Finding Aids

Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn Inc. (BBDO) is a worldwide advertising agency network headquartered in New York City. The company began in 1891 as the George Batten Company. In 1928, it merged with Barton, Durstine & Osborn. With locations in eighty-one countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, Germany, India, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Spain, UAE, and seven in the United States, BBDO is among the world’s most awarded advertising agencies. The records cover the entire span of BBDO’s existence, beginning with the George Batten Company in 1891. The collection includes advertisement tear sheets, films, ledgers, marketing reports, personnel files, photographs, press coverage, publications, research reports, slides, and speeches.

Mittleman Robinson Inc. is an image management consulting firm. Its records consist of company brochures and press clippings advertising their services.

Stuart “Stu” Trott (1932-2017) was a New York advertising executive during the second half of the twentieth century, serving as Vice President and creative lead at the agencies of Benton & Bowles, Inc, and Norman, Craig & Kummel, Inc. before starting his own marketing consultancy. This collection of moving images, audio reels, slides, and ephemera document Trott’s work developing new advertising campaigns for some of the world’s best-known brands. Products advertised include Texaco gasoline, Crest toothpaste, Playtex bras, Ajax cleaning supplies, and Ziploc bags.

Transportation Displays Inc. (TDI) was an advertising sales agency targeting the commuter market. Founded in New York in 1938, the company installed and maintained placard advertising, posters, signs, and other displays aimed primarily at daily commuters, in railroad stations, passenger cars, menus, and timetables. The collection consists of photographs showing a wide variety of advertising placed and maintained by Transportation Displays, Inc. in train stations throughout the Northeastern United States. Also included are sketch plans of many of the stations, showing locations of poster frames and advertisements.

Ward and Gow, a New York advertising agency, is credited as one of the first firms to "systematize" advertising in the New York subway and elevated marketplace. These fifteen photographs document advertising on New York City elevated train platforms and on subway cars. Each photo's location is given in the lower right side of the image.