And it's not from the Library of Congress.

"The Ad*Access Project, funded by the Duke Endowment "Library 2000" Fund, presents images and database information for over 7,000 advertisements printed in U.S. and Canadian newspapers and magazines between 1911 and 1955."

Some interesting finds from this collection: "104 of 106 independent stations want "better pictures", "I turned the music louder to drown out the silence", "What Will I See On My Television Screen?"

Once you've browsed through the ads and, as Coudal Partners suggests, spent "one day on the art direction, another day on the type, and a third on the copy," make sure to explore the other collections housed by the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library at Duke.

Including, but not limited to:
Medicine and Madison Avenue
The Emergence of Advertising in America
Historic American Sheet Music Collection

Link via Coudal.

Comments

[Laura]

Hey Mena - I collect old magazines and old sheet music. Too bad the Historic American Sheet Music Collection stops at 1920...after that it gets really good, when they start to become movie tie-ins! This is fun stuff.

[Mena]

If only magazines were smaller -- they would be a whole lot easier to collect and Ben wouldn't be so peeved when we have to move boxes and boxes of magazines.

I would love to see all old Life Magazines on CDROM. I have the National Geographic CDROM collection and it's great.