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 127 items.
Page 1 of 13
"Chic" Helps and Hints
- Description (Brief)
- Promotional booklet with celluloid cover. Red, green, and black print on front. Color image of a woman's face and purple flowers. Black, red, and blue print on back cover. Image of a box of Pennyroyal Pills. Interior contents include calendars for the years 1904-1907; advertisements for Chichester products; beauty and health hints; legal maxims; states' nicknames; and more.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1904
- advertiser
- Chichester Chemical Co.
- maker
- Whitehead & Hoag Company
- ID Number
- 2006.0098.0504
- accession number
- 2006.0098
- catalog number
- 2006.0098.0504
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Decimal Equivalents of SRB Products
- Description (Brief)
- Celluloid mathematical table for decimal equivalents. Square with interior dial, the front bears an image of an wheel with ball bearings. Images of various ball-bearing products are on reverse. It is an advertisment for Standard Roller Bearing Company.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1910
- maker
- Standard Roller Bearing Company
- ID Number
- 2006.0098.0513
- accession number
- 2006.0098
- catalog number
- 2006.0098.0513
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Advertising notebook for health tonics
- Description (Brief)
- Plastic notebook with color advertisements on cover. One side has image of a bottle of "Tono Sumbol" and reverse has image of "Liquid Pancreopepsine."
- "Tono Sumbol", a patent medicine tonic and cordial, was a speciality of William R. Warner of Philadelphia, PA. It's active ingredient was sumbol, a stimulant and tonic made from balsamic resin.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- after 1895
- advertiser
- William R. Warner and Company
- maker
- Whitehead & Hoag Company
- ID Number
- 2006.0098.0753
- accession number
- 2006.0098
- catalog number
- 2006.0098.0753
- 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
Insurance Company of North America
- Description (Brief)
- Pocket card with ruler and calendar for 1935. The front of the card has an image of the Insurance Company of North America's "new building." Back reads: "Oldest American Fire and Marine Insurance Co. Founded 1792 A Philadelphia Institution"
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1935
- advertiser
- Insurance Company of North America
- maker
- Bastian Bros Company
- ID Number
- 2006.0098.0572
- accession number
- 2006.0098
- catalog number
- 2006.0098.0572
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
The Louis Bergdoll Brewing Company
- Description (Brief)
- Notebook advertising piece for the Louis Bergdoll Brewing Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The notebook's plastic cover has black print on front and back. On the front is the trademark image of a griffin, and describes the products as "Old Style Lager Beer // Protiwiner Export & Lager Beer." Reverse shows as image of a factory. Inside is a history of the company, a poison antidote list, calendars for 1905-1907, various other facts and miscellania, and many blank, lined paper pages.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1905
- advertiser
- Louis Bergdoll Brewing Company
- maker
- Whitehead & Hoag Company
- ID Number
- 2006.0098.0756
- accession number
- 2006.0098
- catalog number
- 2006.0098.0756
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Photograph of Vegetable Hodgepodge for Burpee Seed Co.
- Description
- Frederick Eugene Ives (1856–1937) was a brilliant man interested in patenting his ideas (the first in 1881), but not so much in licensing them. Ives's first three-color single exposure camera was patented in 1899. Over the next thirty years, Ives patented a variety of cameras and printing processes for color photography. After the Smithsonian hosted a show of Ives's photography company's work in late 1949 or early 1950, Associate Curator Alexander Wedderburn selected five prints for the color photography portion of the Photographic History Collection. This photograph represents the culmination of Ives's long series of patents and work with color photography.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1940s
- maker
- Ives Color Processes, Inc.
- ID Number
- PG*4680
- accession number
- 187952
- catalog number
- 4680
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Dixie Lye / Old Hickory
- Description (Brief)
- Cloth tape measure in round plastic case. The case is white with blue print and features an image of "Dixie Lye" on one side, and "Old Hickory Smoked Salt Curing Recipe" on the other. Both are products of the Pennsylvania Salt Manufacuring Company.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- after 1919
- advertiser
- Pennyslvania Salt Manufacturing Company
- maker
- Parisian Novelty Company
- ID Number
- 2006.0098.0782
- accession number
- 2006.0098
- catalog number
- 2006.0098.0782
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Philadelphia Contributionship Fire Mark
- Description (Brief)
- Beginning in the 1750s, some American insurance companies issued metal fire marks to policyholders to signify that their property was insured against fire damage. The fire marks bore the name and/or symbol of the insurer, and some included the customer’s policy number. The company or agent would then affix the mark to the policyholder’s home or business. For owners the mark served as proof of insurance and a deterrent against arson. For insurance companies the mark served as a form of advertising, and alerted volunteer firefighters that the property was insured.
- The Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire issued this fire mark for policies 334 and 335 to Jacob Cooper for four properties, at numbers 118, 120, 122 and 124 on Cuthbert Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1755. The fire mark consists of the company’s symbol cast in lead showing four hands clasped at the wrist painted red, attached to a varnished shield-shaped wooden backing. The Philadelphia Contributionship was established in 1752, becoming the first successful fire insurance company in America. Benjamin Franklin was one of its founding members. The Contributionship began as a mutual insurance company and this concept is represented by its “Hand in Hand” fire mark. The Philadelphia Contributionship is still in operation.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1755
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 2005.0233.0344
- accession number
- 2005.0233
- catalog number
- 2005.0233.0344
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Philadelphia Contributionship Fire Mark
- Description (Brief)
- Beginning in the 1750s, some American insurance companies issued metal fire marks to policyholders to signify that their property was insured against fire damage. The fire marks bore the name and/or symbol of the insurer, and some included the customer’s policy number. The company or agent would then affix the mark to the policyholder’s home or business. For owners the mark served as proof of insurance and a deterrent against arson. For insurance companies the mark served as a form of advertising, and alerted volunteer firefighters that the property was insured.
- The Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire issued this fire mark for policy number 413 to William Bromwich of 102 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1758. The fire mark consists of the company’s symbol cast in lead showing four hands clasped at the wrist, attached to a varnished shield-shaped wooden backing. The Philadelphia Contributionship was established in 1752, becoming the first successful fire insurance company in America. Benjamin Franklin was one of its founding members. The Contributionship began as a mutual insurance company and this concept is represented by its “Hand in Hand” fire mark. The Philadelphia Contributionship is still in operation.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1758
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 2005.0233.0345
- accession number
- 2005.0233
- catalog number
- 2005.0233.0345
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center