General JWT Office Files, 1886-2003 and undated

Extent:

9 boxes

Scope and content:

Includes materials relating to general corporate administration, management, and corporate history. Arranged into four subseries: Clippings and Photographs ; Company History ; Corporate Administration ; and Correspondence .

Clippings and Photographs consist of newspaper and magazine articles from both domestic and foreign newspapers and magazines as well as photographs, correspondence, newsletters, and telegrams that pertain to the articles, including from Strouse's period at the Detroit Office. Includes materials on outdoor advertising campaigns. Arranged chronologically. Additional items in oversize boxes.

Company History contains correspondence, memoranda, transcripts, writings and a report, related to the history of JWT. Colin Dawkins, a writer for the J. Walter Thompson Company, collected information for a history of the company. This subseries contains the correspondence between Dawkins and Strouse in regard to Dawkins's research. The correspondence includes general information about JWT, especially management, as well as information specifically about Strouse's experiences in the company. The subseries includes copies of some early company correspondence, including: J. Walter Thompson's resignation; letters from Stanley Resor to JWT employees Rae H. Smith and Loyd R. Coleman; and to E.J. Copeland of Nash Motors regarding Kelvinator. There is a commentary by Lewis Mumford concerning the company library for employees, begun by Helen Lansdowne Resor. Some correspondence refers to materials in the Detroit Series, Ford Motor Company Subseries; and the Corporate Administration Series. "Basic Roots of the J. Walter Thompson Company" is an historical overview of the company compiled by Vice President Howard Henderson. It describes JWT's driving principles and policies and compares it with other agencies, including their standings in worldwide competition. "Basic Roots" also includes case histories of some company clients and their products for the period from about 1904 to the 1920s. Items are arranged by type of material, then chronologically. The transcripts are restricted until written permission from the interviewee's heirs is obtained. See also in the JWT Archives: Colin Dawkins Papers , Howard Henderson Papers , and Charles Raymond's memoir in the Company History and Reminiscences Collection .

Corporate Administration consists of correspondence, memoranda, reports, billing and organizational charts, notebooks, clippings, and scrapbooks, and includes information on general management concerns and decisions regarding staff, including assignments and compensation; operating expenses; and the succession of top management positions in the 1950s. The subseries documents Mr. Strouse's transition to the presidency and the management reorganization of the New York office, including the establishment of the Executive Team, the Administrative Committee, the Operations Committee, and the Review Boards. Documentation of personnel policy issues is scattered throughout the subseries, especially in regard to upper levels of management. There are also descriptions of the responsibilities of various positions and the professional relationships between various JWT staff members. Strouse wrote numerous memoranda evaluating the course of management policies and changes as well as future prospects for change, including those that would occur as a result of retirements. Memoranda on various aspects of forward planning are scattered throughout the series. Also includes information on the acquisition of new clients and the satisfaction of current clients, trends in advertising, billings, profits, and stock holdings. Contains information about other advertising companies, including comparisons of total billings, market distributions, and evaluation of staff who were under consideration for recruitment to JWT. The Company Image folder includes information on the architectural and interior design of the New York offices as well as discussions of the impressions of the company held by other companies and the public. Materials on public relations document responses to two articles by Arno H. Johnson of the JWT Research Department and a third article, "The Best Advertisements from Reader's Digest, 1955-1961," which Strouse had mailed to members of Congress and other federal government officials and some corporate leaders. Arranged with correspondence and memoranda at the beginning, followed by topical files in alphabetical order, and then further divided into Writings and Speeches and Clippings . All folders are arranged chronologically therein. See also Oversize Materials.

Correspondence includes general correspondence files relating to both Norman Strouse's business and private dealings, and documents general management issues; responses to promotions and retirements; and Strouse's visits to international offices. Primarily consists of Strouse's reading files of letters and memoranda written to executives of various JWT offices, business colleagues, friends, and other associates. Some files, though containing mostly correspondence, also contain clippings, brochures and other materials concerned with the issues discussed in the correspondence. Strouse's personal letters in this series detail his serious interest in books, book collecting and printing. All of the correspondence dating after Strouse's retirement in 1968 is personal. Arranged chronologically. See also Oversize Materials.

Some items have a reference to a numbered letter (e.g., letter #9); these numbers refer to letters in the J. Walter Thompson Company History subseries. Arranged by type of material, then subject. See also Oversize Materials.

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