THE NEW YORK STATE PAVILION Correspondence 1963-1968 Correspondence 1963-1968 Photos 1962-1964 Public Ceremonies 1967 In April 2022, after years of scouring the internet for any information I could find about the New York State Pavilion, I came across the Rockefeller Archive Center, a “repository and research center for the study of philanthropy and its impact throughout the world.” The archive contains materials related to a number of organizations and individuals, including Malcolm Wilson, who served as the Lieutenant Governor of New York from January 1, 1959 – December 18, 1973. During this time, Wilson was instrumental in decision-making around the question of what to do with the many pavilions created for the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair, including the New York State Pavilion. I requested a large number of materials associated with the New York State Pavilion from the Archive, and after a few months of waiting and some associated printing costs, received hundreds of pages of correspondence, memos, photographs, and more. Since I became interested in the structure (first as a child, and then again as an adult) the question of what the building was intended to serve as following the Fair, if anything, was always a major one. Was it created to be permanent, among a slew of structures that were always meant to be temporary? Was there a plan for it from the beginning? Why was it saved only to be abandoned in the subsequent years? I have done my best to comb through the memos and correspondence and shared the most relevant ones in a manner that tells the story of how it came to be preserved, while answering many questions raised about why it was important to save. The below memos and correspondence are in chronological order, and tells its the story from the perspective of the people who were responsible for deciding whether it would be saved, who would be responsible for it, what it would be, and what the process for transferring ownership from the World’s Fair Corporation to the City would require. There are a number of fascinating tidbits including Robert Moses reaching out to David Rockefeller to understand the parallels between the Astro-View Towers and the Eiffel Tower (a common theme), the problem of the City of New York realizing it had two Parks Commissioners, and Robert Moses outright bullying then-Parks Commissioner Newbold Morris for providing his opinion on what to do with the structures. Many other modern Flushing Meadows institutions are mentioned as well, including the Hall of Science, the Queens Zoo, and more. Ultimately I hope by sharing this correspondence, I can shine a light on this incredible structure and inform conversations about what to do with the New York State Pavilion, which have now been going on for over 50 years. "The city's plan to date indicates a prosaic approach to the development of Flushing Meadow Park based only on demolition of the Fair buildings. We are missing an opportunity to build a great park for the future. Demolition of the New York State Pavilion would be just plain shortsightedness and a waste of New York State taxpayers' money.” - John V. Lindsay, Ridgewood Times, September 9, 1965 Salmaan Co-Founder, People for the Pavilion September 3, 2022 salmaan@nyspavilion.org www.nyspavilion.org