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

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Collection is open for research.
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Summary

Creator:
J. Walter Thompson Company, Bernstein, Sidney Ralph, 1907-1993, and John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History
Extent:
4 Linear Feet (approximately 3000 items)
Language:
English.
Collection ID:
RL.00667

Background

Scope and content:

The Sidney Ralph Bernstein Company History Files span the years 1873 to 1964, but the bulk of the material dates from 1963 to 1964. The collection consists primarily of research files containing 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 files were created by Sidney Ralph Bernstein and Marianne Keating, his research assistant, for a commemorative history of the J. Walter Thompson Company at the time of its centennial anniversary. The history was not published. The collection documents the history of J. Walter Thompson Company, especially through personal reminiscences, recollections, and evaluations of the company by its executives and other employees; advertising executives; women in the advertising industry; and J. Walter Thompson, founder of the company.

The Correspondence Series documents the planning phases of the project and the selection of Sidney Ralph Bernstein from a pool of prospective authors. Company executive Milton Moskowitz was primarily responsible for arranging the project but the Executive Committee approved all aspects of it. Bernstein's and Keating's research activities are described throughout the series. The correspondence includes biographical material about various company leaders, including William James Carlton and Stanley B. Resor, and information about the 1918 tax law case against the J. Walter Thompson Company.

A substantial part of the project included interviewing company employees about their personal experiences and about clients. The transcripts of the interviews are in the Oral Interview Transcripts Series. Most of the interviews were indexed and provide access to four areas of information: Agencies and associations, accounts, personalities, and selected topics.

The Biographical Files Series has varying quantities of information about officers and staff, some derived from printed sources and some from personal narratives. Most of the files contain information about more than one executive or staff member since, in many of the narratives, subjects discuss other employees. The International Office Series also contains personal narratives about office histories, chronologies, and client relations. Subjects in the Client Files Series that have the most documentation include Chesebrough-Pond's, Eastman Kodak Company, Kraft Foods Company, Pan American World Airways, and Scott Paper Company.

The topical files in the J. Walter Thompson Company Study, Working Files Series comprise a collection of information on various topics, most of which was created by the J. Walter Thompson Company agency or its executives. The Chapter Files Series includes genealogical information about Mr. J. Walter Thompson and his family. Most of the files in the Chapter Files Series are collections of research material to be used in the manuscript; there are no chapter manuscripts in the series.

Biographical / historical:
Date Event
1962, Feb.-1964, July
Executives in the J. Walter Thompson Company begin to discuss the preparation of a publication for the company's centennial year; potential authors are reviewed
1963, July
Sidney Ralph Bernstein agrees to write the history; granted leave from Advertising Age where he was Editorial Director
1963, Aug.
Marianne Keating, a J. Walter Thompson Company staff member, assigned as Bernstein's research assistant
1963-1964
Research materials collected, interviews conducted
1964, Sept.
Manuscript reviewed by Norman H. Strouse
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, 1961-1968; Oral interview transcripts, 1963-1964; Biographical files, 1916-1964; International Office histories, 1946-1964; Client files, 1916-1967; J. Walter Thompson Company study, working files, 1916-1959; J. Walter Thompson Company history, 1873-1964; Department files, 1931-1964; Chapter files, 1873-1964; and Manuscript, 1964.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

Using These Materials

Using These Materials Links:

Using These Materials

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, 1873-1964, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

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