Co-Sponsored by the San Francisco Museum & Historical Society

San Francisco’s Jewel City: The Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915 takes readers on an in-depth tour of the PPIE, revealing the dramas of constructing the fair and the displays of culture and industry that awaited within the exposition walls: electrical home appliances, rides in a homemade airplane, a world tour of twenty-one international pavilions, luminous radium crystals, and, of course, a model of the world-changing Panama Canal. Along the way, we meet famous (and infamous) visitors, such as Theodore Roosevelt, Helen Keller, Thomas Edison, and Buffalo Bill Cody. Historian Laura A. Ackley’s compelling text is unparalleled in its breadth of scope and richness of detail, providing social and political context for the fair and offering insight into its legacy today.

Laura A. Ackley is an architectural historian and digital visualization professional and a recognized authority on the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. She earned an undergraduate degree in Architecture with a minor in Architectural History from UC Berkeley, where her interest in the PPIE was sparked by a Cultural Landscapes course taught by Professor Paul Groth.