J. Walter Thompson Company. Sidney Ralph Bernstein company history files, 1873-1964, bulk 1963-1964

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Summary

Creator:
J. Walter Thompson Company and Bernstein, Sidney Ralph, 1907-1993
Abstract:
Sidney Ralph Bernstein (1907-1993) was an editor and publisher who worked in a number of positions with Crain Communications, serving as President in the 1960s and 1970s. The collection represents a commemorative history project for the J. Walter Thompson Company's centennial anniversary in 1964. The history was not published. The collection consists of research files created or compiled by Sidney Ralph Bernstein and his research assistant Marianne Keating and include transcripts of interviews; notes and excerpts copied from publications, facsimile copies, correspondence, and printed material; correspondence and memoranda; manuscripts; speeches; indexes; clippings; lists; and chronologies. The collection documents the history of J. Walter Thompson Company through printed materials as well as personal reminiscences, recollections, and evaluations of the company by its executives and other employees. Topics include agency management; agency activities during World War II; and women in the advertising industry. Executives represented in the collection include: James Walter Thompson, founder of the company; Stanley Resor, Thompson's successor as president; Denis Lanigan; Howard Henderson; Norman Strouse; Ruth Waldo; and Sam Meek. Client companies featured in the files include Chesebrough-Pond's; Kodak; Kraft; Pan Am; and Scott Paper. Acquired as part of the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History.
Extent:
4.0 Linear Feet
Language:
English.
Collection ID:
RL.00667

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists of research files created or compiled by Sidney Ralph Bernstein and his research assistant Marianne Keating and include transcripts of interviews; notes and excerpts copied from publications, facsimile copies, correspondence, and printed material; correspondence and memoranda; manuscripts; speeches; indexes; clippings; lists; and chronologies. The collection documents the history of J. Walter Thompson Company through printed materials as well as personal reminiscences, recollections, and evaluations of the company by its executives and other employees. Topics include agency management; agency activities during World War II; and women in the advertising industry. Executives represented in the collection include: James Walter Thompson, founder of the company; Stanley Resor, Thompson's successor as president; Denis Lanigan; Howard Henderson; Norman Strouse; Ruth Waldo; and Sam Meek. Client companies featured in the files include Chesebrough-Pond's; Kodak; Kraft; Pan Am; and Scott Paper.

Biographical / historical:

Sidney Ralph Bernstein (1907-1993) was an editor and publisher who worked in a number of positions with Crain Communications, serving as President in the 1960s and 1970s. The collection documents a commemorative history project undertaken to commemorate the J. Walter Thompson Company (JWT) for its centennial anniversary in 1964. In 1962 JWT executives began meeting to plan activities for the company's 100th anniversary in 1964. They decided to commission a history of JWT and asked Sidney Bernstein, then Editorial Director of Advertising Age, to oversee the project. Bernstein was granted a leave from the publication to work on the history, along with a research assistant, Marianne Keating, a JWT employee. Interviews and research materials were gathered during 1963 and 1964 and in September 1964 a manuscript was delivered to Norman Strouse for review. The history was not published.

Sidney Ralph Bernstein was born in 1907 in Chicago. He received an education at the University of Illinois and the University of Chicago. Bernstein began work at age 15 at Crain Communications. In 1930 he was named editor of a new publication, Advertising Age, and steadily rose in Crain management over a career lasting 70 years. He was named President of Crain in 1964 and Chairman of the Executive Committee in 1973. Bernstein was elected to the American Advertising Federation's Advertising Hall of Fame in 1989. He died in Chicago in 1993.

Marianne Keating was born Mariannne Bier (or Byer) in 1922 in Ritzville, Washington. She attended the University of Washington and worked as a publicist for Oscar Serlin Productions (1942-1946) and Bernard Simon (1947-1949). A musician and actress, she toured the Pacific with USO during World War II and appeared on Broadway in 1945 in "Life with Father." From 1949-1951 Marianne worked as an executive assistant at Kenyon & Eckhardt. She married John Keating (1918-1968; editor and writer for Cue magazine) in 1951 and worked as administrative assistant at Sterling Advertising (1951-1956). Marianne joined JWT in 1956 and served in a number of positions as administrative assistant and public relations writer before assisting Sidney Bernstein on JWT's corporate history project (1963-1964). Following John Keating's death in 1968, Marianne departed JWT in 1969. In 1970; she married Charles McCarty (1920-2015), a New York musician and society orchestra leader. After JWT, Marianne worked with the Markle Foundation, the Population Council, and the Stern Fund. She retired in 1984 and died in New York in 2008.

Acquisition information:
The Sidney Ralph Bernstein Company History Files were transferred to the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library by the J. Walter Thompson Company in 1987.
Processing information:

Processed by: Donna Longo DiMichele

Completed June 3, 1994

Encoded by Stephen Douglas Miller

Many of the folders contain excerpts, transcriptions, and other forms of copies of newspaper articles, reports, correspondence, and other documents. The folder dates refer to the date of original material, not the date of the copy. The folders were left in their original order.

Processing of this collection was supported in part by gifts from the J. Walter Thompson Company Fund and the John and Kelly Hartman Foundation.

Arrangement:

The collection is organized into the following series: Correspondence; Oral interview transcripts; Biographical files; International Office histories; Client files; J. Walter Thompson Company study working files; J. Walter Thompson Company history; Department files; Chapter files; and Manuscript.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

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Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in the J. Walter Thompson Company. Sidney Ralph Bernstein Company History Files have not been transferred to Duke University. For further information, see the section on copyright in the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], J. Walter Thompson Company. Sidney Ralph Bernstein company history files, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

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