Pan American Expo Watch -- "Buffalo 2001" is On The Wing

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- In the spring of 1901, Buffalo inaugurated an explosion of light, color and thrills the like of which had, quite literally, never before been seen. The Pan American Exposition was a glittering, city-centered celebration of international trade and technology that heralded the American Century.

The Pan Am was quite a show. It was a playground for human ingenuity hosted by one of the nation's largest, youngest and wealthiest industrial cities. The exposition was marked not only by Buffalo's vigor and youth, but by international exhibitions, pavilions and entertainment. A splendid architectural environment was spiced with elaborate lighting effects made possible by the newly perfected alternating electrical current.

The 100th anniversary of the Pan Am is fast approaching and a new international celebration, "Buffalo 2001," is in the works. It won't look like the original, of course. There will be no infrastructure to speak of, no canals and gondolas gliding through a shimmering City of Lights. There will be no bustling, glittering esplanade, no 8 million visitors.

"Buffalo 2001" will, however, be a major civic event expected to involve a broad range of activities, a city-wide party offering opportunities for the contemplation and celebration of the ideals that marked the progressive era ushered in by the Pan Am.

Michael Frisch, professor of history and American studies at the University at Buffalo, is among those already involved in planning "Buffalo 2001."

His goal, he explains, is to help link the university, its programs and its resources to the upcoming extravaganza.

"Within the next few months," said Frisch, "a formal regional organization to plan and direct what will be a multi-year celebration should be in place. It will develop sustained local involvement and substantial outside public and private funding."

Frisch, who is working under a grant from UB's Division of Public Service and Urban Affairs, says it is a golden opportunity for UB to galvanize public interest in, and understanding of, how global issues involve Buffalonians and how the university is integral to that involvement.

Frisch expects to see symposia on topics such as Latin-American trade issues, workers rights, women's issues, futurism, urban/suburban development; mega-exhibitions on historical themes, and forums, academic symposia and cultural festivals with an international flavor. Maybe even a cyberspace program that recreates the exposition using virtual-reality tools and links it to the broader context of American and world history.

Frisch has suggested that a major national "Turn of the Millennium" project be developed in conjunction with the National Park Service through the Roosevelt Historical Site, a crucial part of the 1901 Pan Am story. He hopes, too, that pan-American events will be organized by scholars throughout Latin America with the cooperation of the American Studies Association and hemispheric centers for Latin American Studies.

"Perhaps," he says, "we can revisit the 'ideal' of pan-Americanism at the turn of the last century and consider the development of this concept in the 21st century."

Frisch already has helped schedule next year's annual meeting of the Oral History Association in Buffalo and hopes to convince the American History Association to meet here in 2001.

He also is anxious to discuss possibilities with his UB colleagues and to involve them in plans to bring academic meetings to Buffalo during the period, as well as the university's participation in "Buffalo 2001."

"This celebration is really an opportunity for the community to coalesce around the original theme and the issues it continues to raise," Frisch says. "We can use the Pan Am anniversary as a hook to attract meetings, speakers and grants to produce instructional materials, to generate analysis of American trade and technology issues, to draw an international audience to Buffalo. Why not a Great Lakes Conference here that year? Why not a meeting of preservationists?"

Frisch invites interested parties to call him with ideas and questions at 645-2181, ext. 531.

http://freenet.buffalo.edu/~library/local/pan-am.html

• Color illustrations of the exposition's grounds and buildings can be found at http://www.uiowa.edu/~english/litcult20/kmccurry/index.html/panam.html