Advertising - Overview
Advertising is meant to persuade, and the themes and techniques of that persuasion reveal a part of the nation's history. The Museum has preserved advertising campaigns for several familiar companies, such as Marlboro, Alka-Seltzer, Federal Express, Cover Girl, and Nike. It also holds the records of the NW Ayer Advertising Agency and business papers from Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Carvel Ice Cream, and other companies. The Warshaw Collection of Business Americana comprises thousands of trade cards, catalogs, labels, and other business papers and images dating back to the late 1700s.
Beyond advertising campaigns, the collections encompass thousands of examples of packaging, catalogs, and other literature from many crafts and trades, from engineering to hat making. The collections also contain an eclectic array of advertising objects, such as wooden cigar-store Indians, neon signs, and political campaign ads.
"Advertising - Overview" showing 8 items.
With Ivory--no need to supply more than one soap. [Print advertising.] Hotel Management. 1924
- Summary
- Caption: "With Ivory--no need to supply more than one soap". Bar of Ivory above sink and tub
- Published March 1924
- Date
- 1924
- Creator
- Procter & Gamble Company
- Local number
- 244675
- Ivorydata4 532
- 0207910522 (Scan No.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
New York Debutantes Live in Luxables. [Print advertising.] 1936
- Summary
- Caption: "New York Debutantes Live in Luxables". Teenage girls engaging in winter sports
- Published 15 Nov. 1936
- Date
- 1936
- Creator
- Lever Brothers Company
- Local number
- 245304
- Ivorydata4 1161
- 03061130 (Scan No.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
John Caples Papers, ca. 1900-1987 (bulk 1927-1977)
- Notes
- Caples was one of advertising's most influential copywriters. After graduation from the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Caples began his advertising career at Ruthrauff & Ryan in 1925, during the decade in which advertising began to assume its modern form, both in style and organizational structure. In 1927, Caples moved to Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborne (BBDO), to work alongside Bruce Barton, an advertising legend and pioneer of direct mail. Remained at BBDO 55 years, and reshaped the field of direct response advertising
- At BBDO Caples was an influential copywriter, widely published author, and legend in advertising industry. Elected: New York Copywriters Hall of Fame (1974); American Advertising Federation Hall of Fame (1977). Since 1977 the John Caples Award has been given by the Direct Marketing Creative Guild as "symbol of personal creative excellence in direct marketing." His books are considered classics, widely reprinted and translated
- Cite as
- John Caples Papers, 1900-1987, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Gift of Dorothy Caples
- Date
- 1900
- 1900-1987
- ca 1900-1987
- bulk 1927-1977
- 20th century
- creator
- Caples, John (advertising executive) 1900-1990
- donor
- Caples, Dorothy
- advertising agency
- Batten, Barton, Durstine, and Osborn
- Local number
- 1990.3205 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Sohmer & Co. Records, 1872-1989
- Notes
- When Sohmer & Co. was founded in 1872 by Hugo Sohmer and his partner Joseph Kuder, it became one of 171 piano manufacturers in New York City. Over the next 110 years, Sohmer & Co. was one of the few active and successful family-owned and operated piano-making ventures in the United States. Nationally known for tonal quality and fine craftmanship, the firm's product, in the music trade, came to be referred to as "The Piano-Maker's Piano."
- Upon the death of Hugo Sohmer in 1913, his son, Harry J. Sohmer, assumed company leadership. In 1940 Harry incorporated the company and upon his death in 1971, his son, Harry J. Sohmer, Jr., became president. When Sohmer & Co. was purchased by the Pratt Read Corporation in 1982, it moved to Ivoryton, Conn., and left Steinway & Sons as the only piano manufacturer in New York. In 1986 the Ivoryton factory was sold to Sohmer,which continued to make pianos there until a lack of skilled workers and financial losses forced its closing, Dec. 1988. In 1989 the Sohmer company was sold to the Falcone Custom Grand Piano Company, Haverhill, Massachusetts
- Summary
- Legal, financial, inventory & appraisal, manufacturing, marketing, advertising, and sales are the major series. Photographs, awards, family papers, publications about Sohmer, general publications, miscellaneous, and correspondence are the remaining series
- Financial records, 1895-1962 : Includes journals, general ledgers, and private ledgers. Marketing records, 1901 to as late as 1983, include catalogs, brochures, fliers and postcards published by Sohmer
- Advertising records, 1880-1989, include art work and mechanicals, reprints, proof sheets, and scrapbooks of advertisements. They reflect Sohmer & Co.'s heavy dependence on advertising. Early scrapbooks also include newspaper clippings relating to Hugo Sohmer s̕ brother William and his activities in New York City politics
- No corporate records, personnel records (including payroll and job desriptions), articles of incorporation, executive records, minutes, or annual reports
- Photographs: Pictures of company personnel, activities, and facilities, and celebrities seated at Sohmer pianos. There is little correspondence
- Correspondence: Small amount, consisting primarily of testimonial letters of satisfied Sohmer customers
- Cite as
- Sohmer & Co. Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1872
- 1872-1989
- 20th century
- 1850-1900
- creator
- Sohmer & Company
- donor
- Pratt, Read and Company
- collector
- Musical Instruments, Division of (NMAH, SI)
- lender
- Falcone Custom Grand Pianos
- Subject
- Sohmer, Hugo
- Kuder, Joseph
- Sohmer, Harry J
- Sohmer, Harry J. Jr
- Sohmer, William
