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 29 items.
Page 1 of 3
[Hairlox container] [cellulose acetate photonegative]
- Notes
- BROKEN IMAGE LINK
- Date
- 1940
- 1960
- photographers
- Scurlock Studio (Washington, D.C.)
- Local number
- AC0618.004.0000144.tif (AC Scan)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
Panama Hat
- Description
- In 1975, on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California, Wally Amos opened his first chocolate chip cookie bakery. For years, this agent for performers such as Marvin Gaye, Bobby Goldsboro, and Dionne Warwick had loved making cookies, using his Aunt Della's recipe. The little cookies with pecans and lots of chocolate bits were favorites among Amos's Hollywood clients and friends in the entertainment industry. They convinced him to open his own cookie business, giving birth to Famous Amos Cookies.
- Within a few years over two dozen Famous Amos cookie outlets had opened across the country. Retail cookie tins featured Wally Amos wearing a trademark straw hat and cotton shirt, clothing that he donated to the Smithsonian in 1980. The hat and shirt had become symbols of grass roots entrepreneurship and a mainstream African American business.
- By the mid–1980s, Famous Amos Cookies had outgrown their founder. The business went through a series of new owners before its purchase by Keebler in 1998. Years earlier Wally Amos had turned to another interest, making personal appearances as a motivational speaker and writer, using the skills he had learned in the entertainment and baking industries to inspire audiences to follow their dreams, wherever they might lead.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- ca 1980
- user
- Amos, Wally
- ID Number
- 1980.0886.01
- accession number
- 1980.0886
- catalog number
- 1980.0886.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
"Famous Amos" Shirt
- Description
- In 1975, on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California, Wally Amos opened his first chocolate chip cookie bakery. For years, this agent for performers such as Marvin Gaye, Bobby Goldsboro, and Dionne Warwicke had loved making cookies, using his Aunt Della's recipe. The little cookies with pecans and lots of chocolate bits were favorites among Amos's Hollywood clients and friends in the entertainment industry. They convinced him to open his own cookie business, giving birth to Famous Amos Cookies.
- Within a few years over two dozen Famous Amos cookie outlets had opened across the country. Retail cookie tins featured Wally Amos wearing a trademark straw hat and cotton shirt, clothing that he donated to the Smithsonian in 1980. The hat and shirt had become symbols of grass roots entrepreneurship and a mainstream African-American business.
- By the mid–1980s, Famous Amos Cookies had outgrown their founder. The business went through a series of new owners before its purchase by Keebler in 1998. Years earlier Wally Amos had turned to another interest, making personal appearances as a motivational speaker and writer, using the skills he had learned in the entertainment and baking industries to inspire audiences to follow their dreams, wherever they might lead.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- ca 1980
- referenced
- Amos, Wally
- ID Number
- 1980.0886.02
- catalog number
- 1980.0886.02
- accession number
- 1980.0886
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Ivory Soap. It Floats. [Print advertising.] The Century Magazine. 1891
- Summary
- Illustration (lithograph?): African American boy with Ivory soap bar boat. Heading, "Proprietary Articles," with note, "Drawn for the Century Co."
- Date
- 1891
- advertiser
- Procter & Gamble Company
- Local number
- Ivorydata4 168
- 0207910158 (Scan No.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
[Hairlox container] [cellulose acetate photonegative]
- Date
- 1940
- 1950
- photographers
- Scurlock Studio (Washington, D.C.)
- Local number
- AC0618.004.0000143.tif (AC Scan--too dark)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
[African American woman model for Noxzema Skin Cream : black and white photoprint]
- Notes
- In Box 30
- Summary
- Unidentified model has "Afro" hair style. Photographer unidentified
- Cite as
- Cover Girl Oral History and Documentation Project, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1969
- [ca. 1969]
- 1960-1970
- advertiser
- Noxell Corporation
- Local number
- 04037432.tif (AC Scan)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
[Two African American men with top hats with advertising for Higgins German Laundry Soap : black and white photoprint
- Notes
- In Afro-Americana section, Box 2, Folder 25
- Cite as
- Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1870
- 1890
- [ca. 1879-1890]
- 1880-1890
- photographer
- Block, B. Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
- advertiser
- Higgins German Laundry Soap
- Local number
- 0300600334.tif (AC Scan)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
[Christmas gift ideas for men : color advertsement]
- Notes
- In Box 15, Folder 8
- Summary
- Pages 48 and 49 of Sibley's 1977 Christmas catalog showing gloves, belts, razor, socks and an African American man modeling a bathrobe; photographer unidentified
- Cite as
- Gladys Reid Holton Ephemera Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1977
- 1970-1980
- advertiser
- Sibley's
- Local number
- AC0466-0000022.tif (AC Scan)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
When was the last time you got promoted? [color advertisement; tear sheet]
- Summary
- A young woman standing in an office. Army recruiting information
- Cite as
- N. W. Ayer Advertising Agency Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
- Date
- 1971
- 1970-1980
- advertiser
- United States Army
- Local number
- AC0059-0000029 (AC Scan)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
Country Music, [color advertisement; tear sheet]
- Summary
- Army band playing and marching toward the camera taking the photograph. Photographer unknown
- Cite as
- N. W. Ayer Advertising Agency Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
- Date
- 1980
- 1990
- Circa 1980
- 1980-1990
- advertiser
- United States Army
- Local number
- AC0059-0000044 (AC Scan)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
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