rock.

"A Piece of a Palace"

The 2003 attendance gift for the banquet was a true team effort, and certainly unique. Society President Yvonne Suess had previously obtained hundreds of small, plastic bottles ('beer shaped') with corks. The Society's Executive Board brainstormed various gift ideas for 2003, and Pat Villmer suggested putting pieces of staff into the bottles. This idea was adopted, so the next step was to prepare the staff.

To clean off 99+ years of surface dirt, the staff rocks were brushed and rinsed with water. They was then broken into small pieces to fit into the bottles. This was a relatively straightforward task with a hammer and chisel, if a bit time-consuming. Most staff broke apart easily, but there was the occasional mis-identified piece of light-colored limestone, that would not break at all! The pieces of staff were also oven-baked, to remove any excess moisture.

Appropriate bottle labels were designed, printed, and applied, and Mike Truax completed over 100 bottles for the banquet attendees. Several pieces of staff were put into each bottle, and a gift bag was prepared for each banquet table's attendees.

At the close of the banquet, Pat Villmer and Devon Jones orchestrated the 'unwrapping' of this year's unique banquet gift--an authentic "Piece of a Palace". These banquet souvenirs were much appreciated by those fortunate enough to attend. (Note: there are no more 'bottles of staff' available, just in case you are wondering.)