50 years ago in Expo history: The fair’s lost-and-found turned up some humorous – and dated – items

Expo ’74’s Lost and Found Office had already accumulated an impressive variety of left-behinds.

The odder items included a bag of coconut chips, a clarinet, a folder full of sheet music and a “Have a Happy Day” pillow.

Many other items were of the routine variety, including nine wallets, eight hats, a checkbook and several cameras. A worker noted that “more are reported lost than are being turned in.”

One category of left-behinds not turned in at the Lost and Found: lost children. They were being reclaimed at the Child Care Center in the basement of the headquarters building.

In other Expo news, The Spokesman-Review explained why a bell was ringing out every 10 seconds at the U.S. Pavilion.

“Each ring represents a new birth in the United Sates,” the S-R reported.

By the time the fair was set to close in November, the bell would ring 1.5 million times.

The purpose was to remind visitors about the environmental impact of population growth.

The S-R also ran a feature on the 27 official host and hostesses who had been trained to escort dignitaries through the fair. Many were chosen for their bilingual abilities.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1643: Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut and New Harbor form the United Colonies of New England.

1898: US Congress passes the Private Mailing Card Act, allowing private publishers and printers to produce postcards, had to be labelled “Private Mailing Cards” until 1901, known as “souvenir cards.”