Ad*Access
Emergence of Advertising in America, 1850-1920
Graphic Design from the 1920s & 1930s in Travel Ephemera
Ads of the World
Medicine and Madison Avenue
Museum of the Moving Image: The Living Room Candidate
Classic Public Service Ad Campaigns: The Ad Council
Sites requiring an account or payment
Adflip - Billed as 'world's largest archive of classic print ads'
AdRespect - 'Where successful advertising meets LGBT equity'
Ebiquity - Tracks ads and campaigns in all media worldwide
Library Databases
Off-campus access
Questions - ask here
Library hours
Citing Sources
E-reserves
Desire2Learn
KU email
Instruction Request Form
Article Request
Interlibrary Book Request
Library Liaisons
These newspaper collections span three centuries and they include advertisements. Although most other databases offer only article text, these have complete full-page images of the actual printed pages. The searchability of advertising here leaves much to be desired, but the three historical collections make it possible to restrict your results to advertisments and to run blunt searches that are sometimes very effective.
Historical New York Times - Set the drop-down menu to Document type and put display ad in the accompanying search box. Add your search terms, such as brand names and/or product types, in the other boxes. (See picture.)
Historical Wall Street Journal - Set the drop-down menu to Document type and put display ad in the accompanying search box. Add your search terms, such as brand names and/or product types, in the other boxes. (See picture.)
Early American Newspapers - Click the Article Types tab and select Advertisements before beginning your search.
The Search is one of several in the online Library Catalog that can lead you to books that contain advertising and commercial art images.
The Microform Collection on the west side of the second floor includes archives of the Reading Eagle and the Kutztown Patriot as well as other publications that contain advertisements. The microform are in alphabetical order, according to publication name, in the metal cabinets. Ask a staff member in the nearby serials workroom if you need help with the microform or the reading/copying machines. The microform, like many of the publications themselves, are entirely in black and white.
Many recent magazines are shelved on the racks just south of the microform collection.
In the bound periodicals section, which occupies most of the northeast portion of the second floor, have archives of advertising-rich publications as Popular Mechanics, Paris-Match and Good Housekeeping. The bound periodicals are shelved in alphabetical order by names of the magazines and journals.
The library has scanners and coin-op copiers for your use; if you don't know where they are, please ask any staff member.