- Sohmer & Company
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Sally L. Steinberg Collection of Doughnut Ephemera, 1920s-1987
- Notes
- Steinberg describes herself as a "doughnut princess," since her grandfather, Adolph Levitt, was America's original "doughnut king." He was the developer of the automatic doughnut making machine and founder of the modern American doughnut industry. In 1920 he founded the Doughnut Machine Company to make and sell the machine across the country and to sell doughnuts under the name "Mayflower". Soon the company began preparing and selling standardized mixes for the machine, and began to acquire bakeries. In 1931, the company opened the first Mayflower doughnut shop in New York City; ultimately, 18 shops were opened across the country---the first retail doughnut chain. The company changed its name to the Doughnut Corporation of America, dominating the industry through a large-scale approach with a full range of product and equipment systems unique in the food industry. As consumers demanded a wider variety of doughnuts, the company developed and manufactured the necessary machinery, prepared the ingredients, and marketed the products. The company diversified in the 1940s to produce pancake and waffle mixes and machinery, including Downyflake Food products. The company is still in operation as DCA Food Industries, Inc
- Summary
- Ephemeral materials gathered by Sally L. Steinberg while researching "The Donut Book" (publ. 1987), and a copy of the book. Photographs comprise the bulk of the collection. These depict doughnut-making machines, early doughnut packaging, shops, promotional activities (many of them sponsored by D.C.A.), celebrities and entertainment figures with doughnuts, and the role of doughnuts in World War Two. Also advertisements, posters, news clippings, sheet music, examples of doughnut packaging, and artwork; and several publications that feature doughnuts, notably such children's classics as "Curious George Learns the Alphabet", "Who Needs Donuts?", and "Homer Price". Materials relating to the history of D.C.A. include a 1947 memo, "History of Mayflower Operations, 1933-1944;" pages and clippings from the company's in-house magazines, "The Doughnut Magazine", 1931-1936, and "DCA News", 1945-1947; a 1961 DCA "Study of the Donut Market"; and a 1973 prospectus for DCA Food Industries, Inc.; a store display figure of "Danny Donut," the symbol of Mayflower Doughnuts; a 1980 "Annual Report" from Dunkin' Donuts, Inc., and a sample degree from their "Dunkin' Donuts University."
- Photographs: Include entertainers and celebrities with doughnuts [27 items], such as Gracie Allen and George Burns, Lucille Ball and John Hodiak, Zero Mostel (including a contact sheet), Adlai Stevenson, Steve Lawrence and Edie Gorme, Red Skelton, Sid Caesar, Bobby Benson, Jimmy Durante, Pres. John F. Kennedy, Joe E. Brown, and a copy negative of "Major General [sic] Eisenhower, Commander of the American Forces in Europe, samples real American donuts at opening of Washington Club in London."
- The 2009 addendum includes: Photographs, catalogs, articles and clippings, a playbill, magazines, a photograph album, audiocassettes and one videocassette
- Cite as
- Sally L. Steinberg Collection of Doughnut Ephemera, 1920s-1987, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1920
- 1987
- 1920s-1987
- 20th century
- 1980-1990
- collector
- Steinberg, Sally L (Sally Levitt) author
- Subject
- Levitt, Adolph
- Allen, Gracie
- Stevenson, Adlai E (Adlai Ewing) 1900-1965
- Skelton, Red 1913-1997
- Kennedy, John F (John Fitzgerald) 1917-1963
- Durante, Jimmy
- Brown, Joe E
- Eisenhower, Dwight D (Dwight David) 1890-1969
- Mayflower Doughnut Shop
- Doughnut Machine Company
- Doughnut Corporation of America
- DCA Food Industries, Inc
- Mayflower Doughnuts
- Dunkin' Donuts, Inc
- Mister Donut
- Local number
- 1991.3175 (NMAH Acc.)
- 1993.3071 (NMAH Acc.)
- 2009. 3069 (NMAH acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Streetcars and subways : stereographs, ca. 1870s-1890s
- Summary
- Primarily New York City's elevated railroad, with views by J. S. Johnston and unidentified photographers, incl. one with advertising for Cyrus Carter House Furnishing Goods
- Cite as
- Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1870
- 1900
- ca 1870s-1890s
- 1870-1990
- 1850-1900
- 1870-1900
- photographer
- Johnston, J.S.
- Subject
- Cyrus Carter House Furnishing Goods
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Coney Island (New York) : business ephemera vertical files, ca. 1870-1920
- Summary
- Postcards, guidebooks, brochures, and advertising ephemera on Coney Island as a tourist attraction and recreational area. Includes hotel advertisements, programs for concerts by Patrick Gilmore and John Philip Sousa, railroad timetables, souvenirs, humorous cartoons about swimming, etc
- Date
- 1870
- 1870-1920
- ca 1870-1920
- 1940-1980
- collector
- Warshaw, Isadore d. 1969
- Subject
- Gilmore, P. S (Patrick Sarsfield) 1829-1892
- Sousa, John Philip
- Hotels, taverns, etc Advertising
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
The California Shop Records, 1938-1942
- Notes
- Helen Kemp opened the California Shop in New York, 1938, to sell women's clothing and other merchandise from California. The business closed in 1942 due to difficulties in obtaining merchandise because of the war
- Summary
- Photographs, typed manuscripts and a guest/scrapbook of materials relating to the history and social events of the California Shop, New York, N.Y
- Cite as
- The California Shop Records, 1938-1942, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Gift of Barbara Kemp
- Date
- 1938
- 1938-1942
- 1930-1940
- 20th century
- 1930-1950
- creator
- Kemp, Helen Misch (store owner/manager) 1894-1948
- donor
- Kemp, Barbara
- creator
- California Shop
- Local number
- 1997.3005 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
