A rare real-photo postcard captures the grandeur of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition's Court of the Universe in San Francisco, 1915 — the triumphal arch soaring above a crowd of fairgoers in Edwardian dress, flanked by columned pavilions crowned with domes, caryatid lamp standards, and elaborate sculptural programs that made this the expo's breathtaking centerpiece. The second image reveals the same court during a crowded event, a massive audience filling the plaza while a lone figure stands at a podium near the famous "Earth Mama" sculpture group, flags snapping in the Bay breeze — an intimate glimpse of a world's fair moment frozen in silver gelatin. Designed by architect McKim, Mead & White associate Edward Bennett and sculptor A. Stirling Calder (father of Alexander), the Court of the Universe was the largest of the PPIE's grand courts, built to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal and the rebuilding of San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake.