Advertising

Ivory Soap Ad

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.

Date: 1940s

Direct Mail Advertising Award

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1947
ID Number
PG.006264.C
accession number
238737
catalog number
6264C

Vanity

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1947
ID Number
PG.004735
accession number
192657
catalog number
4735

Miss Rhinegold

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1944
maker
Muray, Nickolas
ID Number
PG.007913
accession number
258415
catalog number
7913

Hamburgers

Nickolas Muray color carbro photograph ca. 1944. For use in McCall's Magazine. The photograph depicts several different ways to prepare hamburgers. Recto: Signed and dated by the artist in lower right (pencil). "McCall" (pencil). Verso: "No 6" (pencil). "McCall"(pencil).
Description (Brief)
Nickolas Muray color carbro photograph ca. 1944. For use in McCall's Magazine. The photograph depicts several different ways to prepare hamburgers. Recto: Signed and dated by the artist in lower right (pencil). "McCall" (pencil). Verso: "No 6" (pencil). "McCall"(pencil). "NM-2." (pencil).
Description
Nickolas Muray was born in Szeged, Hungary on February 15, 1892. Twelve years after his birth, Muray left his native town and enrolled in a graphic arts school in Budapest. Enrolling in art school was the first step on a road that would eventually lead him to study a photographic printing process called three-color carbro. In the course of his accomplished career, Muray would become an expert in this process and play a key role in bringing color photography to America.
While attending art school in Budapest, Muray studied lithography and photoengraving, earning an International Engraver's Certificate. Muray was also introduced to photography during this time period. His combined interest in photography and printmaking led him to Berlin, Germany to participate in a three-year color-photoengraving course. In Berlin, Muray learned how to make color filters, a first step in the craft that would one day become his trademark. Immediately after the completion of the course, Muray found a good job with a publishing company in Ullstein, Germany. However, the threat of war in Europe forced Muray to flee for America in 1913. Soon after his arrival in New York, Muray was working as a photoengraver for Condé Nast. His specialty was color separations and half-tone negatives.
By 1920, Muray had established a home for himself in the up-and-coming artists' haven of Greenwich Village. He opened a portrait studio out of his apartment and continued to work part time at his engraving job. Harper's Bazaar magazine gave Muray his first big assignment in 1921. The project was to photograph Broadway star Florence Reed. The magazine was so impressed with his photographs that they began to publish his work monthly. This allowed him to give up his part time job and work solely as a photographer. It did not take long for Muray to become one of the most renowned portrait photographers in Manhattan. Muray spent much of the early 1920s photographing the most famous and important personalities in New York at the time.
In his spare time Muray enjoyed fencing. In 1927, he won the National Sabre Championship and in 1928 and 1932, he was on the United States Olympic Team. During World War II, Muray was a flight lieutenant in the Civil Air Patrol.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1944
maker
Muray, Nickolas
ID Number
PG.007929
catalog number
7929
accession number
258415

Once again… it's a Kodak Camera for Christmas

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1948
advertiser
Eastman Kodak Company
maker
Eastman Kodak Company
ID Number
2016.0066.380
catalog number
2016.0066.0380
accession number
2016.0066

Minute Maid Juice Pitcher by Tupperware

This tall, white pitcher represents two significant food-related innovations with roots in 1940s America: frozen orange juice concentrate, developed by scientists who patented the manufacturing process in 1948, and Tupperware, the polyethylene container system developed by Earl T
Description
This tall, white pitcher represents two significant food-related innovations with roots in 1940s America: frozen orange juice concentrate, developed by scientists who patented the manufacturing process in 1948, and Tupperware, the polyethylene container system developed by Earl Tupper in 1948 and sold by direct marketing to consumers in their homes.
This polyethylene pitcher, including its lid and spout cap, was sold as a promotional tie-in between Tupperware and Minute Maid juices. The pitcher is printed with an image of a smiling girl wearing a bonnet. Red lettering on the pitcher reads, "Minute Maid Large Family Size Juice Mixer." Mixing instructions and measuring lines are printed on the back.
Processors of frozen concentrated orange juice like Minute Maid recreated the flavor of fresh orange juice by adding “cut-back” (fresh juice, flavor essences, and peel oil) to the thick concentrate before freezing. At home, consumers mixed the frozen concentrate with water in pitchers of their own, or in containers like this, especially promoted for this purpose. Shipped nation-wide, the frozen concentrated product was easy to make and provided orange juice all year long when fresh-squeezed juice was prohibitively expensive.
date made
ca 1949
ca 1953 - 1955
maker
Tupperware
ID Number
1992.0605.001A-C
catalog number
1992.0605.001A-C
accession number
1992.0605

Trading Card, Gum Inc. Superman No. 47

One of a set of 72 trading card featuring Superman, included in packages of Gum Inc.'s "Superman Bubble Gum" in 1940. Each "adventure story" card features an image of Superman on the front with a connected story on the back.
Description (Brief)
One of a set of 72 trading card featuring Superman, included in packages of Gum Inc.'s "Superman Bubble Gum" in 1940. Each "adventure story" card features an image of Superman on the front with a connected story on the back. The cards are one of the earliest examples of merchandise featuring the iconic superhero.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1940
maker
Gum, Inc.
copyright holder
Superman, Inc.
associated institution
Superman of America Club
maker
Gum, Inc.
Superman, Inc.
ID Number
1987.0213.092
accession number
1987.0213
catalog number
1987.0213.092

