1964-1965 World's Fair

While not originally from the fair, this pin was made to promote the 2015 Disney film Tomorrowland. The beginning of the film takes place at the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair. The opening also briefly takes place in the It's a Small World attraction Disney created for the fair.

Souvenirs

This is a snow globe with a calendar from the 1964-1965 World's Fair. On the top is the snow globe which consists of clear plastic on the front and blue plastic on the back. Inside the globe is a depiction of the Unisphere with New York in the background. The base is the calendar. It is made of orange plastic and features the name of the fair. The four windows display the months, two of the windows display the days, and the day of the week. These can be adjusted by to sets of knobs on either side of the calendar.

Sadly the water and white particles that created the illusion of snow are no longer inside the globe.

This is a small handheld fan from the 1964-1965 World's Fair. The blades are made of blue plastic and on the front of the fan is the emblem of the world's fair, the Unisphere in white with an orange and blue background. On the side of the fan is a small flower decoration added on by the original owner. The bottom can be removed to reveal the battery compartment. The bottom of the fan also mentions where it was made, in this case, Japan.

These fans were souvenirs from the fair that people could buy and use on a hot day.

This is a set of salt and pepper shakers from the 1964-1965 World's Fair. The set also comes with a stand to set them on. They were made in Japan and on the bottom of the stand are two labels. One of them shows where the set was made and the other contains the trademark information about the Unisphere which is depicted on both of the shakers. This was because the Unisphere was a trademark of the United States Steel company or USS.

This Heinz pickle pin is from the 1964-1965 World's Fair. These trinkets were popular with visitors to the fair. These pins were first introduced at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

This is a pin from the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair. The pin displays the name and logo of UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund. It was made by the Olympic Button Emblem Company located in New York. It is interesting to note that the Disneyland attraction It's a Small World was actually created as a tribute to UNICEF.

This is a mini Unisphere souvenir from the 1964-1965 Worlds Fair. On the bottom is the copyright information which reads, "©️ N .Y. W. F.," which stands for, "New York World's Fair."

This is a 1964-1965 World's Fair coin pouch. It depicts the Unisphere which was the symbol of the fair. It has a copyright date of 1961. The pouch is made of green plastic and is connected to a chain. This would have been probably been used on key chains.

This is a 1964-1965 World's Fair clip-on bowtie. The colors featured on the tie are blue and orange which were the colors of the fair. The left side of the features text reading, "New York World's Fair 1964-1965," while the right side depicts the Unisphere.

Above are a pair of neutron-irradiated dimes that were given out as souvenirs as a way to promote the science behind atomic energy. These dimes would be placed in a machine known as a dime irradiator which would expose them to small quantities of radiation. The radiation would react with the silver in the dime and after the process was completed, the radiation in the dime would be measured with a Geiger counter. They would then be placed in holders with the location of where the dime was irradiated. The radiation these dimes were exposed to was low enough that shortly after being exposed, it would have already decayed.

At the time, dimes were made of 90 percent silver and ten percent copper but in 1964, the US Mint stopped minting dimes with large percentages of silver. And from 1965 to this very day, dimes are made of nickel-clad copper. This was the beginning of the end of irradiated dimes as there were fewer silver dimes in circulation. This even led to one of the leading operators of dime irradiators, the American Museum of Atomic Energy in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to acquire and sort through rolls of dimes just to keep the machine and the program running.

It isn't surprising that the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair featured an exhibit where visitors could see a dime irradiator in action and get a dime of their own. For this special event, blue circular plastic holders featuring the text, "New York World's Fair," were made to house the dimes. The dimes above are examples from the world's fair. At the same time these were made, similar holders were made for the American Museum of Atomic Energy. They featured the same design, just without the world's fair text.

References:

Frame, Dr. Paul. “Irradiated Dimes (1950s, 1960s).” Museum of Radiation and Radioactivity. Oak Ridge Associated Universities. Accessed October 17, 2022. https://www.orau.org/health-physics-museum/collection/medals/irradiated-dimes.html.