About the Digital Collection »
The Resource of Outdoor Advertising Descriptions 2.0 (ROAD 2.0) project comprises images related to outdoor advertising from the twentieth century. It originated as a metadata-only database in 2003, funded by an grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Later, using a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), Duke University Libraries digitized many of the images described in the original database. The digitized version of the collection launched in spring 2011 with over 22,000 items selected from four archival collections: the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) Archives, the OAAA Slide Library, and the papers of prominent outdoor advertising figures John Paver and John Brennan. A fifth collection, the R.C. Maxwell Company Records, was digitized as a complement to the NHPRC grant-funded collection, and was added to the ROAD installation later in summer 2011. ROAD 2.0 is now a portal to over 31,000 outdoor advertising images.
Some materials and descriptions may include offensive content. More info
Source Collection
This digital collection comprises selected materials from the following archival collection at David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library:
Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) Archives 1885-2023
Collection #RL.00963 | 290.0 Linear Feet; 3.9 Gigabytes
ABSTRACT
The Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) is the largest professional organization for the out of home media industry in North America. It was formed in 1925 through the merger of the Painted Outdoor Advertising Association and the Poster Advertising Association. In 2019 the name changed to the Out of Home Advertising Association of America. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. The collection documents the operations and activities of the OAAA, the primary professional organization for the outdoor advertising industry in the U.S. The collection also includes materials pertaining to the OAAA's predecessor organizations such as the Poster Advertising Association, Associated Bill Posters, the Painted Outdoor Advertising Association, and the International Bill Poster's Association of North America. Outdoor advertising companies and organizations represented in this collection include: AC Nielsen; Advertising Council; Advertising Federation of America; American Association of Advertising Agencies; American Automobile Association; Association of National Advertisers; Daniel Starch; Foster and Kleiser; General Federation of Women's Clubs; General Outdoor; Institute of Outdoor Advertising (IOA); National Outdoor Advertising Bureau (NOAB); National Safety Council; R.C. Maxwell; Simmons Market Research; Traffic Audit Bureau (now Geopath); United Advertising; University of Notre Dame; War Advertising Council; and Wilbur Smith. There is some information on the international outdoor industry as well, especially Canada and the England/U.K. The collection includes correspondence, directories, published materials (such as technical and periodic reports, newsletters and bylaws), membership records, texts of speeches, articles and clippings, minutes of association meetings, and industry publications. Topics include advertising and highway zoning law; energy policy; traffic safety; and public service messages including propaganda support for wartime activities.
The preservation of the Duke University Libraries Digital Collections and the Duke Digital Repository programs are supported in part by the Lowell and Eileen Aptman Digital Preservation Fund
