Every Book(mark) Has a Story: Marketing Materials

Business Cards

Business cards were excellent modes of exchanging contacts and selling products with their portable proportions and ingenious designs. The mass-produced item’s compact size and sturdy cardstock material also clearly made for accessible and reliable bookmarks.

A Samuel Hunt & Sons business card with an illustrated ornate design and images of suitcases and trunks printed with black ink on brown paper. The card includes the text Manufacturers of Trunks, Valises, & Traveling Luggage, 26 E. Baltimore St. Balto. Md.

A Foot Joy style card shaped and illustrated like a brown dress shoe. The inside sole of the shoe illustration reads, Foot Joy, the shoe that’s different.

Back of the Foot Joy style card featuring the shoe’s style number, name, and description that reads, A Tan Kangola Blucher Oxford with Foot-Joy rubber heel.

A Foot Joy shoe style card shaped and illustrated like a black dress shoe.

Back of the Foot Joy style card featuring the shoe’s style number, name, and description that reads, An imported Black Calf Bal high shoe with Foot-Joy rubber heel.

Labels

Two vinyl record labels, two beer bottle labels, and one textile label with red fabric fibers still attached reveal a colorful collage of graphic marketing. It’s possible these keepsakes belonged to hobbyists, preserving a memory as a sort of memento or simply keeping the items as visually interesting bookmarks.

A Scala: Mattia Battistini Recital yellow vinyl record label with a list of the recorded songs in black text.

A Toshiba Records LP Stereo red and black vinyl record cover on white paper with text written in Japanese.

An Edelweiss Beer Light beer bottle label for the Schoenhofen Brewing Company depicting an illustrated forest landscape with a log cabin.

A Theodore Hamm Brewing Company Preferred Stock beer bottle label with an illustration of a blue and red ribbon and an image of an eagle carrying a medal in its beak. The red text below the illustration reads Leads Them All.

An Alizarine Damask textile label in the shape of a gold diamond with embellishments and outlined patterns. An inscription in pencil is also visible on the top left portion of the label.

Back of the Alizarine Damask textile label with red fabric fibers still adhered.

Fliers

Littered throughout the collection is a variety of fliers, brochures, pamphlets and coupons in different sizes and many formats. These materials signal events, promote products and services, make statements, and draw readers in.