Free Lecture: Building the Pan-Pacific Expo | Treasure Island

Submitted by the Event Organizer

Treasure Island History Day | Free Lecture Series

“Little Island – Big Ideas” is a free lecture series on the past, present and future of Treasure Island presented by the Treasure Island Museum Association.

The lecture series is presented on Treasure Island, in historic Building One, on select Saturdays at 10:30 am.

Treasure Island is easily accessible by bus or car.  Free parking in front of Building One, the large semicircular building on the right just inside the main gate.

2018 Lecture Series

 

January 27, 2018 – The Heritage and the Vision
Planning the New Treasure Island Museum

For over 40 years, the Treasure Island Museum has surprised and inspired island visitors with remarkable stories of innovation and collective civic achievement. As the island enters its latest transformation into a world model of sustainable living, learn about the vision for the museum’s reinvention and how it will help visitors to appreciate the rich legacy of this island of big ideas. Speaker: Walt Bilofsky, President of the Treasure Island Museum

February 24, 2018  – From the Magic City to the Magic Kingdom
Walt at the GGIE

Walt Disney and Disney Studios are well known for their contributions to the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair. “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln,“ “It’s A Small World,” and other canonical attractions at Disney parks worldwide made their debuts in New York in 1939. But did you know that Walt and the studio’s first contribution to a world’s fair happened right here, on Treasure Island? And when Walt visited the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939, experiences and exhibits affected him profoundly and ultimately influenced the development of Disneyland. Speaker: Anne Schnoebelen, Vice President of the Treasure Island Museum

March 24, 2018 –  12,000 Years of Climate Change
Human Adaptation and the Formation of the Bay

Since 10,000 B.C., climate changes have transformed the Bay Area and Yerba Buena Island, once a mountain within an inland valley. Native peoples responded to the evolution of this landscape through a series of adaptive strategies and technological innovations revealed in archeological excavations on the island and the greater Bay Area. Speaker: Philip Kaijankoski, Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc.

April 21, 2018 –  49 Miles to the Fair
San Francisco’s Storied Scenic Drive Began at the GGIE

The 49 Mile Scenic Drive was born as a promotion to draw Golden Gate International Exposition visitors into the rest of the city. Even President Franklin Roosevelt drove it, back in 1938. Had the island segment not been removed when the fair ended, how many fewer of today’s San Franciscans would say “I’ve never been to Treasure Island”? Learn more about the origins of this famous route, and the quirky histories and mysteries to be discovered along its 49 miles. Speakers: Kristine Poggioli and Carolyn Eidson, authors of Walking San Francisco’s 49 Mile Scenic Drive. Books will be available for signing.

Saturday, April 25, 2015
Treasure Island History Day | Free Lecture Series

Join historian Laura Ackley for the dramatic story of how the gorgeous palaces of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition were designed and constructed in just a few short months between 1912 and 1915. Ackley will also describe how exhibits were selected, how the fair was promoted and the ways in which the outbreak of World War I affected the exposition. Progress photographs of construction will culminate in the grand opening day parade and festivities. The lecture will be illustrated with dramatic and often rare images of the exposition’s creation, including panoramas, souvenirs, lantern slides and postcards. To be held in the Casa de la Vista. 

Laura Ackley holds graduate degrees in architecture from Harvard University and the University of California at Berkeley. Her book, San Francisco’s Jewel City: The Panama Pacific International Exposition of 1915, was published last year. 

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.