It’s a sad news day with the report that North Carolina-native Andy Griffith has died at age 86. Best known for his role as sheriff of the fictional Mayberry, Griffith is also a prominent figure in our AdViews Collection of vintage television commercials. Along with commercials for the Andy Griffith Show, Griffith advertised for a number of products, including Scope mouthwash, Post cereals, and Gaines dog food.
Video links available through the AdViews digital collection.
Doris Duke at Shangri-La, ca. 1960-65. From the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Historical Archives.
As we cruise into summer after another busy semester, here’s a rundown of some notable recent news stories about the Rubenstein Library:
New York’s Museum of Arts and Design is preparing an exhibition entitled “Doris Duke’s Shangri La: Architecture, Landscape, and Islamic Art,” according to GalleristNY. The story features a beautiful photo from the Doris Duke Papers on the Shangri La Residence here in the Rubenstein. The exhibition is scheduled to open on September 7, 2012.
Twostories in the Durham Herald-Sun document the Rubenstein Library’s May 15 event to celebrate the publication of Reynolds Price’s final memoir, Midstream, and the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of his first book, A Long and Happy Life.
The Raleigh News and Observerreported on Durham County Library’s Comics Fest. Rubenstein Assistant Curator Will Hansen spoke about the Library’s comic book collections on a panel entitled “Comics Go to College” with colleagues from Duke and UNC.
The May/June issue of Duke Magazine features a piece on advertising pioneer David Ogilvy, whose career is documented in the Kenneth Roman Papers; an article about Princess Irene’s 1967 visit to Duke by University Archivist Valerie Gillispie; and a column on the American Family Robinson radio serial, rare acetate discs of which are preserved in the Randy Riddle Collection of Race Records and Radio Programs.
Look for more exciting news about the Rubenstein Library in the coming months!
Special Collections Library reading rooms often require special equipment to view non-traditional record formats such as VHS players, cassette players, microfilm readers, etc. The Rubenstein Library recently welcomed a new piece to the set: a desktop computer.
Rubenstein Library Research Services staff check out the reading room's new e-records computer work station.
Though public computers have been available in our reference room for a long time to assist in finding and requesting physical materials in the reading room this new machine has been designed to support providing local access to electronic records and audio/video materials.
Some of the materials you can explore on the computer include:
Please join us next Tuesday for the second talk in the series. Charlotte Beers, former CEO of Ogilvy & Mather and Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs will talk about women, leadership and advertising. She will also sign copies of her new book, I’d Rather Be in Charge, which will be available for purchase. The event is free and open to the public.
The 20th Anniversary Lecture Series is sponsored by the Duke University Office of the Provost, Fuqua School of Business, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, Markets & Management Studies, Duke Marketing Club, Alpha Kappa Psi, American Advertising Federation-Raleigh Durham, Association of Women in Business, Baldwin Scholars, and the Duke Administrative Women’s Network.
Post contributed by Jacqueline Reid Wachholz, Director of the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising, and Marketing History.
The John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History at Duke University celebrates its 20th Anniversary in 2012 with a lecture series of advertising luminaries. Please join us next Tuesday for the first talk in the series. Kenneth Roman, former CEO of Ogilvy & Mather and author of The King of Madison Avenue will present“David Ogilvy: The Original Mad Man” and sign books afterwards. The event is free and open to the public.
The 20th Anniversary Lecture Series is sponsored by the Duke University Office of the Provost, Fuqua School of Business, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, Markets & Management Studies, Duke Marketing Club, Alpha Kappa Psi, American Advertising Federation-Raleigh Durham, Association of Women in Business, Baldwin Scholars and the Duke Administrative Women’s Network.
Oreo celebrates its 100th birthday today, marking the anniversary of its introduction on March 6, 1912, by the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco). It went on to become the best-selling cookie in the United States during the 20th century. To commemorate the occasion, Nabisco, now owned by Kraft, has launched a new birthday-cake flavored Oreo and a website where you can share Oreo moments or send Oreo-grams.
1952 advertisement for Oreos
A hundred years of twisting and dipping the black and white cookie also means a hundred years of advertising Oreos to potential consumers. The Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History has a number of historic Oreo advertisements in its collections. The earliest print ads show Oreos alongside other Nabisco products, such as the Uneeda Biscuit and Lorna Doone Shortbread. These advertisements typically featured a young boy in a yellow raincoat. This character was developed by Philadelphia-based advertising agency N.W. Ayer & Son to highlight the effectiveness of Nabisco’s innovative moisture-proof packaging (called In-er-seal) in an era when other biscuits were packed by grocers in paper bags. Ads urged consumers to “look for the red seal.”
1923 advertisement for Oreos
Oreo has had several name variations during its long life. It entered the world as “Oreo Biscuit,” changed to “Oreo Sandwich” in 1921 and then to “Oreo Creme Sandwich” in 1948. Now it’s just “Oreo” and billed as “Milk’s Favorite Cookie.” Nabisco introduced Double Stuf Oreos in 1975 and the Fudge Covered Oreos (pictured, below right) in 1987, just in time for the cookie’s 75thbirthday. Now the brand is sold worldwide – you can even get Green Tea Oreos in China and Japan!
Post contributed by Liz Shesko, Reference Intern, Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising, and Marketing History.
