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Hercules Poster of  the Panama-Pacific International Exposition
by Perham Nahl
 A letter from his daughter below image,
She saw Lincoln Beachey's fatal crash at the PPIE.

May 17, 1977

Dear Mr. Roddy,
I have such clear memories of the 1915 Pan. Pac. Exposition even though I was a small child.
My father, Perham W. Nahl, did the official poster, the original of which is in storage at the Oakland Museum. You would be welcome to view it at any time convenient.
The College of Arts & Crafts as well as the University of California Arts Department have rather lost sight of their "roots" at this point. My father (with Frederick Meyer) established the first and was the first art teacher at the 2nd.
My own memories of the Exposition are rich and strange. We had passes and so went many times,
The "Tower of Jewels" was magical and marvelous. We were standing in the Marina one day when Lincoln Beachey, the flier was killed. It had no meaning to me, anymore than T.V. does to kids today.
He did a loop in this thing that looked like an Orange Crate. The 2nd. one he turned over and went right down.
A great plume of water shot up. A few people ran around and screamed.
To me is wasn't real.

Best regards,
M. Nahl.
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I did contact the Oakland Museum in 1977 and they approved my publishing the Nahl poster from their original.
The James H, Barry Co. of San Francisco printed 3,400 copies which went on sale on February 20, 1978, the 63rd. anniversary of the Exposition. I priced them at $3.95.
They were sold at the Oakland Museum, San Francisco Museum of Art, Society of California Pioneers, The Exploratorium and the Wells Fargo Bank Branch at 2166 Chestnut St. This branch had a giant photograph of the Exposition along one wall. The panorama is below. Click on thumbnails