LibGuides: Primary Sources Main: Business

Links to Collections

Ad Council: Campaigns that Have Made a Difference Highlights public service advertising campaigns (PSAs) from 1942 to the present. Includes descriptions of campaigns, images of print ads and video clips of TV commercials
AD*Access An image database of over 7,000 advertisements printed in U.S. and Canadian newspapers and magazines between 1911 and 1955. Covers five broad categories - Beauty and Hygiene, Radio, Television, Transportation, and World War II. Click "subject" tab to browse/search by narrow topic, including ethnic groups, famous people, and sports.
AdViews 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.
Vintage TV Commercials - Mega 3+ Hours! YouTube collection of early television commercials.
Dr. Seuss Advertising Artwork Advertising artwork created by Theodor Seuss Geisel in the 1920s-1950s.
Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920 (Duke University Libraries) Presents over 9,000 images, with database information, relating to the early history of advertising in the United States.
Medicine and Madison Avenue (Duke University Libraries) Presents images and database information for approximately 600 health-related advertisements printed in newspapers and magazines. These ads illustrate the variety and evolution of marketing images from the 1910s through the 1950s.
The Nineteenth-Century American Trade Card (Harvard's Baker Historical Collection) Images of 1000 trade cards, representing the full range of products and businesses advertised through this medium from the 1870s through the 1890s.
Patent Medicine Trade Cards Collection (UCLA Digital Library Collection) "A collection of small, colorfully illustrated advertising cards touting a particular medicine and its many cures. The illustrations often have little to do with any of the ailments purported to be cured. They were pure advertising and very collectible."
Philip Morris Advertising Archive Tobacco print ads, outdoor ads, point-of-sale and direct marketing materials dating back to the early 1900s, including some materials which may not have been published or publicly displayed.
Resource of Outdoor Advertising Descriptions (ROAD) (Duke University Libraries) More than 30000 images related to outdoor advertising from the twentieth century. Browse or search by company, product, date, place, subject, placement company, tone or medium.
Selling the Computer Revolution: Marketing Brochures Material shows some of the more important technologies, companies, and applications in computing from 1948 to 1988. Browse by company name, decade, application or category.
Vintage Ads 1940s royalty-free stock footage 119 vintage ads 1940s royalty-free stock videos, including high-quality 4K footage and HD video clips for download. See vintage ads and 1940s stock images.