LibGuides: Women and Advertising: Women in Advertising

Career Papers of Women in Advertising

Adrienne Cohen Papers, 1963-2000
The Adrienne Cohen Papers include print advertisements, copy designs, direct marketing mailings and brochures, storyboards, audiotapes, 16mm and 35mm films of radio and television commercials that document Cohen's work as an advertising copy writer and creative executive. Cohen worked for several agencies, primarily in the Atlanta, Georgia area. Companies represented include Marschalk, Young & Rubicam, and McCann-Erickson. Clients include Coca-Cola, Drackett, Eastern Airways, Gulf Oil, and Texize.
Helayne Spivak papers, 1972-2015
Helayne Spivak is an advertising executive and educator based in New York and Richmond, Va. Collection includes awards, clippings, correspondence, print advertisements and other printed materials as well as audiovisual materials (audio tapes, videocassettes, 16mm films, optical disks, video reels). Companies and agencies represented include Ally & Gargano, Barneys department store, Cadbury, Club Med, Commodore computer, Dunkin' Donuts, Federal Express, J. Walter Thompson, Pan Am, Schweppes, and Travelers.
Jacqueline End Papers, 1965-2012
Jacqueline End worked as an advertising copy writer and creative executive for a number of agencies. The Jacqueline End Papers include examples of creative work, including print advertisements and proofs, design layouts and sketches, photographs, correspondence and printed materials. Clients represented include Absolut, Ascencia (Bayer), Bali and Wonderbra (now part of Hanes family of brands), K-Mart, L'Oreal, Nivea, Ralston Purina, Ricoh, Sara Lee, Sega, Trojan (Church & Dwight) and Volkswagen. Agencies represented include Doyle Dane Bernbach, Foote Cone & Belding, Forman End Dolleck, Kaplan Thaler, TBWA/Chiat/Day and Wells Rich Greene.
Joy Golden Papers, 1956-2012
Joy Golden worked as an advertising copy writer and executive for several American agencies between 1956 and 2012. The Joy Golden Papers include correspondence, audition records, scripts, print advertisements, design layouts, storyboards, and other records that document Golden's career in print and radio/television broadcast advertising. Companies represented include Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn (BBDO), J. Walter Thompson Company (JWT), Norman Craig & Kummel, Scali McCabe Sloves, and Golden's own company, Joy Radio. Client files include materials for Abe Beame for Mayor, Alpine Lace Cheese, Automated Data Processing (ADP), Blue Cross/Blue Shield of New Jersey, DuPont, E-Loan, Frommagerie Bel (Frobel), MTA, North Fork Bank, Port Authority of New York, Shell Oil, Warnaco and Wilmington Trust.
Lois Gaeta Papers, 1956-1961 and undated
Gaeta worked as a television and radio script writer at JWT from 1955-1961. Her papers include television and radio scripts along with print advertisements and packaging samples that document her work as a writer. Companies represented include Beecham Products (Eno), Colgate-Palmolive (Stripe toothpaste), Eastman Kodak, Mentholatum, and Reader’s Digest among others. The Mentholatum campaign is of particular interest as women were used to market the product to both men and women.
Lore Parker Papers, 1950-1979 and undated
The collection consists of proofs, tear sheets and radio and television broadcast scripts for advertising campaigns Parker worked on for Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB); Dowd, Redfield & Johnstone; and other advertising agencies. At Bernbach she was part of the creative team credited with leading the advertising industry's "Creative Revolution" of the early 1960s. Included are ads for alcoholic beverages, cosmetics, house wares, snack foods, swimwear and bathing suits, textiles, tourism, and women's clothing and undergarments. Among the companies represented are Alitalia Airlines, Barton's Bonbonniere, the British Tourist Authority, Celanese Fibers, Cole of California, General Telephone/GTE, Lees Carpets, and Standard Brands.
