This Artifact-of-the-Month selection was originally posted on Friday, August 4th, 2023

Every summer, people are always planning vacations to a wide-variety of places. Some are going to the beach or to an amusement park or traveling abroad. In 1901, Buffalo’s Pan-American Exposition was the vacation destination. In the six months of the fair, approximately 8 million people visited from now and far. Every one of those people had one thing in common – they each had some sort of admission ticket.

General admission tickets to the Pan-Am cost 50 cents for adults and 25 cents for children ($17.95 and $8.97 respectively in 2023 currency). Beyond the regular admission ticket, numerous special tickets were created as well. There were commemorative tickets, admission passes, complimentary tickets, and press passes to name a few. A selection of the wide variety of tickets in the Site’s collection are available here.

For many of the special days at the fair, a regular ticket received a red ink stamp so that the ticket stub created a special souvenir for the day’s visitors. The Artifact of the Month is an adult admission ticket from Buffalo Day, which was celebrated on October 19th, 1901. This ticket is rare because it has the attached stub, which was to have been kept by the ticket taker at the gates. The stub makes it appear that this ticket was unused.

While a general admission ticket such as this one allowed the visitor to explore the Pan-Am grounds and buildings, each attraction on Midway required an additional ticket that was available for an additional fee. To experience everything on the Midway would have cost an additional $11.40 in 1901 or approximately $400 in 2023.

While a day at the Pan-Am offered visitors a wide range of experiences, each one of those visits started with a ticket.

– Amy Sanderson, Collections Manager