Outdoor Advertising Collections in the Hartman Center

The Outdoor Advertising collections document many diverse topics, including the creative, technological, financial and legislative aspects of the outdoor industry; billboard architecture; public service campaigns; highway beautification efforts; retail selling; and market research. They include materials from outdoor companies, trade organizations, the personal collections of various executives and creative people who worked in the industry, and related books and periodicals. A number of these collections were processed through a generous grant awarded to Duke by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

See also: Outdoor Advertising Collections FAQ

Below is a list of those outdoor advertising collection descriptions now available on-line, including a brief description. An additional link is provided for those collections with on-line searchable collection guides (finding aids). Descriptions only (no images) of photographic material from a few of the collections below are included in a searchable database titled ROAD (Resource of Outdoor Advertising Descriptions).  Any collections with information found in this database have the word ROAD at the end of their entry.

John Brennan Outdoor Advertising Survey Reports, ca. 1947–1980 [Finding Aid]

This collection documents the professional endeavors of outdoor advertising design researcher John E. (Jack) Brennan for the time period 1947 to 1980. His work primarily consisted of conducting market surveys on the effectiveness of billboard advertisement design and layout, and reporting his findings to subscribers to advance design efficiency for the industry. [ROAD]

John E. Browning Papers, 1930–1999

Browning worked as an artist and designer in outdoor advertising in New Jersey. The collection consists of several dozen original layouts (miniature paintings, in color) for billboards, mainly for hotels, restaurants, and local attractions in New Jersey; black and white photographs and negatives, showing the same layouts as finished billboards; photos of other billboards, including one featuring the Dionne Quintuplets. The collection also contains a brief autobiographical statement outlining Browning's career.

Duplex Advertising Co. Billboard Images and Records, ca. 1964–1993 [Finding Aid]

The Duplex collection contains outdoor advertising images placed primarily in Texas. The collection consists of over 5,000 color photographs, slides, and negatives of billboards located in the central Texas area (Austin, Temple, and surrounding areas). Products and clients tend to be local rather than national. [ROAD]

Robert A. Hamer Papers, 19857–1995 and undated, bulk 1926–1995 [Finding Aid]

The Robert A. Hamer Papers span the years 1857-1995, the bulk of which document the period 1926-1995. The collection primarily documents Hamer's career in outdoor advertising with the Foster & Kleiser Company in Southern California, and touches on events in his personal life. The bulk of this collection consists of photographs of Foster & Kleiser billboards in Southern California, covering two time periods, 1926-1941 and 1951-1962. Other photographs document business activities from 1937-1977.

John F. Hogan Papers, 1928-1992 and undated, bulk 1949-1972 [Finding Aid]

The Hogan Papers span the years 1928-1992, with the bulk of the material dating from 1949 to 1972. The collection consists of photographs, contracts, printed materials, scrapbooks, and images of transit station posters and car cards that document Hogan's career placing advertising within the bus, subway and rail systems in the northeastern United States, particularly in New York and Connecticut. Several agencies and client companies are represented in the collection, including the John H. Breck, Inc. hair-care company.

Garrett Orr Papers, ca. 1890s–1994 [Finding Aid]

Orr started out as a graphic artist and went on to become the Art Director of Outdoor Advertising Incorporated (OAI) and the President of the Art Directors Club of New York. This collection documents his artistic output and includes original drawings, water colors, and paintings produced by Orr for the outdoor advertising campaigns of Gillette, Ipana, Lucky Strike, Mazola, Seagram, Verney, Viceroy, and White Rose. [ROAD]

Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) Archives, ca. 1885–1990s [Finding Aid]

OAAA is the major trade organization for the out-of-home advertising industry. This large collection includes a variety of administrative records (correspondence, minutes, conference reports, internal memoranda, position papers, legal briefs, etc.) reflecting a wide range of administrative activities and topics related to the industry (billboard construction & lighting, highway beautification, marketing strategies & trends, traffic patterns). The collection also includes numerous publications, proceedings, and reports, as well as a fair amount of visual materials (photographs of key officers, blueprints of billboard architecture, audio-visual materials). [ROAD]

The Outdoor Advertising Historical Collection, formerly a separate collection, has been integrated within the larger OAAA Archives. The bulk of this collection is found in the History Series of the OAA Archives. 

