R.C. Maxwell Company records, 1891-2001 and undated

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View — Resource of Outdoor Advertising Descriptions (ROAD)

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Summary

Creator:
R.C. Maxwell Co
Abstract:
R.C. Maxwell Company of Trenton, N.J., was one of the earliest enduring outdoor advertising companies, founded in 1894 by Robert Chester Maxwell (1873-1955) and continued to operate primarily in the New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania area until the company was sold in 2000. The R.C. Maxwell Company Records span the years 1891-2001 and include photographs and negatives, videocassettes, ledgers and account books, scrapbooks, correspondence and legal papers relating to the company's operations in outdoor advertising. Photographs and negatives in several formats (film, glass negatives, polaroid prints) document billboard designs for a variety of advertisers as well as depicting billboard and electric sign structures and their location relative to the surrounding environment. Urban locations include Times Square in New York and the Atlantic City, N.J., Boardwalk, where a number of photographs also document the Miss America beauty pageant parade and other parades in which the R.C. Maxwell Company participated. A few photographs document billboard construction and erection; there are also photographs of the Maxwell family and of Maxwell company staff and employees. Scrapbooks contain images of billboards and wall paintings produced by the Maxwell company as well as by David L. Clark, a High Point, N.C. artist and sign painter who was R.C. Maxwell's guardian. Other scrapbooks document primarily Coca-Cola signs of the early 20th century, as well as World War I support efforts including the U.S. Food Administration (under the direction of Herbert Hoover), the U.S. Fuel Administration, and Liberty Bond campaigns. Companies represented in the collection include the Boardwalk Advertising Signs Co., C&B Electric Signs Co., Trenton Advertising Co., and Trenton Poster Advertising Co. Acquired as part of the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History.
Extent:
135 Linear Feet
118,350 Items
Language:
Materials in English
Collection ID:
RL.01071

Background

Scope and content:

The R.C. Maxwell Company Records span the years 1891-2001 and include photographs and negatives, videocassettes, ledgers and account books, scrapbooks, correspondence and legal papers relating to the company's operations in outdoor advertising. Photographs and negatives in several formats (film, glass negatives, polaroid prints) document billboard designs for a variety of advertisers as well as depicting billboard and electric sign structures and their location relative to the surrounding environment. Urban locations include Times Square in New York and the Atlantic City, N.J., Boardwalk, where a number of photographs also document the Miss America beauty pageant parade and other parades in which the R.C. Maxwell Company participated. A few photographs document billboard construction and erection; there are also photographs of the Maxwell family and of Maxwell company staff and employees. Scrapbooks contain images of billboards and wall paintings produced by the Maxwell company as well as by David L. Clark, a High Point, N.C. artist and sign painter who was R.C. Maxwell's guardian. Other scrapbooks document primarily Coca-Cola signs of the early 20th century, as well as World War I support efforts including the U.S. Food Administration (under the direction of Herbert Hoover), the U.S. Fuel Administration, and Liberty Bond campaigns. Companies represented in the collection include the Boardwalk Advertising Signs Co., C&B Electric Signs Co., Trenton Advertising Co., and Trenton Poster Advertising Co.

Approximately 15,000 photographs, dating up to around 1952, have been described in the searchable ROAD Database (Resource of Outdoor Advertising Descriptions). The numbered and indexed black-and-white photographs and negatives (along with a limited number of glass negatives) include images of billboard and electric spectacular executions (illuminated billboards); road shots showing the approach views to billboard structures; images of Maxwell advertising structures; and images of urban and rural billboard displays in various states, primarily Pennsylvania and New Jersey, including a number of images of Times Square in New York and the Atlantic City, N.J. boardwalk. Because the majority of photographs show the billboards in their surroundings, the images provide a snapshot of the people and buildings near the billboard.

Biographical / historical:
Date Event
1873
R. (Robert) C. (Chester) Maxwell born
1870s?
David L. Clark, an artist who worked in the southeastern US and lived in High Point, N.C., adopted R.C. Maxwell.
1880s?
Ran away from the home of David L. Clark; eventually became a sign painter.
1894
Founded an outdoor advertising firm, the R.C. Maxwell Company of Trenton, N.J., at age 21.
1917-1918
During World War I, he served as chief of the Outdoor Advertising Section of the Public Information Division, U.S. Food Administration
1919
The company began creating electric advertising signs.
1923
R.C. Maxwell Company merged with the Trenton Poster Advertising Company and moved to the building at 725 E. State Street in Trenton, N.J.
1920s
R.C. Maxwell Company established the Electric Sign Manufacturing Plant in Atlantic City, N.J. to create electric "spectacular" signs.
1954
R.C. Maxwell died.
2000
R.C. Maxwell Company sold to Interstate Outdoor.

