Beginning with the First Exhibition held in 1756 in London, world’s fairs have tantalized and astonished audiences. In addition to being launching pads for such innovations as popcorn, the telephone, Ferris wheel, wireless telegraph, and ice skating rink, they also introduced gardening breakthroughs like the chainsaw and soilless gardening, as well as a host of plants from around the world. And they have showcased the work of renowned architects and landscape architects, including Frederick Law Olmsted.

San Francisco enjoys a notably rich history of world’s fairs, from the 1894 Mid-Winter Exposition to the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition to the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939-40. Many of the city’s exquisite landscape features date to these fairs.

Popular speaker and garden historian Cathy Jean Maloney will present an engaging overview of the groundbreaking gardens and landscapes of the major world’s fairs in the U.S., paying particular attention to San Francisco. Using images from her extensive research, Cathy will show how the horticultural innovations and landscapes of world’s fairs affect how we garden in our own yards and enjoy our public spaces even today. 

Cathy will be introduced by Laura Ackley, architectural historian and authority on the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915.

Co-sponsors

This event is co-sponsored by the Institute for Classical Architecture & Art – Northern California Chapter and the Daniel E. Koshland San Francisco History Center at the San Francisco Public Library

Date and time

Thursday, June 20, 2013

6 p.m.            Check-in, registration, reception, and book signing

7- 8 p.m.        Lecture

Location

The Walt Disney Family Museum Theater

The Presidio

104 Montgomery Street

San Francisco, CA

Registration

$35 Members of the Garden Conservancy, the San Francisco History Center, and the ICAA

$40 General admission

or call the Garden Conservancy in San Francisco at 415.441.4300.

Cathy Jean Maloney is a garden historian and author with a deep interest in the legacy of American gardens. As senior editor of Chicagoland Gardening magazine, she explores hundreds of private and public regional gardens. She is author of four books about historic gardens: World’s Fair Gardens (2012), Chicago Gardens: The Early History (2008), The Prairie Club of Chicago (2001), and The Gardener’s Cottage in Riverside, Illinois (2010), a story of her family’s Frank Lloyd Wright cottage with a Jens Jensen landscape. She writes a regular newspaper column for the Morton Arboretum and has taught classes both at the Arboretum, the Chicago Botanic Garden, and the University of Chicago’s Graham School of Advanced Studies. She has published many articles in magazines such as Better Homes and Gardens, Landscape Architecture, and Gardens Illustrated.

Laura Ackley holds degrees in architecture from Harvard and UC Berkeley and is an architectural historian. She is a recognized authority on the Panama-Pacific International Exposition and is currently working on a book about the PPIE to be available in time for the Exposition’s 2015 centennial. She is also a digital visualization professional, having worked for Lucasfilm, Bechtel, and Autodesk, and she specializes in 3D visualizations of historic architecture.