Inventory of the Advertising Ephemera Collection, 1850s-1980s

The Advertising Ephemera Collection is composed of single advertisements, product and trade catalogs, advertising pamphlets, and broadsides. The advertisements are primarily American and from the late 19th and early to mid 20th century. The collection is divided into broad subject categories, based on the primary type of product or service being advertised, which are arranged in alphabetical order. Within each subject category material is divided based upon the form of the material; leaflets, letters, and sheets printed on both sides; trade cards (mechanical, metamorphic, see-thru, shape, fabric inserts, unusual feature, postcards and insert cards); booklets; special categories; and miscellaneous. A subseries of foreign advertising material consists predominately of travel related literature and is arrange alphabetically by country. The arrangement of oversize materials parallels the original arrangement.

The researcher should note that trade catalogs that are pamphlets may be found in several places in the Perkins Library: this collections; individually in the stacks as fully cataloged items; or as part of groups of old pamphlets for which the cataloging was by main entry only. Advertising broadsides may also be found in the Broadsides Collection and many collections of manuscripts also contain advertising materials.

Some useful reference sources for gathering further information on this type of material include:

Romaine, Lawrence B., "A Guide to American Trade Catalogs," 1944-1900 (New York, 1960).

Hammond, Dorothy, "Advertising Collectibles of Times Past," (Des Moines, Iowa, 1974).

Kaduck, John M., "Advertising Trade Cards," (Des Moines, Iowa, 1976).

McQuarry, Jim, "Collectors Guide to Advertising Cards," (Gas City, Indiana, 1975).

Additions to the collection have not been processed and therefore to do reflect the arrangement of the rest of the collection. Please refer to the detailed description below for more information about their content.

• Advertising.
• Advertising, American.
• Advertising cards.
• Advertising--Tourist trade.
• Broadsides.
• Trade catalogues.
• Furniture--Catalogs.
• Cookery.
• Clothing and dress.
• Household appliances.
• Recipes.
• Health products.
• House furnishings industry and trade.
• Automobiles--Catalogs.
• Building materials--Catalogs.
• Patent medicines--Catalogs.
• Machinery--Catalogs.
• Equipment and Supplies--Catalogs.
• Catalogs, Commercial.
• Playbills.
• Pamphlets.
• Ephemera.
• Cookbooks.
• Business cards.
• Memorabilia.
• John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History.

[Identification of item], Advertising Ephemera Collection, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Items were purchased by or transferred to the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library in the 1970s and the 1990s.

Processed by Ginny Daley and Sarah Hamilton

Completed September 29, 1998

Encoded by Don Sechler

Updated by Meghan Lyon, December 2008

This finding aid is NCEAD compliant