Hoey And The World’s Fair

Above are two buttons that represented North Carolina at the 1939 World’s Fair held in New York. These buttons come from the Lew Powell Memorabilia Collection, and according to Mr. Powell, Gov. Clyde Hoey dedicated the state’s exhibit at the New York World’s Fair with praise for “the English, Scottish, Irish and German… desire of freedom,” for North Carolina’s rise from “the black night of conflict and defeat,” and for “the song of the saw in the vast forests” (punctuated with a recording of a circular saw). “Everyone in North Carolina,” Hoey concluded, “lives long and well and has a good time.”

We also have some other state-produced souvenirs from the 1939 New York World’s Fair in the form of postcards. Below is a postcard showing a downtown street in Wendell, NC. You can view the other World’s Fair postcards that we have digitized here. These cards all bear a pre-printed postscript that reads, “P.S.- I have enjoyed a visit to North Carolina’s exhibit at the New York World’s Fair. You must be sure to see it. For information about North Carolina write Governor’s Hospitality Committee, Raleigh, North Carolina.”