OAAAA Poster Design Collection (formerly Sketch Library), ca. 1930–1940s [Finding Aid]

Sketches of billboard advertisements representing the creative work of several outdoor advertising companies such as Foster & Kleiser and General Outdoor Advertising Co. Most of these are generic sketches that could be adapted for particular products, stores, or brands. Also includes numerous examples from the Annual Exhibition for Outdoor Art. The several hundred sketches are in black and white on 3" by 5" note cards and are arranged by product type.

OAAA Slide Library, 1891–1994 [Finding Aid]

Collection of tens of thousands of color slides documenting billboard advertising. Images document the advertising output of various billboard companies (Foster & Kleiser, General Outdoor, Patrick Media, and Eller) and appear to cover a wide variety of clients/products on primarily the national level. [ROAD]

Ohio Outdoor Advertising Corporation Records, 1929–1993 and undated [Finding Aid]

The Ohio Outdoor Advertising Corporation operated in northern Ohio from 1965-2000. The collection include clippings, corporation reports, negatives, photograph albums, photographs, poster boards, promotional materials, regional maps, slides, and trade literature that document the operational history of Ohio Outdoor and related companies. The bulk of this collection consists of photographs and slides of Ohio billboards from 1937-1993. Photograph subjects also include Ohio street locations and outdoor advertising events.

John Paver Papers, 1920–1979 [Finding Aid]

Paver worked as a research engineer for Dr. Miller McClintock in helping him create the Traffic Audit Bureau (TAB). Paver also used TAB methods to create the estimation and inspection methods of the National Outdoor Advertising Bureau. [ROAD]

Kip Pope Papers, 1931-1969 and undated.

Executive and owner of C & U Poster Advertising Co. of Champaign-Urbana, Illinois from 1983-2001. C & U was locally known for the aesthetics in its billboards, which blended well into their surroundings. The collection includes correspondence, certificates, pamphlets, and reports related to the OAAA Traffic Safety Poster Campaign. Also included are agreements between plant owners and Outdoor Advertising Inc. In 2001, C & U was sold to the Adams Outdoor Advertising Company of Georgia.

R. C. Maxwell Company Records, 1904–1990s [Collection Description]

Billboard advertising company founded in 1894 in Trenton, New Jersey. Collection consists chiefly of photographic prints and negatives of the company's billboards and other advertisements set primarily in New Jersey, with some in Philadelphia, Pa. and other localities. The thousands of photos show outdoor advertising in its rural or urban settings, complete with people, cars, shops, theaters, and boardwalks, thus providing vignettes of 20th century American society. Business records include articles of incorporation and various account information. Also included are sample mechanicals of the billboard art in process. [ROAD]

Additional information and a limited number of pre-1929 images from the R. C. Maxwell Company Collection are available online in the Emergence of Advertising in America image database. 

Burr L. Robbins Papers, 1936–1975 and undated [Finding Aid]

Burr Lamberton Robbins was an executive and president of General Outdoor Advertising Company from 1951 to the 1960s. The Burr L. Robbins Papers span the years 1936-1975, and chiefly consist of three scrapbooks containing photographs, clippings, periodicals, memorabilia, and promotional materials.

Howard Scott Papers, 1921–1984 [Finding Aid]

Scott was a billboard and graphic artist from the 1930s to the mid-1960s. The collection consists of personal papers and advertising art that document the career of Scott. Biographical materials as well as original art, sketches, lithographs, and reprints of advertisements for Amoco, Budweiser, Chesterfield, Essso, Ford, Nash, U.S. Navy, Pabst Beer, Schlitz Beer, USO, and the 1940 World’s Fair are included. [ROAD]

Strobridge Lithographing Company Advertisements Collection, ca. 1910–1954 [Finding Aid]

The collection consists of black and white photographs of signs and billboards for a wide variety of products and placed primarily in Ohio. A guide to the collection contains a photocopy of each print.

War Effort Mobilization Campaigns Poster Collection, 1942–1945 [Finding Aid]

The War Effort Mobilization Campaigns Poster Collection spans the years 1942–1945 and contains reproductions of billboards designed by the War Advertising Council that promote various government campaigns during World War II.

Books and Periodicals

In addition to the unique archival collections listed above, the Hartman Center houses a large book and periodical collection related to various aspects of sales, advertising and marketing research across much of the 20th century. There are over 1,000 books and trade journals that address artistic, legal, architectural, engineering, and social aspects of posters and other out-of-home advertising.