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Preliminary Inventory of the R.C. Maxwell Company Records, 1904-1990s and undated

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Descriptive Summary

Title
R.C. Maxwell Company Records, 1904-1990sand undated
Creator
R.C. Maxwell Company
Extent
140.2 Linear Feet
74,574 Items
Repository
Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University
Language
English.
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Administrative Information

Access Restrictions
Collection is open for research. However, some of the materials are not immediately accessible, because they require further processing before use.
In addition, patrons must sign the Acknowledgment of Legal Responsibility and Privacy Rights form before using this collection.
Also, all or portions of this collection may be housed off-site in Duke University's Library Service Center. Consequently, there may be a 24-hour delay in obtaining these materials.
Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library to use this collection.
Use Restrictions
The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], R.C. Maxwell Company Records, Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University.
Provenance
The R.C. Maxwell Company Records was received by the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library as a gift in 1996-2001.
Processing Information
Processed by Ruth E. Bryan; RBMSCL staff
Completed 1996-January 10, 2002
Encoded by Ruth E. Bryan
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.
This collection is unprocessed: materials may not have been ordered and described beyond their original condition.
            

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Biographical Note

R.C. Maxwell Company was incorporated in Trenton, New Jersey in 1894 as an outdoor advertising company and continued in operation under the same name until its sale in April 2000.

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Collection Overview

Chiefly 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 (74,250 items, dated 1904-1990s and undated). Photos show outdoor advertising in its rural or urban settings, complete with people, cars, shops, theaters, and boardwalks, thus providing vignettes of early 20th century American culture. Business records include articles of incorporation and various account information. Also included are sample mechanicals of the billboard art in process. No container list.
The additions to the collection (324 items, 2.70 linear feet; dated 1914-ca. 1950s and undated) contain photograph albums, scrapbooks, correspondence, photographs, reports, memoranda, telegrams, and printed material documenting Robert Chester Maxwell's role as chief of the US Food Administration's Outdoor Advertising Section of the Public Information Division during WWI. Four photograph albums containing 328 black-and-white prints illustrate the USFA's poster/billboard campaign "Food Will Win the War" (1917-1918) in numerous U.S. cities. Many are identified by location.
The additions also contain scrapbooks of publicity materials created by or about the company (1914-1929), and ad proofs (1945-1948). There are 37 black-and-white photographs of competitors' [billboard] structures, ca. 1950s; correspondence and printed material, especially regarding the Trenton-Made Exposition in Atlantic City, NJ, 1924-1925; 50 black-and-white negatives of [Maxwell family] trips to Florida, 1951-1952; and a copy of the Advertising Age newspaper, 1936. Correspondents include Herbert C. Hoover, Coca-Cola executive S. C. Dobbs, and J. Walter Thompson employee Charles E. Raymond. (01-176, 01-238)
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Subject Headings

These are searchable subject entries for this collection. Performing a search on these subjects in the Duke University Libraries online catalog will bring up other related research materials.
  • Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964.
  • R.C. Maxwell Co.
  • United States Food Administration.
  • Advertising--History.
  • Advertising, Outdoor--United States.
  • Billboards--United States.
  • World War, 1914-1918--United States.
  • World War, 1914-1918--Food supply--United States.
  • World War, 1914-1918--Propaganda.
  • World War, 1939-1945--United States.
  • World War, 1939-1945--Propaganda.
  • Government publicity--United States.
  • New Jersey--Social life and customs.
  • New Jersey--Pictorial works.
  • Pennsylvania--Pictorial works.
  • Glass negatives.
  • Black-and-white photographs.
  • Scrapbooks.
  • Photograph albums.
  • Advertising age.
  • John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History.
List of Series in Collection
Accessions 2001-0176 and 2001-0238
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Preliminary Description of Unprocessed Collection

Accessions 2001-0176 and 2001-0238

Some of the materials in these accessions are not immediately accessible, because they require further processing before use. Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library to use this collection.
Box 1
Contents of box 1:
Technical Services may need to reformat newsprint and other brittle paper before use.
Attention: Contains graphic materials (loose black-and-white prints and negatives and black-and-white prints in photograph albums).
Correspondence, black-and-white photographs, and other records relating to the US Food Administration's "Food Will Win the War" poster/billboard campaign, ca. 1917-1918
Includes correspondence from Herbert C. Hoover to Robert Chester Maxwell and to and from Maxwell and Coca-Cola executive S. C. Dobbs and J. Walter Thompson employee Charles E. Raymond. Maxwell was Chief of the Outdoor Advertising Section of the Public Information Division of the US Food Administration during World War One.
Black-and-white photographs of "competitors' [billboard] structures," ca. 1950s
Correspondence and printed material, especially regarding the "Trenton-Made Exposition" in Atlantic City, NJ, 1924-1925
[Family photographs] of trips to Florida, 1951-1952
Proofs of R. C. Maxwell ads in Outdoor Advertising Age, 1948
Box 2
Contents of oversize box 2:
Technical Services staff may need to reformat newsprint and other brittle paper before use.
Attention: Contains graphic materials (black-and-white prints in photograph albums).
[Photograph album #1] containing black-and-white photographs of the US Food Administration's "Food Will Win the War" poster/billboard campaign, ca. 1917-1918   (4 folders)
Photograph album of "Food Conservation Advertising" created for Herbert C. Hoover and containing black-and-white photographs of the US Food Administration's "Food Will Win the War" poster/billboard campaign, ca. 1917-1918   (3 folders)
Box 3
Contents of oversize box 3:
Technical Services staff may need to reformat newsprint and other brittle paper before use.
Attention: Contains graphic materials (black-and-white prints in photograph albums).
Scrapbook containing "Circular Letters and Folders" created to advertise the R. C. Maxwell Company, 1920-1927
Photograph album of "Food Conservation Advertising" containing black-and-white photographs of the US Food Administration's "Food Will Win the War" poster/billboard campaign, ca. 1917-1918
Advertising Age newspaper, 1936
Box 4
Contents of oversize box 4:
Technical Services staff may need to reformat newsprint and other brittle paper before use.
Attention: Contains graphic materials (black-and-white prints in photograph albums).
[Photograph album #2] containing black-and-white photographs of the US Food Administration's "Food Will Win the War" poster/billboard campaign, ca. 1917-1918
Scrapbook containing "Electric Sign Ads Appearing in the Trenton State Gazette" created to advertise the R. C. Maxwell Company, 1914-1929
Box 5
Contents of oversize box 5:
Technical Services staff may need to reformat newsprint and other brittle paper before use.
Attention: Contains graphic materials (black-and-white prints in photograph albums).
Photograph album given to Robert Chester Maxwell from George W. Kleiser and containing black-and-white photographs of the US Food Administration's "Food Will Win the War" poster/billboard campaign in Western states (many donated by the firm Foster and Kleiser), 1918   (3 folders)
[Blue Scrapbook] of proofs of R. C. Maxwell Co. ads in Sign of the Times and other publications, 1945-1947   (4 folders)
   Oversize Folder 1
Contents of oversize folder:
Pamphlet advertising the R. C. Maxwell Company to the Associated Advertising Club of the World, Atlantic City, NJ, ca. 1920s