J. Walter Thompson Company. Domestic advertisements, part 1, 1875-2001 and undated, bulk 1920s-1990s

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View — J. Walter Thompson Ford Motor Co. Advertisements, 1944-2001

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Summary

Creator:
J. Walter Thompson Company
J. Walter Thompson Company
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 domestic advertisements collection consists of print advertisements created by the U.S. offices of the J. Walter Thompson Company (JWT), in a variety of formats: magazine, newspaper, color, black-and-white, proofs, tearsheets, negative transfers, clippings, and small number of sketches for outdoor advertising installations. Some advertisements are accompanied by insertion schedules that provide the dates and names of the magazines or newspapers in which the advertisement appeared. Advertisements sometimes feature work from artists including Charles Schulz and Norman Rockwell, and photographers like Edward Steichen, Irving Penn, and Baron De Meyer. Acquired as part of the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History.
Extent:
362.0 Linear Feet
Language:
English.
Research Center:
John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History
Collection ID:
RL.00687

Background

Scope and content:

The Domestic Advertisements Collection consists of print advertisements created by U.S. offices of the J. Walter Thompson Company (JWT). The bulk of the collection dates from the 1920s and after, but a few examples are available from as early as 1875. Print advertisements appear in a variety of formats--magazine, newspaper, color, black-and-white, proofs, tearsheets, negative transfers, clippings, along with a limited number of sketches for outdoor advertising installations. Some of the advertisements feature work from notable artists, such as Norman Rockwell, and photographers like Edward Steichen, Irving Penn, and Baron De Meyer. In addition to the actual advertisements, the files dating from the 1910s to 1950s often contain "insertion schedules" that provide the dates and names of the magazines or newspapers in which a given advertisement appeared. In general, proofs for JWT's long-time clients have been saved more systematically than those for accounts that JWT did not hold for a long time. The collection does not include advertisements which have been transferred to microfilm (see the JWT Microfilm Collection). Also, advertisements created for clients that JWT lost prior to the 1940s are less likely to have been saved, although some were microfilmed and are still available in that form. For some JWT clients there are no print advertisements at all in this collection. Among the most extensive files of print advertisements are those for the following JWT clients: Champion Spark Plug, Chesebrough-Ponds, Eastman Kodak (Instamatic, Pocket Instamatic, and Disc cameras, Kodak film), Ford Motor Company (consumer and dealer advertisements), R.T. French, Irving Trust Bank, J. Walter Thompson Company ("house advertisements"), Kraft Foods (including Kraft cheeses, Miracle Whip, Philadelphia Cream Cheese, and Velveeta), Lever Brothers (Lifebuoy, Lux, Close Up, Mrs. Butterworth), Pan American World Airways (passenger jet travel, cargo transportation), Radio Corporation of America (RCA) (RCA Victor recordings, consumer goods, National Broadcasting Company), Reader's Digest, Scott Paper, Seven-Up, Standard Brands (Chase and Sandborn, Fleischmann, Royal, Tenderleaf tea), and Warner-Lambert (primarily Listerine, including advertisements produced by the Lambert and Feasley agency).

The collection is continued by the J. Walter Thompson Company. Domestic advertisements, part 2.

Biographical / historical:

Beginning in 1919 the New York Office of the J. Walter Thompson Company began to systematically retain the advertisements it had created. The Statistical and Information Department, renamed the Information and Records Department in the 1920s, arranged the advertisements in scrapbooks. Initially, most of the advertisements preserved were tear sheets, the actual advertisements clipped from newspapers and magazines. By the 1930s, however, the department retained the final printers' proofs for magazine advertisements. The scrapbooks therefore began to be called "proof books."

In the 1950s the responsibility for creating proof books fell to individual account groups. In addition to the account group proof books, a file clerk under the supervision of the Traffic Department maintained proofs. When no longer of current use, the file clerk transferred the proofs to a storeroom or records center. Throughout these years, individuals who helped create campaigns or who managed an account sometimes would maintain personal proof books.

In 1977 the New York Office established a Creative Library. Its responsibilities included the preservation on microfilm of all print advertisements, which was done for most of the 1980s. Imprints are located in the JWT Microfilm Collection; the originals were apparently destroyed after microfilming. The Creative Library has made an effort to create files of work from all major U.S. offices, so work from Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., is better represented in the collection from the late 1970s and after. Where known, the office that created the advertisements is noted in the container list. In addition, JWT subsidiaries such as Brouillard Communications or Lord Geller Federico and Einstein (LGFE) are noted where their work has been identified.

Acquisition information:
The Domestic Advertisements Collection was initially transferred to the Rubenstein Library from the J. Walter Thompson Company (JWT) in 1987 and has had additions each year since then.
Processing information:

Processed by Craig Fleishman

Encoded by Richard Collier, Craig Fleishman

Completed February 23, 2001

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

A supplementary container list provides greater intellectual access by rearranging the alphabetically-sequenced clients of this list into broad product categories. It is appended to this document.

This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.

Arrangement:

The Collection is organized into three series--Main Files, Small Files, and Oversize Materials--that reflect both the size of the holdings for each client as well as the physical location of the advertisements. Within each series, clients are arranged alphabetically and then the advertisements are arranged chronologically. The Main File Series includes clients for which at least one box of materials has been preserved. The Small Files Series includes clients for which less than one box of advertisements has survived.

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 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. Domestic Advertisements, part 1, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

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