J. Walter Thompson Company. Competitive advertisements, pre-1955 group, 1907-1965

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Summary

Creator:
J. Walter Thompson Company and John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History
Abstract:
Founded in 1864, the J. Walter Thompson Company (JWT) was one of the oldest and largest advertising agencies in the United States. It was headquartered in New York. In 2023 the agency was absorbed into marketing and communications firm VML. The collection includes newspaper and magazine print advertisements for companies and consumer products that competed with those of JWT clients. Product categories include airlines; alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages; bus and cruise lines; cosmetics; food; hair preparations; health products and drugs; household appliances and furnishings; radios and televisions; railroads; shaving preparations and toiletries; and tobacco products. Acquired as part of the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History.
Extent:
85 Linear Feet
Language:
Material in English
Collection ID:
RL.00676

Background

Scope and content:

The collection nominally spans the period before 1955, but some cross-filing occurred over time during its use as a working resource for JWT staff so the collection actually includes materials dating to the 1960s. The collection includes newspaper and magazine print advertisements for companies and consumer products that competed with those represented by JWT. Product categories include airlines; alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages; bus and cruise lines; cosmetics; food; hair preparations; health products and drugs; household appliances and furnishings; radios and televisions; railroads; shaving preparations and toiletries; and tobacco products.

Due to the age of the materials, some items are in a fragile state and should be handled carefully.

Biographical / historical:

Founded in 1864, the J. Walter Thompson Company (JWT) was one of the oldest and largest advertising agencies in the United States. It was headquartered in New York. In 2023 the agency was absorbed into marketing and communications firm VML.

The competitive advertisements formed a reference resource of advertisements produced by other advertising agencies for products, services and institutions that competed with those represented by JWT's own clients. JWT staff within the New York Office's Information Center clipped advertisements from a selected list of newspapers and magazines and filed them by product category; the practice began in the early 1900s and continued until the late 1990s. It is a unique collection, as few other agencies are known to have maintained a similar collection of their competitor's work, and no other agency is known to have sustained such a systematic and wide-ranging practice for so long.

After receiving the JWT competitive ads, the staff of what was then Duke's Rare Book, Manuscript & Special Collections Library split the collection and initially processed materials that dated from 1955-on. Selected portions of the pre-1955 competitive advertisements were segregated for the library's "Ad Access" and "Medicine and Madison Avenue" digitization projects undertaken around 1999-2000. Processing of the present portion of the competitive advertisements makes the collection in its entirety publicly available to researchers for the first time.

Acquisition information:
The J. Walter Thompson Company. Competitive advertisements, pre-1955 group were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a gift from the J. Walter Thompson Company in 1989.
Processing information:

Processed by Richard Collier, Nov. 2025

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 this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of 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. Competitive advertisements, pre-1955 group, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Permalink:
https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/m1qj1p