Inventory of the Sheldon B. Sosna Papers, 1922-2001 and undated, bulk 1948-1991

Includes limited business correspondence, mailings and solicitations related to Sosna's supermarket consulting, and one folder of Advertising strategy memoranda that Sosna distributed while Copy Supervisor at Sullivan, Stauffer, Colwell & Bayles and at Doherty, Clifford, Steers & Shenfield. Of particular interest is a 1963 letter from Robert Sargent Shriver, Jr., first director of the Peace Corps, thanking Don Clifford and his staff at Doherty, Clifford, Steers & Shenfield for their work on early Peace Corps advertising. Arranged alphabetically.

Primarily contains scripts and other materials used for lectures and seminars Sosna delivered throughout the United States from 1983 to 1994, with an emphasis on supermarket advertising and marketing. Scripts primarily document presentations Sosna delivered as an independent consultant to supermarket/food retailers, specifically for meetings of the National Grocers Association, the Grocery Marketing Institute, at Food Marketing Institute conventions, at state grocery organization meetings (in California, Indiana, Oklahoma, New Hampshire, and Florida), and for the annual “Supermarket Advertising Seminar” which Sosna founded in 1983. Also includes limited market reports on specific retail industries and clients, including Pabst Red Beer. Of particular interest is one folder of Advertising notes and addenda, which documents Sosna's professional career and profiles his prominent clients of the 1950s and 1960s, most notably his work on an early promotional film for the Peace Corps and his meeting with President Kennedy and Robert Sargent Shriver, Jr. during the film's production. Arranged alphabetically.

Includes Sosna's professional writing on advertising, a copy of Sosna's book Dodge #9: How to Never Make a Mistake (2001), client materials (letterhead, mailings, brochures), conference programs, and a limited set of magazines from 1952. The bulk of the series is composed of a complete set of The Supermarket Advertising Newsletter, a monthly publication Sosna edited and published from 1981-2000, along with an incomplete subject index of the newsletter. Of particular note in the series are Peace Corps “Radio Kits” distributed to broadcasters in 1962-1963. The Volunteer Radio Kit for 1963 includes a phonograph record of public service announcements for the Peace Corps featuring the voice of sportscaster Bob Delaney. Also includes two comics that refer to the Peace Corps which appeared in the New York Post comic strip “Pogo” in 1962. Arranged alphabetically; complete set of Supermarket Advertising Newsletter arranged chronologically by month/year.

Divided into two groupings: Clippings and Proofs, and Sketches and Concepts. Includes original page proofs, newspaper and magazine clippings, and concept sketches for client advertisements, with an emphasis on the consumer/home products, cigarette, beer, and apparel industries. Key clients represented include American Tobacco Company (Bull Durham Cigarettes), Bristol-Myers, Bulova, Dr Pepper, Food Fair/Pantry Pride, Hoover, Ladies' Home Journal, Martex, Pabst Brewing Company, Procter & Gamble, and Pure Oil Company. Of particular interest is one folder of early Peace Corps advertisements Sosna developed while at Doherty, Clifford, Steers & Shenfield. Series also includes two uncredited cigarette advertisements [Bull Durham (1922) and Fatima (undated)] presumably intended as marketing research for Sosna's work in cigarette advertising, and one folder of Spanish language concept boards for beverage advertisements (uncredited and undated). Arranged alphabetically by client within each grouping.

Contains six large scrapbooks of advertisement clippings, page proofs, client brochures and catalog mailings that primarily document Sosna's early advertising career, with a focus on women's apparel and consumer/home products. Arranged chronologically by scrapbook.

Arranged into three subseries: Slides, Negatives, and Film. Contains over 700 slides Sosna used for seminar presentations conducted from the late 1970s through the 1990s, primarily focused on retail marketing strategy and supermarket advertising. Slides organized in three categories -- “Seminars,” “Supermarket advertisements,” and “Other” -- therein arranged alphabetically by subject/title. “Seminars” include slides which directly accompanied Sosna's seminar presentations on advertising and marketing strategy, and consist primarily of text. “Supermarket advertisements” slides include advertisements and supermarket circulars promoting event/holiday sales and specific product sales, likely used within seminar presentations yet not associated with any particular seminar. Series also includes one folder of color negatives documenting the 1967 “Pabst Red” beer campaign and one film reel entitled The Peace Corps which Sosna wrote, produced, and edited, circa 1961-1962. The film reel features President John F. Kennedy, Robert Sargent Shriver (Director of the Peace Corps from 1961-1966), and Dave Garroway (then host of NBC's “Today Show”). According to documents included in the collection, the film originally aired on American television stations and was “seen by forty million people” (See Writings and Speeches Series, folder one: “Advertising notes and addenda, circa 1965 and undated”). The collection holds the last remaining copy of this film.

Primarily includes oversize materials from the Advertisements Series, organized into “Clippings and Proofs” and “Sketches and Concepts” Subseries. Also contains two folders from the Printed Materials Series and four folders of material removed from the Scrapbooks Series, Scrapbook 5. Clients represented include the American Tobacco Company; Bristol-Myers; Hoover appliances; Ladies' Home Journal; Martex; Pabst Brewing Company; Proctor & Gamble; Pure Oil Company; and Schlitz Brewing Company. Materials of particular interest include an advertisement proof for Ladies' Home Journal featuring President Kennedy, with the tag-line “Will women love him or leave him?”; a 1952 flip-chart prepared for the American Larder Supply Company entitled Now...Eat Better Food and Spend Less For It; and a pamphlet distributed by the War Advertising Council at the close of World War II. Arranged within original series, therein alphabetically by client.