1988 advertisement for Fudge-Covered OreosGrocer's promotional display for Oreos, ca. 1900-1930
Eastman Kodak announced yesterday that it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company has had a long struggle to reinvent itself in the digital photography age, having been a pioneer in the industry. The 132-year-old business has had a long and colorful history using advertising to promote its products. Through its advertising, Kodak taught the world what was worthy of picture taking. Think about it: before there were cameras, there were only illustrations and paintings to visually document people, places, and events. With the advent of photography, things could be depicted much more quickly and easily, but people needed to be shown how to use the new technology and inspired to capture images on film. In the multitude of print ads created over the company’s life, Kodak showed us examples of what could be photographed: weddings, graduations, holidays, births, proms, etc. These ads are literally and figuratively “snapshots” of American life.
Due to Eastman Kodak’s bankruptcy declaration, these digitized ads have received quite a bit of attention this week. Here are a few links to articles using Kodak ads from the Hartman Center’s collections:
What better way to ring in the new year (okay, we’re a couple of weeks late) than with a roundup of exciting new acquisitions from the second half of 2011? All of these amazing resources will be available for researchers in the Rubenstein Library in 2012 and for years to come!
Stereograph of John Wesley Powell with a Native American. From the Powell Expedition Photograph Album.
Powell Expedition Photograph Album: A remarkable album of 539 photographs taken during John Wesley Powell’s Second Expedition along the Colorado River in 1871-75 by John K. Hillers, E. O. Beaman, and James Fennemore. The photographs include landscapes of the Western states and documentary photographs of Native Americans, especially the Paiute tribe. Part of the Archive of Documentary Arts. Look for more information on this album in the Biblio-file column in the January-February 2012 Duke Magazine.
Case book of Dr. Philip Turner. From the Philip Turner Papers.
Philip Turner Papers: Documents from the life and career of Dr. Philip Turner (1740-1815), Surgeon General for the Eastern Department of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. The manuscript collection contains correspondence, medical returns, printed materials, records from northeastern field and city hospitals, and ledgers documenting Turner’s career as a surgeon in private practice, in the Continental Army, and in the United States Army. Part of the History of Medicine Collections. More information about this important collection of early American medical history is coming soon!
The Door in the Wall, And Other Stories, by H. G. Wells: This 1911 limited edition of Wells’s science fiction and fantasy stories features stunning photogravure illustrations by the vorticist photographer Alvin Langdon Coburn.
For Sally: Topper Toys advertised a line of Suzy Homemaker® products for girls who were “square” because they washed regularly, wore shoes rather than beads, and got “more fun out of being a cook than a kook.” Rebellious Sally will surely love spending the day cleaning with her new Vacuum and Super Sweeper, baking Dad a chocolate cake with the High Speed Mixer and Safety Oven, and then getting gussied up at the Vanity before she sneaks out to see Glen. The perfect gift to reinforce traditional gender roles (or perhaps the best way to create a feminist)!
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For Roger Sterling: What could be better than Milton Bradley’s Drop in the Bucket game, the highlight of the next office holiday party! Apparently it was “so zip-zap new” that you would be “hailed like Columbus for discovering it.” Who else would have the nerve to strap a net to his waist as coworkers try to drop “bouncy cubes” in it? Just add a few martinis and watch the merriment commence!
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For Megan: Jewelry is the obvious choice for Don’s new young wife, and nothing says “I love you” more than the tagline “Fake hair, fake nails, fake lashes, but real jewelry.” Only the best for his lovely bride!
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For Betty: Don still has a soft spot for his ex-wife, so he needs to find something that says “Merry Christmas and I’m sorry I never told you my real name.” How about astrology soap on a rope! “Boldly sculptured” in “fragrances and colours to match every personality,” I’m sure he will find the one that fits Betty’s polished, repressed and passive aggressive nature.
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And Don, don’t forget Rover! French’s People Crackers for Dogs would be the perfect choice for the furry member of his family. The dog can literally take a bite out of the mailman, the policeman, and even the dogcatcher!
Don will surely be thirsty after all that shopping. Since he is cutting back on alcohol, why unwind with some drink ideas from Campbell’s Soup? Perhaps he could make Tomato Ice by freezing Tomato Soup, or chill some Consommé until it jellies and serve it with “a lemon slice, cucumber or sour cream.” And who doesn’t love Beef Broth on the Rocks “poured right from the can over ice”? That’s what we call “Mmm Mmm Good!” (This ad is from the Roy Lightner Collection of Antique Advertisements.)
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Happy Holidays from the Hartman Center!
Post contributed by Jackie Reid, Director of the Hartman Center, and Liz Shesko, Hartman Center intern.
This was another busy semester for Rubenstein librarians, who taught or co-taught more than 70 classes between September and early December! The classes ranged widely in subject, from feminist comics to medical history.
One exciting event, nicknamed “Anatomy Day,” brought 100 medical students to the Gothic Reading Room to investigate historical anatomical atlases and other books and manuscripts from the History of Medicine Collections. Rachel Ingold, Curator of the History of Medicine Collections, led a team of Rubenstein librarians in presenting these treasures to the students.
Rachel Ingold, Curator of the History of Medicine Collections
A few of the Duke classes that met in the Rubenstein Library this past semester are:
Beyond Wonder Women: Comic and Graphic Novel Feminisms
History of Photography, 1839 to the Present
Documentary Photography and the Southern Culture Landscape
Early Soviet Culture 1917-1934
American Slavery/Emancipation
Accelerated Intermediate Italian
On the Boundaries of Medicine
The Physician in History
Hidden Children
Dante and the Afterlife of the Book
We also hosted classes from North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill.
The Rubenstein staff offers a vast array of class instruction and support options. Please contact us to learn more about what the Rubenstein staff can do for your class!
Dispatches from the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Duke University
