The 1904 St. Louis World's Fair

On-Line Books


1904 W.F. Society

On-Line Books about the 1904 World's Fair

With the continuous advance of digital technology, thousands of books have been scanned (digitized), and are now available on-line. Several books are about the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. Here’s a page of links to some of these resources:

Google Books

NOTE:  These Google Book links sometimes do NOT bring you to the first page of the book.  I tried to fix that, but couldn't.  You may have to scroll 'up' to get to the beginning of the book.

NEW  The St. Louis Electrical Handbook: Being a Guide for Visitors from Abroad Attending the International Electrical Congress, St. Louis, Mo. September, 1904 is a wonderful guidebook, about St. Louis, the World's Fair, and this major congress (convention) attended by over 2,000 people.  Most meetings were held off the Fairgrounds at the Exposition and Music Hall.  Reprint can be usually be purchased on amazon.com.

Official Guide to the (1904) World’s Fair, (black cover guidebook), by authority of the LPE Company, 198 pages. 
Note:  If this link fails, search GoogleBooks for "1904 St. Louis World's Fair guide book".
  -->  Here's another version of the same book, in a "page turner" version

  • Excellent book about the Fair, with many facts and details about St. Louis, the Fair, the palaces and buildings, the sculpture and artwork, the exhibits and concessions.  Many good pictures.

Excellent!  The Cosmopolitan, September 1904, John Brisbane Walker, editor, ~200 pages. 

  • GREAT vintage descriptions of the Fair, the exhibits, the Pike, etc.  Written in a great, first-person reporter style.  Also contains great advertisements of many of the Fair's exhibitors.

NEW  World's Fair Souvenir of the Engineers' Club of Saint Louis, 1904

  • Published by the Engineers' Club in 1913 with technical information and facts about the Fair.  Reprint can be usually be purchased on amazon.com.

Official Catalogue of Exhibits, Department of Art, Universal Exposition, St. Louis, U.S.A., by F. V. Skiff, 1904, 300 pages. 

  • Lists, by country and category, of the exhibitors in the Department of Art.  Like most Google Books, it can be viewed as plain text to perform 'searches'.

The Saint Louis World's Fair of 1904 - In Commemoration of the Acquisition of the Louisiana Territory, by Charles M. Kurtz, Ph.D., Assistant-Chief, Department of Art, LPE Company, 134+ pages and pictures, 1903. 
Note: If this link fails, search GoogleBooks for "St. Louis 1904 World's Fair Kurtz".

  • Contains much information about the Fair; however, being written/published before the Fair opened, some information is about plans or proposed things for the Fair that never were completed or accomplished.

NEW  Jackson's Official Photographs, 200+ pages and pictures. 
Note: If this link fails, search GoogleBooks for "Jackson's Official Photographs".

  • Contains final pictures of nearly every large and small building at the Fair.  Though the scans are not of very good quality, the captions and text are very readable.

Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission, 1906, Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company.  Transmitted by the Secretary of State to the President and by him transmitted to Congress. Referred to the Committee on Industrial Expositions and ordered to be printed, Feb. 8, 1906.

  • Contains final reports of the LPE Company, states, and foreign countries, financial statements, etc.
  • Also has many pages of sworn statements about the disposition of the assets (for example, the award to the Chicago House Wrecking Company to demolish the Fair); many thought this award to be a private, “insider award” to a company that did not have the highest bid.

Louisiana and the Fair: An exposition of the world..., by James William Buel.

  • NOTE:  This is ONLY volume 6 of a 10 volume set, containing pages 1971-2376, out of 3851 pages in the total 10 volumes.
  • NEW  To see 9 of the 10 volumes, go to the Internet Archive to see Louisiana and the Fair.  (see right column links)

Excellent!  The World’s Work, August 1904, with the World’s Work Advertiser. 

  • Approximately 400 pages of very interesting reading about the Fair mechanical and technical exhibits.
  • Includes about 80 pages of great advertising about manufacturer's exhibits at the Fair.

Out of a Fleur-de-Lis, the History, Romance, and Biography of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition by Claude Hazeltine Wetmore, 1903, 429 pages.

  • Index (with links to pages) is at the end

The Saint Louis World's Fair of 1904, Illustrated Handbook, by Charles M Kurtz, 1903 (pre-Fair), 136 pages.

  • Index (links to pages) and Cover Page are at the end.

Meeting Louis at the Fair: The Projects and Photographs of Louis Clemens Spiering, World's Fair Architect by Carol S. Porter

  • About 115 pages of the book's 150 pages are on-line.

  • Louis Spiering graduated from the famed Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and served as an architect for the 1904 World's Fair.  He also designed the world-class Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis.

The Indian Man: A Biography of James Mooney by L. G. Moses

  • Starting on Page 155, the Indian Man examines the life of James Mooney (1861–1921), one of the most influential anthropology fieldworkers of all time.  His impact on the Indian displays and exhibits at the Fair is described.

 

Missouri Historical Society

The Universal Exposition of 1904 by David R. Francis (president of the LPE Company), two volumes (only volume is currently on-line).  702 and 427 pages, second volume has 155 pictures.  All pages are digitized and available, including a very good word-search capability.

  • EXCELLENT resource.
  • Searchable, and pages separately viewable.

 

NEW -
Internet Archive Books

Here's a page with a ready-to-go search, of a good number of books ready-to-read.  Handbooks and reports from Tennessee, Connecticut, Germany, Japan, and the Philippines are included on this site.  Here's a few other highlights:  

 

Lee Gaskin’s Website AtTheFair

World's Fair Souvenir Cook Book by Mrs. S. T. Rorer, 202 pages.

  • A genuine 1904 souvenir cookbook, from soups and salads, to fish and meat, to cakes and desserts.