Trading Card, Gum Inc. Superman No. 34

One of a set of 72 trading card featuring Superman, included in packages of Gum Inc.'s "Superman Bubble Gum" in 1940. Each "adventure story" card features an image of Superman on the front with a connected story on the back.
Description (Brief)
One of a set of 72 trading card featuring Superman, included in packages of Gum Inc.'s "Superman Bubble Gum" in 1940. Each "adventure story" card features an image of Superman on the front with a connected story on the back. The cards are one of the earliest examples of merchandise featuring the iconic superhero.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1940
maker
Gum, Inc.
copyright holder
Superman, Inc.
associated institution
Superman of America Club
maker
Gum, Inc.
Superman, Inc.
ID Number
1987.0213.079
accession number
1987.0213
catalog number
1987.0213.079

Ballet Dancer Marionette

Created by Roy Patton in 1940, this lovely hand carved and painted marionette was used to advertise Revlon cosmetics in a major department store in New York City.
Description (Brief)
Created by Roy Patton in 1940, this lovely hand carved and painted marionette was used to advertise Revlon cosmetics in a major department store in New York City. She is dressed in what was once an elegant silk dress adorned with flowers and sequins with tiny ballet slippers on her feet. She is operated with an airplane control and nine strings.
In the early 1940s, Revlon, a major cosmetic company, employed the use of this glamorous marionette to promote its product line at a major department store on Fifth Ave in New York City. Set against a black back drop, the female puppeteer was clothed entirely in black with just her hands and face unveiled. As the marionette danced across the store window, the audience saw only the beautifully manicured nail polish and the newest lip stick color on the puppeteer as she worked the marionette.
Roy Patton's interest in puppets began at an early age. Raised as Quakers , he and his brother Harry were taught Bible stories through puppet shows that were staged in the community. Both Roy and Harry were drawn to puppetry and became interested in creating puppets and constructing stage settings. In 1934 Roy joined the Tatterman Marionette Company and became a master carver. Roy followed a few years later as a puppeteer and set designer.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1940
user
Revlon
maker
Patton, Roy E.
ID Number
1981.0059.01
accession number
1981.0059
catalog number
1981.0059.01

Unguentine - When The Finger of Fire Touches You

Yellow oval pin with image of a flaming hand with extended finger. An image of a tube of Unguentine burn salve is on the reverse. Metal pin back.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Yellow oval pin with image of a flaming hand with extended finger. An image of a tube of Unguentine burn salve is on the reverse. Metal pin back.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1943
maker
Whitehead & Hoag Company
ID Number
2006.0098.0122
accession number
2006.0098
catalog number
2006.0098.0122

Key chain or luggage tag

An advertising novelty that can be used as a luggage tag or key chain. It consists of two pieces of sheet ivory celluloid held together at one end by a brad. Advertising copy for the Chevrolet REO Speed Wagon appears on the front and back.
Description (Brief)
An advertising novelty that can be used as a luggage tag or key chain. It consists of two pieces of sheet ivory celluloid held together at one end by a brad. Advertising copy for the Chevrolet REO Speed Wagon appears on the front and back. Inside are spaces for owner's name, address, and license number, as well as the vehicle's engine number.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1946
maker
American Art Works, Inc.
ID Number
2006.0098.1074
accession number
2006.0098
catalog number
2006.0098.1074

Tumbler

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1949
ca 1955
maker
Tupperware
ID Number
1992.0605.002
catalog number
1992.0605.002
accession number
1992.0605

Juice Mixer

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1949
ca 1953 - 1955
maker
Tupperware
ID Number
1992.0605.003
catalog number
1992.0605.003
accession number
1992.0605

Futurama World's Fair Pin

Pin commemorating the New York World's Fair, held in Queens, 1963-1964. It reads " have seen the Future, General Motors Futurama."Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Pin commemorating the New York World's Fair, held in Queens, 1963-1964. It reads " have seen the Future, General Motors Futurama."
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1939-1940
date made
1964
ID Number
1990.0542.1674
accession number
1990.0542
catalog number
1990.0542.1674

"We Can Do It!"

Artist J. Howard Miller produced this work-incentive poster for the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company.
Description
Artist J. Howard Miller produced this work-incentive poster for the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company. Though displayed only briefly in Westinghouse factories, the poster in later year has become one of the most famous icons of World War II.
As women were encouraged to take wartime jobs in defense industries, they became a celebrated symbol of female patriotism. But when the war ended, many industries forced women to relinquish their skilled jobs to returning veterans.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1942
commissioner
Westinghouse Electric Corporation
distributor
War Production Coordinating Committee
maker
Miller, J. Howard
ID Number
1985.0851.05
accession number
1985.0851
catalog number
1985.0851.05

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