Participating Libraries

Hagley Museum and Library

Hagley Museum and Library is located on the historic site of the gunpowder works founded by E. I. du Pont in 1802, encompassing 235 acres along the banks of the Brandywine in Wilmington, Delaware. The museum and site itself provides an example of early American industry including restored mills, a workers' community, and the ancestral home and gardens of the du Pont family.

The library and archives at Hagley hold a wealth of material specializing in the study of business and technology in America. The collections include papers belonging to key individuals as well as company records ranging from eighteenth-century merchants to modern telecommunications, illustrating the impact of the American business system on society.

Hagley Museum and Library invites people of all ages to investigate and experience the unfolding history of American business, technology, and innovation, and its impact on the world. A non-profit organization accredited by the American Association of Museums since 1972, Hagley is also a proud member of the prestigious Independent Research Libraries Association (IRLA).

We would like to thank the Hagley Museum and Library’s staff for their continued support, invaluable advice and guidance throughout the project process, in particular Chris Baer, Lyn Catanese, Roger Horowitz, Kevin Martin and Erik Rau.

Ernest Dichter and the Institute for Motivational Research

Ernest Dichter’s papers were donated to the Hagley Museum and Library by the Dichter family. After closing his offices in the Croton-on-Hudson “Castle” in 1982, Dichter placed his library of research studies, publications and other writings with Mercy College, where he taught marketing. However, when Mercy College sought permission in 1990 to microfilm them and destroy the originals to save space, Dichter repossessed them. He was working with a dealer to sell them to another library but was unable to make satisfactory arrangements before his final illness. These materials, plus Dr. Dichter’s remaining business correspondence and notes, were removed to Hagley from Dichter’s last residence and office in Cortlandt Manor, N.Y., in 2007. A second large collection of Dichter material, which presumably came from his European offices, is now housed at the University of Vienna. This collection contains a very large number, but not all, of his research proposals and studies, and while there is substantial overlap, a particular item may exist in only one of the collections.

John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History (Duke University)

Housed in the Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Duke University, the John W. Hartman Center contributes to the study of sales, advertising and marketing in society by preserving historical archives and sponsoring related programs at Duke University. The Hartman Center holds an extensive collection of more than 3 million items that document the history of sales, advertising and marketing throughout the past two centuries.

The Hartman Center has provided a selection of valuable advertisements for our Ad Gallery feature, dating from the mid-1930s to 1950s.

We would like to thank the Hartman Center’s director, Jacqueline Reid Wachholz and reference archivist, Joshua Rowley, for their advice and assistance over the course of the project.

Advertising Archives

The Advertising Archives was established in 1990 by Larry and Suzanne Viner and is the largest and most comprehensive resource of its kind in Europe. The Archives have provided a selection of striking advertisements from the 1930s-1960s for our Ad Gallery.