Exhibit of 900 Pieces of Memorabilia Set for Two Months at UB by Pan-American Expo Collectors Society

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- More than 900 items of memorabilia from the Pan-American Exposition of 1901 -- culled from a very serious group of Pan-Am collectors and featuring everything from china and glass souvenirs, to postcards and posters and an official Pan-Am flag and quilt -- will be on display at the University at Buffalo beginning Aug. 1.

The collection will constitute the largest ever public exhibit of Pan-Am memorabilia.

"Tangible Memories: Souvenirs of Buffalo's Pan-American Exposition" will be on display from Aug. 1 through Sept. 30 in the UB Gallery in the Center for the Arts as part of the university's ongoing celebration of the Pan-Am centennial. The exhibit will showcase those items that were purchased at the 1901 Pan-Am or that specifically mention the Pan-Am and were sold in Buffalo during the exposition.

An opening reception for the exhibit is planned from 7-8:30 p.m. Aug. 1.

"It's a rare opportunity to view the things that people were buying and bringing home as souvenirs 100 years ago," says Fred Lavin, founder and current president of the Pan-American Expo Collectors Society.

For the exhibit, between 900 and 1,000 items will on view in 38 display cases, along with some 30 wall hangings. Roughly 25 collectors in the society are loaning their items, Lavin says, with other non-members also contributing to the exhibit, which has taken a year to plan.

The display items vary widely. Among them will be a policeman's badge and belt buckle used and worn by one of the officers in the force created specially for the Pan-Am, one of the 1,000 official Pan-Am flags that soared from exposition buildings, a straight razor bearing a picture of the Electric Tower, beer trays, candy boxes, mugs, tankards and hand-held paper fans.

Because the Pan-Am was called the "Pan" for short, many of the items, Lavin explains, either were shaped as frying pans and dust pans, or featured such symbols on the souvenir. These

included a paper fan that on one side boasts an advertisement for Welch's grape juice, and on the other, a picture of a frying pan.

Some other unusual pieces from the exhibit collection include a Pan-Am board game manufactured by Parker Brothers in 1901; a brass souvenir bell made of salvaged metal from the USS Maine, a ship sunk during the Spanish American War, and a penny-square quilt crafted by women attending the Pan-Am who would trace with red thread any number of sketches already drawn lightly on the fabric -- such as exposition buildings, images of President William McKinley and the first lady, the U.S. flag, an eagle, and various nature scenes.

"I think it's going to be well-presented, and it's going to be a very unusual opportunity to see a large amount of material," Lavin says of the exhibition. "The Buffalo area has a huge inferiority complex, and it's interesting -- in 1895, they talked about that exact same thing.

"The Pan-Am Expo was something that Buffalo could be very proud of. It was probably one of our...greatest achievements," says Lavin, noting that collecting and sharing the memorabilia encourages people to learn about and reflect on the Pan-Am.

In conjunction with "Tangible Memories," UB will host "Pan-Amania" Sept. 22 and 23. The public is invited to bring its Pan-Am artifacts to the Center for the Arts, where collectors will provide historical and financial information on those items.

Lavin, a Buffalo native who lives in Orchard Park, established the Pan-American Expo Collectors Society, which has more than 60 members from across the country, and even a member in Europe, in 1994. He says members meet six times a year in Western New York to exchange information, trade items and learn more about the Pan-Am. The origins of the members' fascination with the Pan-Am varies, he says. Some have roots in Buffalo, others came across Pan-Am memorabilia by chance, while still others collect memorabilia from all types of expositions.

"There's a remarkable amount of stuff out there," says Lavin, who has been collecting since 1969.

For more information on the exhibit, contact Michele Gallant at 645-2711 or mgallant@buffalo.edu, or Lavin at panamxpo@adelphia.net.