Lucile Turnbach Platt Papers, 1926-1930
Platt worked in the Women’s Editorial Department of JWT’s New York office, primarily on the Simmons Beautyrest mattress account. Most of the files in this collection relate to soliciting very prominent American and foreign women to endorse Simmons products. Endorsers were paid for permission to use their names, photographs, and testimonials, and the ad campaigns were photographed on location in the women's homes. Included in the materials are lists of women approached for endorsements, blank contracts, scripts of testimonials, a description of how endorsers were matched to ad scenarios based on their appearance, photos of several home interiors, and instructions on how to photograph the women. Files on individuals who declined Platt’s persistent recruitment efforts reveal much about advertising tactics of the period and popular attitudes toward them.
Margaret Fishback Papers, 1863-1978 and undated, bulk 1920-1973
Margaret Fishback was an advertising copywriter for Macy's, Cecil & Presbrey, Warwick & Legler, Young & Rubicam, Doyle Dane Bernbach, and a number of freelance clients. The collection documents her dual careers in advertising and writing as well as her personal life, with correspondence, layouts, drafts, galley proofs, radio scripts, working copy of advertising text, poetry, prose, published material, appointment books, scrapbooks, photographs, and other materials. There are also materials related to her membership in the professional society Advertising Women of New York (AWNY).
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Described by one New York newspaper in 1932 as "the highest-paid advertising woman in the world," she was also a poet, columnist, and author of prose work, contributing light verse and articles to national publications including Collier's, Cosmopolitan, the New York Times, Reader's Digest, and the Saturday Evening Post, among many others. In much of her writings she expressed a wry, cynical attitude toward domesticity. Fishback also authored an etiquette book and two children's books.
Paula Green papers, 1940-2013 and undated
Paula Green was an advertising executive at Doyle Dane Bernbach and Paula Green Advertising. The collection contains correspondence, photographs, audiovisual materials, market research and financial reports, print advertisements, storyboards, scores, and assorted printed material. Advertiser in the collection include American Cancer Society, General Foods, CBS Radio, Heinz, International Ladies' Garment Workers Union, Subaru, and the U.S. Public Health Service.
Rena Bartos Papers, 1960-1998 and undated, bulk 1975-1991
A pioneer in the field of marketing to women, Rena Bartos directed research at the McCann Erickson advertising agency before becoming a Senior Vice President at JWT, and then staring her own consulting firm in 1987. The collection includes the texts of and research materials for speeches and publications on the role of women in advertising, marketing to women, the value and methods of qualitative marketing research, and the psychological aspects of advertising. The bulk of this work dates to the 1970s and 1980s. Of particular note are her books The Moving Target: What Every Marketer Should Know About Women and Marketing to Women around the World, as well as additional materials on marketing to women in India and South America.

