TPS Newsletter
Click here for printable PDF version of the Presidents Newsletter
Consumerism
Spotlight on Central Illinois
Are you living on land once sold by the Illinois Central Rail Road Company in 1857?
Venture back in time while viewing an advertisement from the An American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera collection in American Memory.
The Illinois Central rail road company is now prepared to sell about 1,500,000 acres of choice farming lands in tracts of 40 acres and upwards, on long credits and at low rates of interest.” American Memory, Library of Congress.
Have jobs for women changed over time?
Propaganda for advertisement or public relation gives clues about the culture of the time and place from when it was created. The poster titled, "Girls - are you interested in a job?”: Find out what an occupation has to offer you in pay, employment, security, and promotion: Free classes in occupations" offers information about propaganda in Illinois during mid to late 1930’s.
"Girls - are you interested in a job?
Find out what an occupation has to offer you in pay, employment, security, and promotion: Free classes in occupations." American Memory, Library of Congress.
"We must help raise cash" Store Front, West Frankfort, Illinois.
Advertisement for a New Cheap Store in Alton, Illinois where you can purchase anything from groceries to boots for a low price.
Topic Connections
Prosperity & Thrift: The Coolidge Era and the Consumer Economy
1921-1929 This collection gives a wide array of materials from the prosperity of the Coolidge years. The collection is strong in advertising and mass marketing materials. The collection contains personal papers, institutional papers, books, pamphlets, and legislative documents from the General Collections, along with selections from consumer and trade journals, photographs and five short films and seven audio selections of Coolidge speeches from the Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division.
Special Presentations
- Introduction to Prosperity & Thrift
- Guide to People, Organizations and Topics in Prosperity & Thrift
The Learning Page
Activities
Emergence of Advertising in America 1850-1920
This collection has over 9,000 images reflecting the rise of consumer culture and the birth of professionalized advertising industry in the United States. The collection consists of cookbooks, photographs of billboards, print advertisements, trade cards, calendars, almanacs and leaflets.
Special Presentations
50 Years of Coca-Cola Television Advertisements
There are a variety of television advertisements, never-broadcast outtakes, and experimental footage reflecting the historical development of television advertising for a major commercial product in the Coca-Cola collection. There are favorites like the “hilltop” which shows a group of young people singing “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke” to the famous “Polar Bear” commercials from 1993.
Special Presentations
- Highlights in the History of Coca-Cola Television Advertising
- The “Hilltop” Ad: The Story of a Commercial
- Biography of Dr. John S. Pemberton, Inventor of Coca-Cola
- Timeline: Advertising Themes
- Television Advertising: A Brief History
- Beverage Industry: Celebrating 50 years of Service
Baseball Cards 1887-1914
The Benjamin K. Edwards Baseball Card Collection contains 2,100 early baseball cards. Baseball cards were first issued during the 1880’s when tobacco companies used them for advertisements. More than 1,000 major and minor league baseball players are represented in this collection. These cards portray such figures as Ty Cobb, Cy Young, Tris Speaker and many more.
Special Presentations
An American Time Capsule Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera
This collection includes proclamations, advertisements, blank forms, programs, election tickets, catalogs, clippings, timetables, and menus. They capture the everyday activities of ordinary people who participated in the events of nation-building and experienced the growth of the nation from the American Revolution through the Industrial Revolution up to present day. Please take a look at a poem written for as an advertisement for a book store.
Special Presentations
Washington as it was: Photographs by Theodor Horydczak 1923-1959
Spanning from the mid 1920 through the 1950’s the Theodor Horydczak collection contains 14,300 photographs, some of which were used in various advertisements. Some of these photos were used in real estate advertisements and even on post cards and calendars. There are many photographs of national monuments in Washington D.C. over 300 of the photographs are of the Washington Monument.
Special Presentations
Creative Americans Portraits by Carl Van Vechten 1932-1964
The Carl Van Vechten collection contains over 1,395 photographs. Most of these are portraits some of famous people and celebrities but the majorities of portraits are of every day people. This collection includes an Occupational Index the categories range from actors to sports figures.
Special Presentations
Working in Paterson; Occupational Heritage in an Urban Setting
Considered to be the cradle of the Industrial Revolution of America, Paterson New Jersey became a four month study on the occupational culture. This collection presents 470 interview excerpts and 3882 photographs.
Special Presentations
What's New at LOC.GOV
Interested in the arts? Don’t forget to view the Moldenhauer Archives collection located in American Memory. The Moldenhauer Archives at the Library of Congress contain approximately 3,500 items documenting the history of Western music from the medieval period through the modern era and is the richest composite gift of musical documents ever received by the Library. This online presentation includes representative examples of more than 130 items from the Archives including many complete works and, as a special presentation, an electronic version of the book's text, which is intended to replace the printed edition. In addition, the book's inventory of the Archives appears as a finding aid.
Visit a new exhibit titled, Enduring Outrage: Editorial Cartoons by HERBLOCK, that features original work by the Pulitzer Prize winning political cartoonist Herb Block and draws from the generous gift of 14,000 original drawings and more than 50,000 preparatory sketches donated to the Library of Congress by the Herb Block Foundation in 2002. The exhibition focuses on themes of enduring importance to Herblock that continue to resonate in American society today. The exhibited works cover most of the presidential administrations from the 1940s through the 1990s. In true Herblock form, the cartoons critique and comment on Democrats and Republicans alike.
*A wonderful compliment to the featured exhibit is an interactive activity utilizing political cartoons from the Learning Page titled, “It’s No Laughing Matter” (5th - 12th grade activity).
User Tips
Confused about different media file formats and which one to use? In American Memory, the Library of Congress offers different file formats for different purposes and audiences.
Sound Recording Formats
- RealAudio (.ra, .ram)
- Good for simply listening or searching
- MP3 (MPEG 2, Layer 3, .mp3)
- Good for downloading and saving or projecting in classroom
- WAV (WaveForm, .wav)
- Good if high quality audio file is needed
Motion Picture Formats
- RealAudio (.ra, .ram)
- Good simply for viewing or searching
- MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group, .mpg, .mpeg)
- Good for downloading and saving or projecting in classroom (highly recommended)
- QuickTime (.mov)
- Can be used for downloading and saving or projecting in classroom, but not as clear as MPEG
