expo 67 lounge

Mid-century fashion, vintage pop culture and retro cool... from Expo 67 and beyond.

20 November 2011

The Expo 67 Memorial Album

The Expo 67 Memorial Album 
Of all the Expo 67 books ever published, this one was the Grand Poo-bah.

Released in 1968 by Thomas Nelson and Sons (Canada) Limited, the Expo 67 Memorial Album was the definitive descriptive and pictorial record of Montreal's world's fair.

The Expo 67 Memorial Album 
Designed by Gérard Caron and edited by Jean-Louis de Lorimier, this large, boxed coffee-table book featured a stunning mixture of color and black & white and photography, all interspersed by lengthy articles on and observations of Expo 67.

The 368-page document was divided into 10 sections, including an eloquent preface written by Expo's Commissioner General, Pierre Dupuy, and an extensive index for easy reference. All texts and titles were in Expo's ubiquitous Optima font and presented in both French and English.

The Expo 67 Memorial Album 
Pigeons taking up residence at Place des Nations.

An introductory chapter by James Gladstone called "Magic Island" offered a unique and intimate portrait of Expo. In this picturesque example, the author describes the quiet morning hours before Expo's opening:

"An Expo-Express train rumbles into the elevated station and three maintenance workers step aboard, their night's work done. The sound of the train disappears across Concordia Bridge. A pigeon flutters down from the huge concrete Expo symbol at the end of the square and flops heavily onto the deserted podium, the sound clear above the hushed rush of the river."

The Expo 67 Memorial Album 
Expo's Deputy Commissioner General Robert F. Shaw penned the chapter "How Expo Was Built". Shaw credited the Critical Path method for keeping Expo's extensive construction on schedule:

"Probably the most important technique introduced by the Installations and other departments was the critical path method and schedule. [...] The critical path method of scheduling is based on breaking down any given project into specific elements and assigning deadlines for the progress and completion of each element. The method is, of course, only as good as its programming, and all personnel involved were therefore trained to feed their collective skills into this important part of the project, and to receive from it reports on the results of individual performances on a day-to-day basis."

The Expo 67 Memorial Album 
An aerial view of Expo's man-made islands under construction.

The Expo 67 Memorial Album 
A stunning photo of the groovy Pulp and Paper pavilion.

The album's largest section was the chapter dedicated to "The Participants".  Divided into 3 parts - National Participants, Private Participants, Sponsors - this was the pavilion-by-pavilion overview of Expo 67. Listed in alphabetical order, an in-depth description and lavish photographs accompanied each and every pavilion and exhibit. The section was over 200 pages long.

The Expo 67 Memorial Album 
The Memorial Album covered each and every Expo exhibit. Here, Monaco.

The Expo 67 Memorial Album 
An aerial shot of the impressive U.S. pavilion.

The Expo 67 Memorial Album 
Over the years, this book has remained my number one research tool for pavilion posts on Expo Lounge. Highly sought after, it is one of my most prized Expo 67 treasures... as much for its beauty as for its usefulness.

The Expo 67 Memorial Album 
Photographs by Michael Francis McCarthy, used with permission.
Check out his ultra-fab blog: designKULTUR

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2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Jason -

Well, it was worth the wait - well done! It's such a beautiful book from the days when these things were ultraspecial. I recently came across a copy of "Canada: A Year of The Land" from '67 and think it may be the spiritual sister or brother to the expo commemorative album. When they're both in their slipcases I can't tell which book is which!

Yesterday a coworker brought into work a drinking glass he bought for me in Gibsons, BC. It's a beaut featuring two logos (centennial and expo) and a line drawing of Katimavik. So, it's been an expo week for me. Thanks for letting me know about your post. And you know ... I love your blog!

Warm regards from Vancouver, Michael

6:45 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I bid 80$ on a copy few years ago at a local auction and didn't win it. Anyway i saw white mold on the cover but finally i found a nice copy for the same price on ebay.
Very nice book.

12:21 am  

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