R.C. Maxwell Company of Trenton, N.J., was one of the earliest enduring outdoor advertising companies. Founded in 1894 by Robert Chester Maxwell (1873-1954), the business followed burgeoning industry trends, beginning with a variety of outdoor advertising signage along New Jersey and New York roadways as well as at tourist destinations like Atlantic City, N.J., and New York's Times Square. With the commercial development of the incandescent bulb after World War I, the company began creating electric advertising signs in 1919. Maxwell saw great potential in these "spectacular" signs and established the Electric Sign Manufacturing Plant in Atlantic City, N.J. in the 1920s. This subsidiary created such giant ads as a 50-foot Colgate thermometer that was placed atop a building on the Atlantic City Boardwalk in 1922. The billboards and spectaculars themselves served as a form of advertising for the company, which displayed slogans such as "Maxwell Did It" and "Maxwell Hits" alongside its client's signs. R.C. Maxwell owned numerous billboards in Atlantic City, N.J., and a large number of pictures in this collection are located on the Atlantic City boardwalk.

Acquisition information:
The R.C. Maxwell Company Records were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as gifts in 1996-2005.
Processing information:

Processed by Po Chin Tan, Stacey Clarke, Ginny Daley, Stephen Dobson, Lynn Eaton, Tony Cashman, Andrew Van Kirk, Sarah Van Kirk, June 10, 2003; additional processing by Richard Collier, January 2011

Encoded by Po Chin Tan, Richard Collier, Lynn Eaton, Sarah Van Kirk

Completed January 2011

Accessions 96-158, 96-173, 98-271, 98-277, 98-369, 98-463, 2000-0386, 2001-0176, 2001-0238, 2002-0129, 2005-0114 were merged into one collection, described in this finding aid.

Processing of this collection was supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Thanks are extented to Mr. Maxwell's son, David Maxwell, for providing background information for the collection.

Arrangement:

Arranged into five series: Administrative Files, Ledgers and Account Books, Scrapbooks, Photographs and Negatives.

Physical location:
For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Subjects

Click on terms below to find related finding aids on this site. For other related materials in the Duke University Libraries, search for these terms in the Catalog.

Subjects:
Billboards -- 1970-1980
Billboards -- 1960-1970
Billboards -- Pictorial works
Billboards -- New York (State) -- New York -- History -- Pictorial works
Billboards -- 1900-1940
Billboards -- 1950-1960
Billboards -- 1940-1950
Boardwalks -- New Jersey -- Atlantic City -- 1920-1930
Advertising, Outdoor -- United States -- History
Advertising executives -- United States
Advertising executives
Advertising agencies -- United States -- History
Boardwalks -- New Jersey -- Atlantic City -- 1930-1940
Advertising, Outdoor -- New York -- Pictorial works
Advertising, Outdoor -- New Jersey -- Pictorial works
Advertising, Outdoor -- Pictorial works
Advertising
Advertising, Outdoor -- Pennsylvania -- Pictorial works
Advertising, Outdoor -- United States -- Pictorial works
Atlantic City (N.J.) -- Pictorial works
Advertising agencies -- History
Advertising agencies
Advertising -- United States -- History
Advertising -- History
Miss America Pageant
World War, 1914-1918
Boardwalks -- New Jersey -- Atlantic City -- 1950-1960
Boardwalks -- New Jersey -- Atlantic City -- 1940-1950
Electric signs -- History
Electric signs
World War, 1914-1918 -- Food supply -- United States
World War, 1914-1918 -- Finance -- United States
World War, 1914-1918 -- Social aspects -- United States
World War, 1914-1918 -- Posters
Format:
Glass plate negatives
Billboards
Videocassettes
Scrapbooks
Photographs
Negatives (photographs)
Names:
Coca-Cola Company
John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History
R.C. Maxwell Co
United States Food Administration
United States. Fuel Administration
Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964
Maxwell, Robert Chester, 1873-1955
Places:
New York (N.Y.) -- Photographs
New York (State) -- Commerce
Times Square (New York, N.Y.)
Times Square (New York, N.Y.) -- Pictorial works
High Point (N.C.)
Atlantic City (N.J.)
Trenton (N.J.)
New York (N.Y.)
Pennsylvania -- Commerce
Pennsylvania -- Photographs
New Jersey -- Commerce
New Jersey -- Pictorial works
New Jersey -- Social life and customs

Contents

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Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

However, original audiovisual materials are closed to use. Use of these materials may require production of listening or viewing copies. Please contact Research Services before coming to use this collection.

Some fragile documents are closed to use. Preservation photocopies are available in the collection.

Negatives are restricted for preservation reasons. Patrons should view prints. Requests to view negatives under special circumstances may be submitted to the Head of Research Services and will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Nitrate negatives are closed to researchers.

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All or portions of this collection may be housed off-site in Duke University's Library Service Center. The library may require up to 48 hours to retrieve these materials for research use.

Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library to use this collection.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], R.C. Maxwell Company Records, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University