Walter Weir was an advertising executive, marketing and communications consultant, and professor of advertising. He worked for a number of agencies, including N.W. Ayer & Sons, J. M. Mathes, Lord & Thomas, and Kenyon & Eckhardt. He founded Walter Weir, Inc., which merged into larger firms over the years, was co-owner of Switzerland-based La Borie/Weir S.A., and headed Walter Weir Communications, Inc. Weir also taught advertising at the University of Tennessee and Temple University, wrote three books on advertising, annonymously authored the Creative Man's Corner column in Advertising Age magazine for 25 years, and composed numerous speeches, articles, short stories, poems, songs, and musicals. The Walter Weir Papers span the years 1909 through 1996, the bulk of which cover the 1950s through the early 1990s. The collection consists of audiocassettes, audiotapes, correspondence, course materials, clippings, musical scores, photographs, presentations, proofs, print advertising copy, radio advertisement scripts, songs, speeches, writings, and voiceovers documenting Weir's career in advertising, marketing, consulting, and teaching. The collection also documents Weir's prose, poems, and musicals, as well as his relationship with son Anthony Weir. Agencies and clients represented include the Alexander Proudfoot Company, Green Thumb Corporation, Interhydro AG, Jackson & Perkins Co., La Borie/Weir SA, Ralston Purina, Stratford of Texas, Inc., Walter Weir, Inc., and Walter Weir Communications, Inc. The collection also includes materials relating to Crain Communications Inc., which published Advertising Age, as well as the University of Tennessee and Temple University, and Weir's correspondence with Oscar Hammerstein II.
The Walter Weir Papers span the years 1909 through 1996, the bulk of which cover the 1950s through the early 1990s. The collection consists of audiocassettes, audiotapes, correspondence, course materials, clippings, musical scores, photographs, presentations, proofs, print advertising copy, radio advertisement scripts, songs, speeches, writings, and voiceovers documenting Weir's career in advertising, marketing, consulting, and teaching. The collection also documents Weir's prose, poems, and musicals, as well as his relationship with son Anthony Weir. Agencies and clients represented include the Alexander Proudfoot Company, Green Thumb Corporation, Interhydro AG, Jackson & Perkins Co., La Borie/Weir SA, Ralston Purina, Stratford of Texas, Inc., Walter Weir, Inc., and Walter Weir Communications, Inc. The collection also includes materials relating to Crain Communications Inc., which published Advertising Age, as well as the University of Tennessee and Temple University, and Weir's correspondence with Oscar Hammerstein II.
This collection is organized into six series: Musical, Personal, Professional, Teaching, Writings and Speeches, and Audiovisual Materials.
The Musical Series documents Weir's work on scores and scripts for musical theatre. Much of the correspondence in this series narrates Weir's efforts to produce a musical based on the Frederic Wakeman novel The Hucksters. Includes correspondence with Oscar Hammerstein II.
The Personal Series contains biographical data about Weir and his involvement with family and friends through correspondence, clippings, greeting cards, photographs, and handwritten notes. The bulk of the correspondence documents Weir's personal and professional relationship with his son, Anthony.
The Professional Series documents Weir's career in advertising, marketing, and communications. Advertising copy, clippings, correspondence, proposals, presentations, and legal and financial papers represent Weir's work from the beginning of his career at N.W. Ayer through the evolution of his company, Walter Weir, Inc., as well as through subsequent business ventures, including La Borie/Weir SA, Walter Weir Communications, Inc., and freelance consulting work.
The Teaching Series represents Weir's work, following his official retirement from the advertising industry, as a professor of advertising, marketing and communications at the University of Tennessee and Temple University. Correspondence, course materials, and clippings document this extension of Weir's career from his introduction to and retirement from the academy.
The Writings and Speeches Series includes fiction, poetry, and non-fiction written by Weir on subjects both related and unrelated to advertising. Among these are articles published in Printer's Ink and Advertising Age; unpublished manuscripts of autobiographies, bound copies of Weir's book How to Create Interest-Evoking, Sales-Inducing, Non-Irritating Advertising; transcripts of talks and addresses Weir gave about advertising throught his career, including an address for the James Webb Young Foundation; and correspondence with Rance Crain of Crain Communications, Inc., publisher of Advertising Age.
The Audiovisual Series includes auiotapes and audiocassettes of advertising-related talks and addresses, notably for the Million Dollar Round Table Tape Cassette Program. In addition, there are radio spots for clients including Mountain Dew, E.F. Hutton, and Merril, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Beane, as well as samples of voiceovers and radio commercial productions.
Large-format print materials have been removed from their original series locations and relocated to Oversize Materials. Relocated items have been indicated in the Detailed Description of the Collection by notes enclosed in brackets.