The J. Walter Thompson advertising agency has coined some of the most famous advertising slogans of this century, including Oscar Mayer's "My Bologna has a first name..." and the Marines Corps' "We're looking for a few good men." Due to a generous donation nine years ago, the story behind these ad campaigns and others like them are available at the University for all to see.
In 1987, the University was selected to be the recipient of the most complete and informative corporate record of modern advertising when the J. Walter Thompson agency donated its corporate archives to the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing, a division of the Special Collections Library.
Over a half-mile of shelf space-when laid carton-to-carton-houses Special Collection's most heavily used material, which includes advertisements in print, film, video and audio from all over the world dating back to before 1900. The archives also include the internal records of the company.
The oldest and most comprehensive ads in the collection are for Thompson's client, Kraft Foods. Other clients represented over the past three decades are Oscar Mayer, Ford, Kodak, Parker Pen and Quaker Oats. Advertisement collections dating back over a century allow the study of enduring brands.
Almost 10 years ago, Thompson advertising chose the University as the home for its archives on the basis of the library's proposal.
"They have the security of knowing the archives are in excellent hands in a place where people care about them and want to manage them," said Ellen Gartrell, director of the Hartman Center. "We can provide service to the business and at the same time provide a resource to scholars and the general public."
Professor of cultural anthropology William O'Barr, who based his book "Culture and the Ad" on the archives, played an instrumental role in the proposal process, influencing Thompson to locate its archives at the University.
Working on a University research grant to study the expansion of American advertising agencies in other countries, O'Barr traveled to the former Thompson archives in New York once a week for 10 weeks in 1987.
That same year, the agency began exploring other options for its archives when maintenance costs became too high in New York.
"It was a matter of being in the right place, at the right time," O'Barr said. "When they looked at the proposal they saw that Duke was really interested in this part of American history. This is a major resource and our commitment was strong, significant and compelling."
Thompson's archives are now only an hour's plane ride from company headquarters in New York. The University and Thompson work well in this mutually beneficial relationship, O'Barr said.
Thompson uses the archives to resurrect a sense of history for special company events. For the 100-year anniversary celebration, pictures were found of the original directors and used during the celebration. To lure potential employees, Thompson brings evidence from the archives to demonstrate the heritage of the agency, said Lisa Wells, director of Thompson Company Relations in Chicago.
"We try to establish a sense of 'You are working for the advertising agency to hire the first female creative director and produce the first TV spot,'" Wells said.
Aside from advertising, the company's internal records include newsletters and publications dating back to 1887, personnel files, market and product research reports, press clippings and releases and the Board of Director's minutes dating back to 1896.
The University's adoption of the archives is unique in the advertising industry, Gartrell said. There are few other places where records are available for public scrutiny. Advertising giant Leo Burnett does not open their company archives to the public, and Ogilvy & Mather does not even have an established archives.
As advertising changes with the times so does this collection. Recently, the Chicago office added several hundred scrapbooks of magazine and newspaper advertisements. Additionally, in December 1995, the Center received 346 cartons of material from the company's Frankfurt, Germany office.
Visitors have come from 125 universities and more than 12 countries to take advantage of the archives. Several major books on advertising and culture have drawn from the archives as well.
In 1996, for the first time, a travel grant research opportunity was offered by the Hartman Center to faculty, graduate students and independent researchers planning to spend a minimum of two weeks at the University doing research in the archives. The seven awardees come from five countries and intend to meet with students regarding their research.
In addition to researchers from afar, students in classes such as O'Barr's "Advertising and Society" use the archives.
All students can access the archives in the Special Collections Library or on the web. The site is accessible at http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/hartman/.
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