Special Collections at the Henry Madden Library

The Donald G. Larson Collection on International Expositions and Fairs is the largest comprehensive world's fair research collection on the West Coast. The collection contains more than 16,000 official guides, pamphlets, postcards, photographs, sheet music, and other materials from over 200 different fairs from 1851 to the present. The nucleus of the collection was donated in the 1970s by Donald G. Larson, an avid collector and local college instructor. Since then, the collection has grown significantly and continues to expand every year.

This digital collection represents a fraction of what is physically available on site. For more information about the collection, please visit our website at: http://scrc.lib.csufresno.edu/?page_id=18

"The Larson Collection is one of the best and most accessible world's fair collections in the world." -- Robert W. Rydell, Michael P. Malone Professor of History, Montana State University, Bozeman

"Every exhibition historian's research heaven." -- Alexander C.T. Geppert, Associate Professor of History, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany