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 137 items.
Page 1 of 14
You see, young ladies, the value of a well-made soap... [Print advertising.] Harper's Magazine Advertiser. 1890
- Summary
- Illustration: Women chemists
- Published 1891
- Date
- 1890
- advertiser
- Procter & Gamble Company
- Subject
- Richards, Ellen H (Ellen Henrietta) 1842-1911
- Local number
- Ivorydata4 129
- 0207910119 (Scan No.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
From Our Mail. [Print advertising.] The Century Magazine. 1892
- Summary
- Illustration: Woman chemist at desk
- Published June 1892
- Date
- 1892
- advertiser
- Procter & Gamble Company
- Local number
- Ivorydata4 184
- 0207910174 (Scan No.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
Ask for the "American Enterprise" [trade card]
- Summary
- Trade card shaped as fan. Two Chinese men in tan/white and blue designed robes face each other, talking, holding hands. Background is yellow, red and blue. Back has red text advertising Althrop's Constitutional Tonic
- Date
- 1878
- 19th century
- advertiser
- Wemple & Kronheim
- Creator
- Funk & Lackey
- Local number
- AC0060-0000175 (AC Scan No.)
- AC0060-0000176 (AC Scan No.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
Seven Sutherland Sisters' Hair Grower [black and white advertisement]
- Notes
- In Hair, Box 2
- Summary
- Photographer unidentified
- Cite as
- Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1880
- 1900
- [ca. 1880-1900]
- 1880-1990
- Local number
- 0300600352.tif (AC Scan)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
The Sandra and Gary Baden Collection of Celebrity Endorsements in Advertising, ca. 1897-1979
- Summary
- Approx. 2000 magazine tear sheets of advertisements containing celebrity endorsements. The five categories of celebrities are: (1) performing arts; (2) politics and business; (3) sports; (4) society / fashion / royalty; and (5) writers / musicians / artists / singers
- Cite as
- The Sandra and Gary Baden Collection of Celebrity Endorsements in Advertising, 1897-1979, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1897
- 1979
- ca 1897-1979
- 20th century
- collector
- Baden, Gary
- Baden, Sandra
- Local number
- 1997.3144 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
Quaker Oats Children [black & white advertisement; tear sheet]
- Summary
- Illustration of young children holding up bowls to the Quaker Oats man
- Cite as
- N. W. Ayer Advertising Agency Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
- Date
- 1890
- 1910
- Circa 1900
- 1900-1910
- advertiser
- Quaker Oats Company
- Local number
- AC0059-0000131 (AC Scan)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
L.S. Plaut & Co.
- Description (Brief)
- Celluloid notebook advertising the L. S. Plaut & Company store, "The Beehive, the largest fancy goods store in the state," in red and blue print with an image of a beehive. An image of the Newark, N.J., store is on the back cover. A calendar for the year 1890 and a list of goods for sale are on the inside page.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1890
- advertiser
- L. S. Plaut & Company
- maker
- L. S. Plaut & Company
- ID Number
- 2006.0098.0488
- accession number
- 2006.0098
- catalog number
- 2006.0098.0488
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Ten Year Calendar, "Caught in the Act"
- Description (Brief)
- Calendar with celluloid front and paper back. The calendar contains a rotating disc visible through windows cut into the plastic. By rotating the dial, one can find dates for the years 1898-1912. An image of a young girl in bonnet holding trowel and flowers is opposite the calendar. Black print on reverse advertises "Superior Flower Seeds."
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1898
- advertiser
- Mandeville & King
- maker
- Whitehead & Hoag Company
- ID Number
- 2006.0098.0738
- accession number
- 2006.0098
- catalog number
- 2006.0098.0738
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Notebook
- Description (Brief)
- Notebook with celluloid cover with leather borders and binding. An image of "Fred P. Currie's" hardware store in Atlantic City appears on the front. A calendar for 1891-1892 is on the back. The pages are paper.
- date made
- 1891
- maker
- Wm. Bertsch & Company
- ID Number
- 2006.0098.1358
- catalog number
- 2006.0098.1358
- accession number
- 2006.0098
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- No Image Available
Stall and Dean Company Records, 1898-1998
- Notes
- Sporting goods manufacturer. Started in 1898 in Brockton, Massachusetts by Walter Thomas Stall and Charles Dean, this company is one of the oldest sporting goods manufacturers in America
- Summary
- Series 1, Stall and Dean's product catalogs, 1904-1973; Series 2, Stall and Dean's price lists, 1919-1966, and order blanks, 1998; Series 3, Promotional brochures, 1913 and 1926; Series 4, Catalogs of Stall and Dean's competitors, 1898-1966; Series 5, Non-sports catalogs, manuals and other printed materials, 1934-1962; and Series 6, Illustrations and graphic materials, undated
- Cite as
- Stall and Dean Co. Records, 1898-1998, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Gift of Stall and Dean Co
- Date
- 1898
- 1898-1973
- 1898-1998
- donor
- Stall and Dean Co
- Jackson, Harry
- Local number
- 1998.3088 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
