The Ben Rosen Papers span the years 1936 to 2006, with the bulk of the collection dating from 1945 through 1991, and document Rosen's sixty-year career in graphic design and visual communications consulting. The collection contains materials in a variety of formats, including correspondence, writings, graphic design and printed materials, sketches, presentation boards, photographs, and slides, that document design concepts and programs (corporate logos, letterhead, packaging, industrial design, promotion). Rosen developed corporate visual identity programs and packaging designs, first as an employee of J. Gordon Carr and Associates and the Blaine Thompson Company, and later through his own firm, Ben Rosen Associates, for clients including American Loose Leaf, CCMI McGraw-Hill, Equitable Life Assurance, Exxon/Esso, Food Fair Stores, IBM, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, North American Reinsurance, Philip Morris, Richardson-Vicks, Russ Berrie, and Tishman Realty and Construction. The collection also includes manuscripts and published editions of Rosen's books on graphic design and typography: Type and Typography (1963); The Corporate Search for Visual Identity (1970); and Digital Type Specimens (1991); and touches on several of Rosen's commmemorative projects, including a memorial for President John F. Kennedy, a United Nations 20th Anniversary book, and Rosen's submission to the World Trade Center Memorial design competition.
The collection is organized into five series: Personal Files, Writings, Business Files, Client Files, and Photographic Materials. The Personal Files Series includes original student drawings and sketches from Rosen's years at Cranbrook and Pratt, and later artwork; World War II materials, primarily relating to Rosen's proposed plan to the British government for the conversion of U.S. military bases into postwar British housing; and limited biographical material. The Writings Series contains articles on package design and visual communications by Rosen and others; manuscripts, published volumes, and promotional materials for Rosen's books; and unpublished book concepts and manuscripts. The Business Files Series includes administrative records, new business presentations, reference files and scrapbooks of creative output from several advertising and graphic design firms where Rosen was an employee or partner. The Client Files Series consists primarily of visual communications design work for a number of clients, and materials relating to several commemorative projects. The Photographic Materials Series contains negatives, photographs, and slides documenting some of Rosen's designs.
Processed by Casey A. Jarrin and Richard Collier, Oct. 2006
Encoded by Casey A. Jarrin and Richard Collier
Completed Nov. 2006
Accessions 2005-0104, 2006-0008, and 2006-0019 were merged into one collection, described in this finding aid.
Corporate visual identity encompasses a wide range of media and materials, from logos and letterhead designs to employee manuals, product packaging, architectural signage and company vehicle markings, and thus pose particular challenges for archival housing and description. Housing needs to accommodate the variety of formats have forced some related materials within the collection to be dispersed across a number of physical and descriptive locations. Where feasible, materials removed from their original locations in the collection have been indicated by a folder or item title appearing in brackets within the finding aid, to preserve the logical location of the item while pointing to its new physical location.