Career Papers of Women in Design and Illustration

Cipe Pineles papers, 1925-2005
Cipe Pineles was an Austrian-born Jewish artist noted for innovations in magazine design, illustration and typography, based primarily in New York. Collection includes correspondence, photographs, drawings and illustrations and other design work, paintings, advertising and promotional materials, drafts of manuscripts, recipes, financial records and other printed materials that document Pineles's professional and private life, including correspondence and service orders during World War II.
Vivian Gauld Collection of Fashion Design Drawings,, circa 1940s-1950s
Commercial artist primarily on the U.S. west coast. This small collection consists of 19 pencil and pen-and-ink drawings primarily of women's fashions and bathing suits prepared for retail advertising.

Career Papers of Women in Public Relations

Jane Kilbourne Papers, 1908-1972
Jane Kilbourne was a journalist, editor and public relations executive primarily with Pan American airlines, based in New York. Collection includes correspondence, clippings, photographs, scrapbooks and published articles that document Kilbourne's career with Pan Am as a public relations executive and publications editor specializing in women's issues and interests regarding travel, food and fashion design.

Biographies of Women at the J. Walter Thompson Company

J. Walter Thompson Company. Advertising Vertical Files, 1950-1994
These subject files collected for internal company reference include biographies of women in advertising.
J. Walter Thompson Company. Sidney Ralph Bernstein Company History Files, 1873-1964
These files consist of research materials gathered for a (never-published) commemorative history of the company on the occasion of its centennial. Main themes here are the lives of advertising executives, women in the advertising industry, client profiles, and the life of J. Walter Thompson, the company’s founder. Of special interest are the biographical files Bernstein compiled on key JWT executives, including Ruth Jones and Helen Resor, and the transcripts of interviews with JWT staff conducted by Bernstein and his assistant in 1963-1964.
J. Walter Thompson Company. Biographical Information, 1916-1998, bulk 1960s-1980s
This collection of articles, clippings, press releases, internal memoranda and other materials contains information on the lives and careers of over 3,000 managers, executives and staff members of JWT, with extensive files for some notable JWT executives, including Helen Lansdowne Resor. The "Thumbnail Sketches" series consists of profiles from the JWT corporate newsletter of more than 700 employees (mostly middle-management staff).
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Further biographical information on JWT staff and officers may be found in other collections within the J. Walter Thompson Company Archives, notably Writings and Speeches, Personnel Records, Publications, Newsletters, and the Sidney Ralph Bernstein Company History Files, as well as in the personal papers of individual executives, including the Colin Dawkins Papers, the Howard Henderson Papers, the Norman Strouse Papers, and the James Webb Young Papers.
J. Walter Thompson Company. Colin Dawkins Papers, 1776-1986
In the late 1970s, former JWT Vice President Colin Dawkins began work on a book-length company history. The project was never published. The research materials he gathered for this effort consist of employee biographies, client account histories, and taped interviews with key company figures, including several women.
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Use the collection guide to find individual biography files in the Officers and Staff Series, 1873-1976.

The Client Series, 1895-1979 contains account histories and descriptions of ad campaigns for Chesebrough- Pond’s, the Fleischmann Company, Kraft, Lever Brothers, the Ford Motor Company, and other major clients. Some folders contain materials addressing the use of women and children in ads, the use of women copywriters, and other strategies for targeting women as consumers. Box 14 in this series contains a clippings file labeled "Women in Advertising."

The Oral Interviews Series 1979-1980 includes transcripts of interviews with several women executives. Some transcripts are annotated by the interviewees. Refer to the collection guide for an alphabetical list of these. Access to the audio recordings requires written permission from the interviewee or their descendants.

Print Materials - Autobiographies

A big life in advertising.
2012. Mary Wells Lawrence, CEO of Wells, Rich, Greene.
Adventures of an advertising woman.
1986. Jane Maas, Creative Director at Ogilvy & Mather and subsequently Chairman of the Earle Palmer Brown agency.

Print Materials - Prescriptive Literature

"Prescriptive literature" refers to books, pamphlets, or manuals that present advice or instruction in some way. These rare books held by our libraries offered advice for women seeking to break into the advertising business.

Advertising careers for women : twenty-two lectures on advertising vocations presented by the Philadelphia Club of Advertising Women, setting forth the fields of opportunity to which advertising beckons women
c.1939.
How to be a successful advertising woman; a career guide for women in advertising, public relations, and related fields
1948. Edited by Mary Margaret McBride for Advertising Women of New York.
The mail order business for women.
1911, by Mail Order News.
The complete success workbook for today's saleswoman : proven strategies for the fastest-growing career for women.
1982.

Print Materials - Fiction

The following rare books present fictional accounts of women in advertising in the twentieth century.

A woman's place.
c.1962
Madison Avenue nympho.
Intimate Edition, c.1972
Having it all.
1991 by Reva Korda, copywriter and executive with Gimbel's and Macy's department stores and the Ogilvy & Mather agency.
Kate in advertising.
1955. Ann Barton.
Patsy succeeds in advertising.
1944, a Mead Career Books publication, E. Evelyn Grumbine.
Patsy breaks into advertising.
1946, a Mead Career Books publication. E. Evelyn Grumbine
Women's work: a novel.
1981.

Rena Bartos published The Moving Target: What Every Marketer Should Know About Women in 1974.

Helen Landsdown Resor (1886-1964) ran J. Walter Thompson alongside her husband in the early 20th century. She is famous for her 1910 Woodbury Soap ad campaign ("the skin you love to touch") which is credited as the first campaign to rely on sex appeal to sell products. She and her husband were both inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame.

Photo credit: JWT