The Iconographic Collection spans the years 1848-2005 with the bulk of materials dating between 1940 and 1985, and includes black-and-white and color photographs, negatives, slides, contact sheets, photograph albums, and microfiche. It is an artificial collection created to document the facilities, key events, advertising highlights and corporate culture of the J. Walter Thompson Company (JWT). Domestic and international offices are included, with the New York, Chicago and London offices being the most heavily represented. Key executives include James Walter Thompson, Stanley and Helen Landsdowne Resor, Don Johnston, Dan Seymour, Norm Strouse, and E.G. Wilson. Client advertising includes Ford, Kodak, Chesebrough-Pond's, Lever Brothers (Unilever), and Warner-Lambert. Notable photographers whose work appears in the collection include Fabian Bachrach, Ralph Bartholomew, Cecil Beaton, Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Philippe Halsman, Horst P. Horst, George Hurrell, Yousuf Karsh, Baron Adolf de Meyer, Bill Ray, Jean Raeburn, Edward Steichen, Thomas Veres, Brett Weston and Dorothy Wilding.
Restrictions on Access: Reproduction-quality copies of Pond's Advertising Photographs may not be produced for non-JWT users.
Processed by Richard Collier, Caitlin Harding, Ashley Urquhart, January 2009
Encoded by Richard Collier, March 2009
Accessions 791003B, 800414, 800915, 810226B, 810712, 860129C, 91-099, 92-023, 93-036, 93-081, 93-140, 93-141, 96-050, 96-147, 00-385 were merged into one collection, described in this finding aid.
Collection is arranged into eight series: Corporate Events; Office Photographs; Officers and Staff Photographs; Negatives; Pond's Photographs and Negatives; Slides; Thomas Veres Photographs and Negatives; and Oversize Materials.
Corporate Events includes photographs of some of JWT's art and artifact collections as well as of meetings, seminars and anniversary parties of company-wide significance. Office Photographs document interiors and exteriors of JWT's domestic and international office buildings. Officers and Staff Photographs primarily feature senior-level management, but there are also publicity photographs and group portraits of departments, sports teams, and employee outings. Negatives comprise negatives associated with the Corporate Events, Office Photographs, and Officers and Staff Photographs Series. Pond's Photographs and Negatives include portraits of celebrities and socialites taken by leading photographers for Pond's beauty products advertising campaigns. Slides consist primarily of monthly advertising highlights as well as materials assembled for presentations. Thomas Veres Photographs and Negatives consist of work performed by Veres under contract to JWT, primarily of company events and staff. Oversize Materials include large-format materials pulled from other series.
