A&M-SA Research Guides: HIST 4366: Childhood in America Research Guide: Primary Resources

Advertising Collections on the Web

Magazines
Television

Women's Magazine Archive (ProQuest)
An archival research resource comprising the backfiles of leading women's interest consumer magazines. Issues are scanned in high-resolution color and feature detailed article-level indexing. Coverage ranges from the late-19th century through to 2005 and these key primary sources permit the examination of the events, trends, and attitudes of this period. Among the research fields served by this material are gender studies, social history, economics/marketing, media, fashion, politics, and popular culture.

Ad*Access - Beauty and Hygiene Collection
This site indexes and contains over 7,000 American and Canadian print advertisements from 1911 to 1955. This link will bring you specifically to the Beauty and Hygiene category. From Duke University Libraries.
Medicine and Madison Ave
Contains over 600 historical health-related advertisements printed in newspapers and magazines from 1910-1959; categories include cigarettes, vitamins, tonics, diet and more. From Duke University Libraries
LIFE Magazine Archive
Users can browse, search and view issues of LIFE from the 1930s to 1972. Users have free access to share, print and post images for personal use.
New York Magazine
Users can browse, search and view issues of New York Magazine from the 1960s to 1990s
Texas Monthly
TEXAS MONTHLY has chronicled life in contemporary Texas, reporting on vital issues such as politics, the environment, industry, and education. Users can browse, search and view issues of Texas Monthly from the 1970s to 1990s
Vintage Ad Browser - Beauty & Hygiene Collection
Created and maintained by a single ad-happy German, VAB has over 120,000 scans of ads from various sources. Publication date ranges from 1850s to 2000.
Advertising Archives
Large, searchable collection of advertisements spanning the last century. Includes many contemporary ads from both European and American sources. ** after you enter a search term, you will have the option to limit your search to USA only ads and by decade.
Ebony Magazine Archives
Each issue appears just as it did at its original time of publication, complete with period advertisements. Collection starts with their 1959 issue.
Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920 (Duke Univ.)
This collection presents over 3,300 items relating to the early history of advertising in the United States. The materials, drawn from the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University, provide a significant and informative perspective on the early evolution of this most ubiquitous feature of modern American business and culture.
Ladies Home Journal
Full view available for various issues from 1891-1898 through Hathitrust. Browse through or search by keywords to find advertisements.
Seventeen Magazine
Select issues published between 2007-2012. archived on the Internet Archive Seventeen is an American magazine for teenagers. It was the first teen magazine to be established in the United States. This magazine is mostly for young girls and women from the ages of 12–19. It began as a publication geared towards inspiring teen girls to become role models in work and citizenship. Soon after its debut, Seventeen took a more fashion and romance-oriented approach in presenting their material, while still maintaining their model of promoting self-confidence in young women. It was first published in September 1944 by Walter Annenberg's Triangle Publications.

AdViews
The AdViews digital collection provides access to thousands of historic commercials created for clients or acquired by the D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles (DMB&B) advertising agency or its predecessor during the 1950s - 1980s. From Duke University Libraries. * Browse by category or search by keywords.
Classic TV Commercials from Internet Archive
This collection contains over 1,000 Classic TV commercials and public service announcements (PSAs) from the 1950's to the 1980s.

Finding Advertisements and Commercials

Finding print and broadcast advertisements can be difficult and time-consuming. Here are a few strategies to help you find product, brand, and company advertisements using library and web resources.

Time period: First, determine which years you want to find print or broadcast advertisements from.
Type of media: Then, ask yourself which type of advertisements you are looking for. Do you want ads from magazines, newspapers, radio, television, the web or from social media?
Company or product: Finally, make a list of products, companies, people, or brands you are interested in.

Once you have answered these questions, then you can try some of the following resources to locate advertisements:

Books - there are books that contain images of advertisements based upon the company or topic. Search the Catalog box on the "Finding Books" tab above.
Ad Collections on the Web - there are several free digital advertising collections available online. See the box below.
Google - use the image search to find advertisements on your product, company, or topic. Make sure the website you find the ad on is a credible source if you go this route.

Below in the next box are links to ad collections on the web that can help you get started: