Inventory of the J. Walter Thompson Company. Treasurer's Office Records, 1928-1952

Most documents in the JWT International Corporation Subseries date from 1928-1931, and they relate to the formation of a separate company called JWT International. These items appear to make up Treasurer Earle Clark's personal files, complete with handwritten notes and calculations for a variety of possible terms of incorporation and stock classifications. These files contain several drafts of the Articles of Incorporation and By-laws of the new corporation; correspondence with JWT's New York legal counsel, Breed, Abbot and Morgan; and further correspondence with the various heads of JWT's foreign offices. A 1928 summary of JWT's financial status is also included in the files, apparently because it served as part of the basis for early deliberations about the creation of JWT International.

The principal correspondents in Antwerp were Edward E. Pratt, L.R. “Deke” Coleman, J. H. Cerny, and Rene -P. Jeanneret. The Antwerp file also contains correspondence between Donald Foote and managers of offices in Paris, Amsterdam, and the Hague. Several issues addressed in the correspondence indicate the challenges JWT faced in their overseas operations. For example, an exchange between Donald Foote and J. H. Cerny discusses the financial issues involved in expanding into radio advertising in Antwerp ( 12-5-34, 1-4-35). Also, Jeanneret commented to Foote ( 6-25-35) about the objections Catholic papers raised against advertisements--particularly one that depicted women models wearing pants and exposing navel and thighs. During World War II, Jeanneret and Coleman reported to Sam Meek on conditions in occupied France ( 7-19-40 and 9-10-40).

Fritz Solm served as head of Berlin operations, and the Berlin office files record the communications among Solm (in Berlin), L. R. Coleman and Henry C. Flower (in Paris), Paul Leverkuehn (Berlin legal counsel), Donald Foote (in New York) and F. C. Wallace (representative of Guaranty Trust Company in New York). In 1934 Solm agreed to purchase control of the Berlin office, and the bulk of the material concerns that agreement. Delays in the payment process prompted L.R. “Deke” Coleman to make some colorful and disparaging remarks about his dealings with Germans (in letters to Foote, 11-7-38 and 11-24-38). The same letters contain vague references to blackmail in Solm's dealings with German tax authorities, and to Solm's fears that unspecified activities in the New York office could land him in prison.

The Bombay office was established in 1929 and this subseries documents its operations beginning that year under Frank R. J. Gerard. From 1930 to 1949, Edward J. “Pete” Fielden served as senior manager of the Bombay operations, along with its branch offices in Calcutta and New Delhi. Fielden's most prominent assistants were Denys Scott in Bombay and Peter “Petroushka” de Peterson in Calcutta.

The correspondence chiefly concerns JWT's sale of its Bucharest office to local manager, Hratchia Paniguian. JWT's insistence upon payment in United States dollars complicated the transaction because it entailed the violation of Romanian law concerning currency exchange. Also, one of Paniguian's employees, Andre B. Kalman, was forced to leave Romania because of growing anti-Jewish sentiment, and JWT helped to arrange his safe passage (L.R. Coleman's letter to Foote 1-4-38, and the file titled “International Travel,” 1940-1941).

The senior staff of the London office consisted of Rae H. Smith, Ed Gordon, L.R. Starkey, and Andrew Sinclair. Because London was JWT's first international office, the company used its arrangements with London to help establish policies for all its overseas operations. Negotiations about profit-sharing and salaries are therefore well-documented.

These files record the opening of the Mexico City office in 1943 under the management of John Kuneau. After three consecutive years of financial losses, he was replaced by Donaldson Thorburn. Kuneau's letters to New York include frequent discussions of international clients such as Gillette, Kellogg's, RCA, and Reader's Digest. Two letters to Foote ( 1-29-44 and 5-10-45) provide profiles of the members of the Mexico City staff, along with comments about economic conditions, client accounts, and advertising strategies (with special attention to radio programs and contests). A letter from Don E. Widlundth to Donaldson Thorburn ( 5-2-46) discusses an experimental run of six one-minute Reader's Digest films. A small glimpse into JWT's corporate culture may be gained from a handwritten letter by a Mrs. Bill Taylor to Sam Meek ( 11-22-47), detailing the hardships her family faced when her husband unexpectedly lost his job in Mexico City. Her outcry prompted JWT to send the family four hundred dollars as compensation for some of their expenses.