New York Historical Society
A photo from an archive of newly aquired photos of the 1939 World's Fair shows women bathing elephants. 
Craig Warga/News
Curator Marilyn Kushner goes through an archive of newly aquired photos of the 1939 World's Fair at the New York Historical Society in Manhattan. Take our Poll
Rare find for the NY Historical Society
If you were at the World's Fair, which attraction would you want to visit most?Rummaging through a dusty cardboard box at the New-York Historical Society, Marilyn Kushner found the world.
She gingerly fingered black-and-white photos of foreign displays, corporate exhibits and rides from the 1939-1940 World's Fair in Queens, which were recently bequeathed to the society.
It's one of the most extensive gifts of fair images the museum has ever received, instantly making its two-year-old photo collection 10 times larger.
"This far outweighs anything we've had," Kushner said. "You'll be able to walk through the World's Fair now."
Researchers will review the 1,000-plus images this summer, while historians wait to learn what secrets may be unlocked in the potential treasure trove.
Fair collectors wonder if the stash contains rare photos inside hundreds of pavilions that once dotted Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.
"That's stuff you don't see," said noted fair collector John Riccardelli.
Richard Post, who leads tours of the park, said the photos are valuable because they may present a never-before-seen perspective.
"Every point of view is a refreshing point of view," he said.
1939 World's Fair at night. New York Historical Society
The photos come from the estate of a Westchester County high school teacher named Paul Gillespie. He didn't go to the fair, but he collected photos and stashed them in his Manhattan apartment.
Gillespie died in March at age 83. His executor took Kushner to the apartment, where fair photos filled several large file cabinets.
The images include candid shots of fairgoers in front of the expo's symbols, the Trylon and Perisphere, and couples enjoying the Parachute Jump, which debuted at the fair and moved later to Coney Island.
"These photos put a really personal flavor on the World's Fair," Kushner said. "It's a lot of popular culture we'll be able to glean."
Other images depict a side of the fair that modern crowds would likely find offensive.
One photo shows a sign for "Midget Town," which was billed as "the world's greatest little people."
Another captures long lines to enter an attraction named "Nature's Mistakes," where visitors gawked at a two-headed cow and an eight-footed horse.
Kushner was struck by an image of a building where Lucky Strike cigarettes were pitched to visitors. "A whole pavilion dedicated to cigarettes. Could that ever happen now?" Kushner said.
She said the photos are important because they show the fair from the perspective of the average patron.
"It's not only what the brochures wanted us to see," Kushner said. "It's a really personalized view of what everybody saw."