Amazons, trapped in ice and the aerial joy ride. The World’s Fair was full of wonder. And disappointment.

Three more entries from the 1939 World’s Fair Guide begin here. Or, you can start from the beginning if you like, here.

Suburbs!

Cloud people! (Some serious futurism there.)

Shopping and sexism!

The future for 1939 wasn’t that far off, really, if you’re willing to allow for a margin of error. They didn’t really pitch the flying cars, but the levitating people was perhaps the biggest whiff.

See the full collection starting here. See today’s three installments here.

Sure, we look back with nostalgia at the past, but that’s only because we’re accustomed to the things that would mystify our great-grandparents. And, also, air conditioning.

Not to worry, even today we can go back in time. Here are three more pictures from the 1939 World’s Fair guide book. We’re just getting started, if you’re behind. The series begins here.

New on the site: The 1939 World’s Fair Guide Book project is underway. Four entries today, we’ll see a small handful a week until around Thanksgiving. This isn’t a comprehensive look at the guide, or the fair.

This is a focal point for a lot of people online — it was the first fair that looked at the future, a future that was interrupted or ended because of the war. I’m no expert on the fair or the period — I’m surprised fair organizers didn’t just send the guide to visitors’ iPods — but the text is at times entertaining and the art and models are amusing. You and I will just look at the most interesting ones together.

Here’s your first random tidbit. The models were popular images in the book because they gave visitors a certain since of scale about the place. They just look like models today, though, and would never be acceptable for a modern publication.