Abstract
This Independent Study examines visitor memories from the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair and 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair. I conducted a literature review on the subject of the Fairs and their history, identifying themes of Futurism, Nationalism, “Humans as Animals,” and Memory. My theory dives into Cultural Performance, Presentation of the Self, Imperialist Nostalgia, and Episodic versus Semantic memories. I then used these themes to create a question set that I asked six interview participants with a wide variety of experiences and memories. I received 97 public Facebook comments on an interest-gathering post that contained additional visitor memories and analyzed these as well. I found that memories of the World’s Fairs are largely episodic, specific and sentimental, symbolizing that these were events that deeply resonated with visitors in the moment, and 60 years later.
Advisor
Nurse, Anne
Department
Sociology and Anthropology
Recommended Citation
Pickens, Natalie, "I Have Seen the Future: Visitor Memories from World’s Fairs of the Atomic Era" (2026). Senior Independent Study Theses. Paper 13312.
https://openworks.wooster.edu/independentstudy/13312
Disciplines
Anthropology
Keywords
World’s Fairs, Century 21, 1964 New York World’s Fair, atomic era, futurism, ethnographic, nationalism, memory, memorabilia
Publication Date
2026
Degree Granted
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type
Senior Independent Study Thesis
© Copyright 2026 Natalie Pickens