Jorge Esteban of Dallas asks Curious Texas: "The State Fair of Texas has a hidden collection of memorabilia from the 1936 Centennial Exposition that was supposed to be featured in a permanent exhibit. What happened to this collection and why has the State Fair organization refused to display it?"

Introducing Curious Texas, a special project from The Dallas Morning News. The idea is simple: You have questions, and our journalists are trained to track down answers.

To answer it, the Curious Texas team set off on a search through the State Fair of Texas archives.

In 2007, the State Fair of Texas bought a large collection of items related to the Texas Centennial Exposition, a 1936 fair credited with helping to build a modern Dallas and constructing many of the buildings still used in Fair Park today.

The collection, originally owned by Charles Kavanaugh of Dallas, was appraised for $200,000 in 1986. It features collectible spoons and matchbooks, makeup compacts and odd-faced dolls.

There are ribbons, clothing, drinkware and more, and today it is all in the basement of the State Fair's administration building.

In a story in The Dallas Morning News when the fair acquired the collection, we reported that "fair officials said the collection would be housed in a year-round visitor center being planned for Fair Park."

Today, that's not the case.

"We'd love to put it on display one day," said fair spokeswoman Karissa Condoianis. "We don't have any specific plans right now."

Some of the collection is available for viewing in the main floor of the administration building next to the Cotton Bowl. You can view oil tycoon H.L. Hunt's felt hat from the Centennial Exposition, and a locket made with pearls and diamonds from the Greater Texas & Pan-American Exposition in 1937.

To see the bulk of the collection, however, you have to get approval from the State Fair for research in the basement archives room.

Recently, Curious Texas visited the archives to take a look at some of the quirky and memorable pieces in the State Fair's Kavanaugh collection and the other archives from Fair Park's past.

H.L. Hunt's felt hat This felt hat is on display year-round at the Fair Park headquarters of the State Fair of Texas. It once belonged to Dallas billionaire H.L. Hunt and later his son Lamar Hunt. It is one of many similar hats on display around Fair Park and in the Kavanaugh collection.

Also on display are handkerchiefs from the earliest years of the State Fair. One souvenir is from 1886, the fair's first year, and features images of Sam Houston, the Alamo and more.

A year after the Texas Centennial Exposition, Dallas hosted the Greater Texas & Pan-American Exposition at Fair Park. A diamond-encrusted lock made with pearls is on display in the State Fair of Texas administration building year-round.

Not all the archives are on display, however, including a ticket from the 1936 Centennial Exposition. It's one of many individual tickets in the 3,000-piece Kavanaugh collection in the basement of the State Fair administration building.

A compact still has some makeup inside from the 1936 exposition and features some Texas icons: bluebonnets, a longhorn and the six flags of Texas.

Not sure if the felt hat helps or hurts this one. A drum major doll's pin says it is also from the Texas Centennial.

Just like today's State Fair of Texas, the 1936 Centennial Exposition featured agricultural shows. A ribbon was awarded for the best dozen white eggs.

A souvenir pin from the Centennial Exposition can't get much more Texas. The rivers of Texas are highlighted on the state map at the top of the ribbon.

A clay water jug and cup set was hand-painted in Mexico especially for the Texas Centennial Exposition in 1936.

Some companies made small viewfinders with a series of photos from Fair Park as souvenirs for the Texas Centennial Exposition in 1936. One features a photograph of the Hall of State.

It might not be the kind of big, bejeweled belt buckle you'd find at the State Fair of Texas today, but there are multiple small belt buckles in the Kavanaugh collection.

Another big button isn't quite Big Tex-sized, but it's much larger than the Texas Strong button from the 2017 State Fair of Texas.

The State Fair's archives go far beyond the 1936 Centennial Exposition. Some coupons from the 1988 State Fair of Texas are still valid for the 2018 fair and beyond.

Some "relics" from the 2017 State Fair of Texas are now part of the fair's archival collection. Each year, they add some items from the previous year to preserve for future researchers.

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Information from: The Dallas Morning News, http://www.dallasnews.com

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