About Emergence of Advertising in America (EAA)

The Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920 (EAA) presents over 3,000 items relating to the early history of advertising in the United States. The materials, drawn from the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University, provide a significant and informative perspective on the early evolution of this most ubiquitous feature of modern American business and culture.

Research Guide

Please consult our Research Guide for Emergence of Advertising in America.

Preferred Citation

Emergence of Advertising in America - Ad #R0108
John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History
Duke University David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library
https://repository.duke.edu/dc/eaa

Copyright Information

Research, Teaching, Private Study, General Interest User Information:

The images and texts on this web site have been made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. For these purposes you may reproduce (print, make photocopies, or download) materials from this web site without prior permission, on the condition that you provide proper attribution of the source in all copies (more...)

This site includes historical materials that may contain negative stereotypes or language reflecting the culture or language of a particular period or place. These items are presented as part of the historical record.

About the Project

Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920 (EAA) is a project made possible by grant funding to Duke University from the 1998 Library of Congress/Ameritech National Digital Library Competition. The award has enabled the Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History, in cooperation with the Duke Library's Digital Scriptorium, to make rare advertising history resources available via the World Wide Web. Duke University is greatly honored to be a recipient of one of the 11 LC/Ameritech grants awarded in the 1997/98 competition. EAA presents over 3,000 items that illustrate the rise of consumer culture, especially after the American Civil War, and the birth of a professionalized advertising industry in the United States.

The images are drawn from over a dozen separate collections in the Hartman Center and Duke's David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. The project organizes the materials into eleven categories. In most of those categories the images shown represent only a portion of a particular collection or series. For EAA we selected representative images, including primarily items or pages that are especially informative and visually interesting. We chose not to scan some items that are "near duplicates," some pages of dense text from books and pamphlets, and items that are very large (technically challenging) or significantly damaged. The purpose of the project is to make a range of important, interesting, and rare advertising items widely available for study and research, enhancing the usefulness of the illustrative material with essays, a timeline, and bibliographies. Advertising, as has been noted by many commentators, is such a pervasive feature of American life that our culture from the late 19th century onward cannot be fully understood without studying ads and the industry that created them.

Copyright and Citation

Research, Teaching, Private Study, General Interest User Information:

Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.

Commercial, Broadcast, Mirroring, etc. User Information:

Any other use that does not fall under the above requirements, including but not limited to commercial or scholarly reproductions, redistribution, publication or transmission, whether by electronic means or otherwise, without prior written permission of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library is strictly prohibited. Users must contact the Library to request permission to use materials in any manner that does not meet the above requirements. Persons wishing to broadcast or publish this material must assume all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright or other use restrictions.

How to obtain reproductions:

Due to the varying nature of the items represented in the Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850 - 1920 project, there may be different copyright or other reproduction restrictions that apply to each collection. If you would like to reproduce materials from this site in a way that does not fall under fair use, please contact the Research Services Department of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Specify what advertising items you are interested in (by the database number). We will be able to inform you of any reproduction restrictions on a case-by-case basis. In some cases, we may be able to supply you with publication-quality slides or scanned images of the items you are requesting, so if you are interested in using materials in this format, please let us know.

How to cite materials:

When using advertisements from the EAA project, please acknowledge their source by clearly stating the name of the collection, the database number, the name of the project, the collection name, and the name of the library. Also include the URL of the project's main page. An example is noted below:

Emergence of Advertising in America - Ad #A0160
John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History
Duke University David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library
https://repository.duke.edu/dc/eaa

Acknowledgements

The Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850 - 1920 Project (EAA), generously funded through the Library of Congress/Ameritech Digital Library Competition, is the result of teamwork and coordination between two centers at the Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript & Special Collections Library, now the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

The majority of advertising materials are part of the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History; the staff of the Hartman Center provided selection, subject and processing information. The Digital Scriptorium staff dealt with the digitization of the ads, file management, image and data conversion, and placement on the web.

Staff Members:

Digital Scriptorium Staff:

Lynn Eaton: EAA Project Manager

Overall project management including workflow and scanning, interface design and Web site creation, quality control of images and data, EAD and TEI encoding, and student management.
Stephen Miller: Project Manager for the William Gedney Photographs and Writings Project

Assisted the EAA Project with Perl scripting, Dynaweb programming, and image conversion.
Paolo Mangiafico: Director of the Digital Scriptorium

Assisted the EAA Project with Java scripting, Dynaweb programming, image conversion and quality control.
Steve Hensen: Consultant

Hartman Center Staff:

Ellen Gartrell: Director of the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History. EAA Project Director
Ginny Daley: Hartman Center Technical Services Archivist
Jacqueline Reid: Hartman Center Reference Archivist

Special thanks to all of the Duke University students who worked on the EAA Project:

Andrew Barco
Lydia Boyd
Adrienne Brueggemeyer
Jordan Capps
Teresa Chung
Ryan Denniston
Justin Essig
Eliza Glaze
Sunil Hari
Brian Leach
Shu Wen Ng
John Royall
Cat Saleeby
Brad Siegele
Amardeep Singh
Shannon Smith
Sunil Soman
Kristen Stenvall
Heather Swagart
Rosalyn Tang
Jonathan Torrens
Kelly Woo
Amy Yuen