Advertising and Publicity Collections

Advertising and Publicity: Selected Modern Manuscript and Archival Collections

The following collections are accessible through finding aids in the Special Collections Research Center.
Finding aids that have been converted to digital form can be searched in the online finding aids database.

For more detailed information on holdings, please contact the Special Collections Research Center.

• Archival Biographical Files. HTML Guide
  Biographical information on University of Chicago faculty members, officers, trustees, staff members, and other individuals related to the University. Materials include biographical data sheets, curriculum vitae, obituaries, press releases, articles, and news clippings.
• Archival Photographic Files. HTML Guide
  Collection containing more than 70,000 photographs related to the University of Chicago, its faculty, trustees, students, alumni, and staff. The photographs are arranged in five series visually documenting different aspects of the University's history: Individuals and Groups; Buildings and Grounds; Events; Student Activities; and Sports.
• Louis E. Asher. Papers. 1898-1926.
  1.5 linear feet.
  Advertising manager and general manager, Sears, Roebuck & Co.
  Papers include correspondence with Richard W. Sears on advertising policy; advertising copy written by Richard W. Sears; sample letters sent to prospective customers; advertising account sheets; photostats of advertising placed in catalogs and magazines; and copies of Sears, Roebuck & Co. employee publications.
• William Benton. Papers. 1925-1973.
  306.5 linear feet.
  Advertising executive, Benton & Bowles; Chairman of the Board, Encyclopaedia Britannica; Vice-President and Trustee, University of Chicago; U.S. Senator.
  Files on incorporation and reorganization of Benton & Bowles advertising agency; materials, including market research and final copy, concerning advertising campaigns for General Foods, General Motors, Safeway, Chrysler, Alka-Gum, and other companies; correspondence and reports on development and promotion of Muzak, Encyclopaedia Britannica, and the Great Books series; and memoranda and reports on public relations and communications consultant projects for the United Nations Geneva Conference, Voice of America, Committee on Economic Development, and other organizations and institutions.
• Fairfax M. Cone. Papers. 1947-1970.
  85.5 linear feet.
  Advertising executive, Foote, Cone & Belding; Trustee, University of Chicago.
  Correspondence with clients such as Beatrice Foods, General Foods, Kimberly-Clark, Hallmark, and Kraft Foods; correspondence with other advertising agencies; correspondence, printed materials, and reports related to professional organizations such as the Advertising Council and the Committee for Economic Development; lectures and addresses dealing with advertising; and manuscript drafts of Cone's autobiography, With All Its Faults (1969).
• Morris Fishbein. Papers. 1912-1976.
  67.5 linear feet.
  Physician, editor, and columnist.
  Correspondence concerning Fishbein's editorship of the Journal of the American Medical Association, including standards and policy for advertising from the pharmaceutical industry; columns and publications promoting public medical education and attacking medical quackery; one thousand birth announcements sent to Fishbein's "Tonics and Sedatives" column for the JAMA; and offprints, clippings, advertisements, and other print material related to Fishbein's books and articles in Medical World News, McCall's, Harper's, Good Housekeeping, Family Health, Women's Home Companion, and other publications.
• John Gunther. Papers. 1922-1970.
  204 linear feet.
  Journalist and author.
  Manuscripts, research notes, and galleys for Taken at the Flood: The Story of Albert D. Lasker, including notes from interviews with members of the Lasker family, and with William Benton, Fairfax Cone, Sheldon Coons, Emerson Foote, Don Francisco, Samuel Goldwyn, Earle Ludgin, David Noyes, David Sarnoff, and others. Research notes, interviews, manuscripts, correspondence, and proofs related to Gunther books including Inside Europe, Inside U.S.A., Inside Russia Today, Behind the Curtain, Roosevelt in Retrospect, The Riddle of MacArthur, and Death Be Not Proud. Clippings of magazine articles by Gunther, reviews of his work, and biographical articles on Gunther and his career.
• Frances Hooper. Papers. 1928-1976.
  14 linear feet.
  Advertising executive, Frances Hooper, Inc.
  Correspondence and proofs concerning advertising campaigns for Wrigley Co. chewing gum, including advertising placements in magazines for women, parents and teachers, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, and 4-H members; Wrigley advertising copy for grocery store promotions; and publicity and advertising materials for other clients including the Arizona Biltmore Hotel, Simplicity and DuBarry patterns, Mary Imogene Shepherd Beauty Products, and the Good Teeth Council for Children.
• Nathaniel Kleitman. Papers. 1900-1990.
  35 linear feet.
  Professor of Physiology, University of Chicago.
  Records of early investigations into the physiology of sleep, among them experiments on the sleep cycle conducted by Kleitman and an associate in Mammoth Cave. Scrapbooks with magazine and newspaper clippings of advertisements for products claiming to be aids to sleep or wakefulness, including mattresses, sheets, pajamas, blankets, air conditioners, train travel, bubble gum, and beverages from blended whiskey and decaffeinated coffee to malted milk, grapefruit juice, tea, and bouillon.
• Motion Picture Stills Collection. 1925-1935.
  87.5 linear feet.
  A collection of over 30,000 photographs documenting American films and film personalities from the mid-1920s to the mid-1930s; over 180 scrapbooks containing ca. 10,000 magazine clippings of actors and actresses; about 300 glass lantern slides of coming attractions; folders containing approximately 200 scenes from Vitaphone films, and approximately 150 marquee cards. Some of the stills appear to be unique; others provide documentation for films that have been lost or preserve previously unknown shots of famous screen personalities. The finding aid to the collection is supplemented by card files containing biographical and production data.
• Walter P. Paepcke. Papers. 1912-1961. Finding Aid
  66.5 linear feet.
  Chairman, Container Corporation of America; Trustee, University of Chicago.
  Materials on Container Corporation of America's "Great Ideas of Western Man" advertising campaigns utilizing works of modern art, including advertising and publicity files, correspondence and memoranda of the company's art and design department, and clippings related to advertising placement and public reactions. Files on Paepcke's other art, design, and philanthropic interests, among them the International Design Conference, School of Design, Goethe Bicentennial Foundation, Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies, and the Great Books Foundation.
• Charles H. Rosenfeld. Papers. 1906-1974.
  19.5 linear feet.
  Manager, Seiders-Mather Co.
  Materials on motivational salesmanship and sales techniques; reports, training publications, posters, and placards on sales management and moneymaking methods; material on sales talks, sales contests, and other promotions; Seiders-Mather Pivot Man motivational letters series; copies of Seiders-Mather company publications; and printed materials from other salesmanship and motivational firms including Sheldon-Claire, Co., C. J. Howard Co., Kelly-Read Co., Stevens Davis Co., Dartnell Corp., and United Premium Sales and Service.

See also manuscript and archival collections related to Economics and Business.