The Mechanics’ Institute’s involvement with the Panama-Pacific International Exposition through the engagement of Rudolph J. Taussig, former MI Board of Trustees President, as the PPIE Board of Director’s Secretary and Chairman of the Division of Exploitation, and Joseph Cummings, long-time MI Secretary, as the Executive Secretary to PPIE President Charles C. Moore, resulted in an extensive array of PPIE-related programs, pamphlets, souvenir booklets and other paper-based ephemera in our collection.

This exhibit will showcase these PPIE items, illustrating the magnitude of the propaganda produced to publicize the Exposition, and giving you a glimpse into the life of 1915 San Francisco.