New York State Library
NYSL Facebook page NYSL Instagram account NYSL Twitter account

New York State Fair

August - November 2011

Display case 1 of State Fair materials.
Display Case 1
Display case 2 of State Fair materials.
Display Case 2
Display case 3 of State Fair materials.
Display Case 3

This season's exhibit was on the New York State Fairexternal link. The Library holds a good deal of material on this venerable late summer event and the early agricultural society that birthed it. (Note: The New York Agricultural Society was also represented in a New York State Museum exhibit, From the Collections, which was on view in the Exhibition Hall during the time of this exhibit.)

Below is a list (in chronological order) of the items that were on display:

  • Report of the Committee on Cheese, at the Fair of the New York State Agricultural Society, for 1851 (circa 1851)
  • Catalogue of the Library of the New York State Agricultural Society (1855, MSC SC6999)
  • New York State Agricultural Society Annual Rosters of Members (scattered dates 1842 - 1858, MSC SC6999)
  • State of New York Agricultural Rooms Letterhead Stationary Correspondence (1864, MSC SC6999)
  • Visitors Register at the State Agricultural Rooms (1856 - 1869, MSC SC6999)
  • E.S. Near & Co's New York State Fair Guide and Advertiser: Containing Railroad and Steamboat Time Tables, Post Office Arrangements (1873)
  • New York State Fair Guide and Advertiser: for the Thirty-Third Annual Fair, Held at Albany, N.Y. on the Grounds of the Albany Agricultural and Arts Association (1873)
  • 54th Annual New York State Fair (1894 broadside)
  • Get Together Now and Make This the Gala Day of the Great New York State Fair: Grand Excursion Saturday, Sept. 8th, 1894 to Syracuse and the State Fair via Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg R.R. (1894 broadside)
  • New York State Fair, Syracuse, Aug. 31 - Sept. 5: Five Days of Sports (circa 1896 poster)
  • "I Always Either Find a Way or Make One": Address by Governor John A. Dix to the Farm Boys' Company, Grange Building, New York State Fair Grounds, Syracuse, N.Y., Thursday, September 14, 1911 (1911)
  • New York State Fair and Agricultural and Industrial Exposition: 1841--Syracuse--1913 (1913)
  • New York State Fair Spelling Bee List: 5000 Words Adopted for the Spelling Contest Held Yearly in Syracuse at the N.Y. State Fair (circa 1932) -Premium List, New York State Fair: Youth Department L (1975)
  • A Freedom Celebration: The James E. Strates Shows (1976 poster)
  • The Fairest of Them All (1980 poster)
  • The Fair, the Great New York State Fair: Empire Theater Program (1981)
  • The Fair, the Great New York State Fair: Cornucopia of Good Eating (1981)
  • Empire Showcase: A History of the New York State Fair (1985)
  • New York State Fair 2002 Visitor's Guide (2002)
  • State Fair Stories: The Days and People of the New York State Fair (2005)
  • Research Project No. Z-01-02 (4) Task 37: Post New York State Fair: Fair Performance Assessment, Final Report (2009)
  • Journey Out of the Ordinary!: The Great New York State Fair, August 25 - September 5, 2011 (2011 poster)

Online catalog

 

Exhibit curated by Shawn Purcell

Last Updated: February 8, 2024