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 72 items.
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- No Image Available
Joseph Magnin Poster Collection, 1963-1968
- Notes
- Chain of department stores, begun in 1913 by Joseph Magnin, based in San Francisco. The chain closed in 1984, due to bankrupty
- Summary
- Fifty-one color posters and fifty-two black-and-white posters (sometimes called advertising slicks) from the Joseph Magnin Department Store, designed by the fashion illustrator Betty Brader-Ashley
- Cite as
- Joseph Magnin Poster Collection, 1963-1968, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Gift of Donald and Ellen Newman Magnin
- Date
- 1963
- 1963-1968
- creator
- Magnin (Joseph) Stores
- donor
- Magnin, Ellen Newman
- Magnin, Donald
- designer
- Brader-Ashley, Betty 1924-1986
- Local number
- 03035504 (AC Scan)
- 2002.3007 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
Letter Press & Lithographic Printing Inks [Poster]
- Summary
- Poster album. Chinese man in traditional Qing garb, purple. Man is seated, behind him is image of a gate. Behind gate on left and right are men dressed in white, holding standards
- Date
- 1902
- The Ault & Wiborg Co.advertiser
- Frank B. Swick
- Local number
- AC0060-0000134 (AC Scan No.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
Letter Press & Lithographic Inks [poster]
- Summary
- Poster album. Poster printed in Orange, gray, green, black and tan. Woman in tan kimono dancing with orange sahs and fan. Woman in lower right corner kneeling, playing with ball. Taken from the Poster Album
- Date
- 1902
- The Ault & Wiborg Co. advertiser
- Frank B. Swick
- Local number
- AC0060-0000135 (AC Scan No.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Eskimo Pie Corporation Records, 1921-1996
- Notes
- Eskimo Pie, invented by Christian Kent Nelson in 1920, was possibly America's first chocolate-covered ice cream bar, although other inventors contested this. The company's use of Arctic and Eskimo imagery (and polar bears) in their packaging, marketing and advertising campaigns was a distinctive feature, with interesting implications for the relationships between anthropology and ethnic references in popular culture
- Summary
- Printed advertisements, photographs (including negatives and slides), sales presentation materials and packaging; patent and legal information, clippings, posters, scripts for radio commercials, sheet music for jingles, etc. Also includes personal papers (correspondence) of Christian Nelson, inventor of the Eskimo Pie
- Cite as
- Eskimo Pie Corporation Records, 1921-1996, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1921
- 1921-1996
- 20th century
- 1890-1920
- creator
- Eskimo Pie Corporation
- author
- Nelson, Christian Kent 1893-1992
- Local number
- 96-3185 to 96-3186 (OPPS slides of collection items)
- 1996.3046 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
SS United States Poster
- Description
- The phrase Newest, Largest and Fastest on this 1952 poster captures the excitement surrounding the launching of the SS United States. Designed by naval architect and marine engineer William Francis Gibbs and built in Newport News, Virginia, the ship was delivered to its owners, the United States Lines, in 1952. It immediately took its place as the most modern (Newest) liner on the transatlantic route and the pride of the U.S. passenger fleet.
- At launching, the SS United States was unquestionably the Largest U. S.-flagged passenger ship and the largest of the United States Lines’ fleet. Although at 990 feet in length it was slightly smaller than Britain’s 1,019-foot-long liner the Queen Mary, the SS United States could still carry about the same number of passengers while displacing significantly less water. The emphasis on size is suggested by the two smoke stacks (funnels) featured prominently on the poster. The funnels vented the combustion gases from the vessel’s four propulsion plants into the air. At the time, these structures were the largest ever built for this purpose. The company claimed that the funnels were so large that ten automobiles could be lined up side by side in each of them.
- In terms of speed (Fastest), there was no contest. The poster artist conveys speed with the looped arrow and one can speculate that the loop represents the round-trip voyage on the ship’s regular service between the East Coast of the United States and Europe (New York / Havre / Southampton on the poster). The maiden voyage of the SS United States broke all records for a round trip with an average speed of 35.59 knots, or 39.50 miles per hour. The ship’s fastest speed was 38.32 knots, or 44 miles per hour. This speed was achieved by four separate steam turbine propulsion systems driving four separate propellers, each measuring 18 feet in diameter. Together these units produced 240,000 shaft horsepower.
- The superlative nature of the SS United States was summed up by the British humor magazine Punch when it commented, on the arrival of the ship in port on her maiden voyage: “After the loud and fantastic claims made in advance for the liner United States, it comes as something of a disappointment to find them all true.”
- ID Number
- 1991.0856.13
- catalog number
- 1991.0856.13
- accession number
- 1991.0856
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- No Image Available
Helen May Butler Collection, 1899-1937 (bulk ca. 1902)
- Notes
- Helen May Butler, woman bandmaster, directed an all-women traveling military band, 1898-1913. "Music for the American people, by American composers, played by American girls" was one of the band's mottoes. Born in New Hampshire in 1873, she pursued a variety of musical studies and became an accomplished performer in both violin and cornet. She announced candidacy for a U.S. Senate seat in 1936
- Summary
- The materials cover the career of a woman bandmaster with an all ladies' traveling military band, 1898-1913 , with the bulk of the material ca. 1902. Includes clippings, photographs, programs, posters, postcards, advertising fliers, letters, telegrams, biographical article announcing candidacy for U.S. Senate seat, and "The Flood of 1937" section of the Cincinnati Post, February 13, 1937
- Cite as
- Helen May Butler Collection, 1899-1937, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1899
- 1899-1937
- bulk ca 1902
- 1930-1940
- 1890-1920
- 1900-1950
- 1880-1900
- 1930-1950
- donor
- Young, Helen May Butler
- collector
- Musical Instruments, Division of (NMAH, SI)
- Subject
- Butler, Helen May 1873-19??
- Helen May Butler's Ladies Military Band
- United States. Senate
- Local number
- 242392 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Food Preservation and Home Canning Literature, 1883-1980
- Notes
- Dr. Green was a professor at Ohio State University, whose hobby was the study and collection of articles pertaining to the home preservation of food
- Summary
- Printed materials on various aspects of food preservation, including canning, pickling, freezing, and other methods. Recipe books, instruction manuals, posters, brochures and pamphlets issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, by manufacturers of food products, and by manufacturers of canning and preserving products and devices; also newsletters published by bottle and jar collecting hobby groups. A large percentage of the publications in the collection were published during World War II, and relate to preserving food to ensure an adequate food supply during the war years
- Cite as
- Food Preservation and Home Canning Literature, 1883-1980, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1883
- 1883-1980
- donor
- Green, Mary E
- collector
- Work and Industry, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Extractive Industries, Division of
- Local number
- 2007.3132 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
"We Can Do It!"
- 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
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Poster, You Bet I'm Going Back to Sea
- Description
- During World War II, the United States government recognized that full public support and dedication to the war effort was essential to victory. To bolster support, the government hired artists to create propaganda posters, designed to promote patriotism with simple, catchy slogans and colorful images. Toiling factory workers, thrifty home front mothers, and fearless soldiers were among the most popular images used by artists to communicate the message.
- This 1942 poster commissioned by the War Shipping Administration encouraged a specific mission, designed to attract former seamen back into the Merchant Marine. At the time, American shipyards were producing cargo ships faster than crews could be assembled, forcing recruiters to rely not only on new volunteers, but also to persuade experienced mariners to leave retirement and go back to sea.
- The creation of incentive posters mainly fell under the watch of the Office of War Information, a government agency created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in June 1942 to consolidate public information services and coordinate the sanctioned release of war news. The OWI reviewed and approved the content of newsreels, radio broadcasts, and billboards, in addition to producing hundreds of posters. Initially, the most pressing message to be communicated through posters was a warning to Americans about the dangers of discussing sensitive information like production schedules and troop movements that could be overheard by enemy spies. Over the course of the war, posters covered a variety of topics, such as encouraging the purchase of war bonds and galvanizing the work force at shipyards to keep production going on the assembly line.
- date made
- 1942
- commissioned poster
- War Shipping Administration
- directed poster program
- Office of War Information
- ID Number
- 1991.0856.07
- catalog number
- 1991.0856.07
- accession number
- 1991.0856
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- No Image Available
Marlboro Oral History and Documentation Project, ca. 1940-1986
- Notes
- Philip Morris, Inc. was originally a British company dating from 1847. Incorporated in U.S. 1919; overseas division established 1955. Diversified by acquiring paper, beer, soft drink, and packaged goods companies; became largest U.S. tobacco company. Marlboro cigarettes introduced 1924, "reintroduced" 1954. "Marlboro Country" is a landmark advertising campaign in which western American imagery became the motif for Marlboro cigarettes. By 1963, the "Marlboro Country" campaign had become the exclusive imagery for advertising the cigarette
- Dr. Scott Ellsworth, oral historian, conducted interviews, 1985-1987, with 60 persons associated with Marlboro advertising and marketing. 27 interviews were conducted overseas, in Argentina, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Hong Kong, Switzerland, and West Germany
- Summary
- Documents the development of Marlboro cigarette advertising, 1954-1986, through oral history interviews and related print and electronic media. Print ads, posters, and commercials complement the interviews by providing visual records. Additional information in Research, Interviewee, and Administrative files to place individuals and advertisements into historic context
- Interviewees (listed below) include Philip Morris executives, advertising agency personnel, photographers, production staff, sales and marketing personnel, and cowboys who modelled for print ads and television commercials
- Series 4: includes (A) proof sheets from the Marlboro Country campaign, 1981-1986; (B) Marlboro posters in English, Spanish, and German, 1984-1985; (C) 35mm color slides of Marlboro print advertisements (2 sets), 1927-1986; (D) Marlboro television commercials, 1955-1986 (master and researcher videotapes); (E) Marlboro radio commercials, 1956-1957 and 1986
- Cite as
- Marlboro Oral History and Documentation Project, 1954-1986, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1940
- 1986
- ca 1940-1986
- 20th century
- 1940-1990
- 20th Century
- 1980-1990
- 1960-1990
- 1950-2000
- donor
- Philip Morris, Inc
- interviewee
- Nunez, Raul
- Marx, Dick
- Arguelles, Rafael
- Adams, Hall
- Zinn, Manfredo
- Fockler, Knut
- Landry, Jack
- Kwan, William
- Gil, Felipe
- Kwong, Goddard
- interviewer
- Ellsworth, Scott Dr
- interviewee
- Jarrard, Tom
- Winfield, Darrel
- advertising agency
- Leo Burnett, Inc
- Local number
- 1989.3098 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
