 Mechanics member James Lick, you saw his bust when you walked in our building. He liked this industrial exhibition idea and offered the free use of a parcel of land that he owned on Montgomery Street between Post and Sutter, right over there across the street. Advertisements for the upcoming fair were distributed at post offices, labor exchanges, and in newspapers up and down the state advertising the upcoming fair and inviting manufacturers, inventors, farmers, miners, and artists to take part. There was to be no cost for exhibitors and prizes were to be awarded. This illustration is one of the first advertisements for the fair scheduled for September of 1857. This advertisement dated December 17th, 1856. It was most interestingly aimed at women. Metals of silver and bronze were designed to be awarded to the best in class, and by the summer of 1857 the Institute had erected this fair building. It was made of wood with a canvas roof and was decorated with the flags of many nations. It encompassed 18,000 square feet and was then the largest building in California. The interior was cross-shaped with four rooms that opened onto a central lobby. Beneath the dome was a bubbling fountain festooned with flowers, and above hanging from the rafters was a huge eagle with wings outstretched, a symbol of the state's potential. The opening ceremonies were on the evening of September 7th at Musical Hall on Montgomery Street. The president of the Institute, John Syme, gave a short speech, and then he turned the podium over to Henry F. Williams, a 26-year-old mild-mannered carpenter who, rather at the last minute, agreed to give the opening address because no one more famous could be produced. He astounded everyone by giving a rousing speech that outlined the state's achievements in industry, invention, and self-sufficiency, and the nobility of those who practice the mechanic arts. After the speeches came the music. I'm going to play for you one piece of several that were written for the first fair. Music ever after would be a huge part of each fair, and during the later ones there would be a 50- person orchestra performing twice a day. This piece was performed and recorded for this talk by mechanics member Matt Lye. Symbols would crash, the pyrotechnics would explode, and the fair would be declared open. When one entered the pavilion on Montgomery Street, one walked past a display of billiard tables and cabinets filled with curiosities and samples of the state's minerals. To the right was a horticultural display, a fire engine, a mountain of sugar. Next one found fancy articles, needlework, fabrics, laces, and then the art from the Noll Brothers, William Jewett, and many others. The 57 fair was the first major exhibition of art in California, and with future fairs the art departments would grow tremendously. The fairs would be the main public exhibition of art until the founding of the De Young Museum after the 1894 Midwinter Fair. This familiar painting was on display by regular exhibitionist William Smith Jewett, and the Noll Brothers also exhibited a great deal of work. He's well done, don't you think? The first fair lasted for nearly four weeks and had about 10,000 visitors, which was roughly 25% of the adult San Francisco population at the time. There were 650 different exhibitors, and approximately 25% of them were women, which is interesting, as women were not yet 25 percent of the population. I also have identified three exhibitors so far who were African-American. Mr. Mifflin Gibbs and Mr. Peter Lester were proprietors of the Pioneer Boot and Shoe Emporium. They would exhibit at both the 57 and 58 fairs. Then they took themselves off to the Fraser River, up in British Columbia, where they treated people of color better. The third person for whom I don't have a photo was Mr. James Dyer, and he was a proprietor of the New England Soap Company. The participation of African-Americans I find fascinating at our fairs, because though California at that time, California entered the Union as a free state, African-Americans did not enjoy full citizenship. They couldn't vote, they couldn't give testimony in court. They could, however, display at our fairs.