SMFA Library: Publicly Available Image Collections: Vintage Advertisements

Print Advertising

AdFlip
A searchable database of classic print ads, from the 1940s through the early 2000s.
The Advertising Archives
This collection of vintage print ads spans the early 1900s through the present day.
Duke University's Ad*Access
Over 7,000 U.S. and Canadian advertisements from between 1911 and 1955.
Duke University's Emergence of Advertising in America
Over 3,300 advertising items and publications dating from 1850 to 1920, illustrating the rise of consumer culture and the birth of a professionalized advertising industry in the United States.
The New York Times' Madison Project
For now, this is more of a crowd-sourced labeling project, but soon it will be a fully-searchable and browsable database of vintage NYT advertisements.
PSA Central
From the Ad Council, this site features current public service announcement campaigns across all media.
Vintage Ad Browser
This site, by independent scholar Philipp Lenssen, aims to collect vintage ads from a variety of sources including comic books, websites, user submissions, and more. The site currently contains over 120,000 ads.

Television Advertising

Duke University's adViews
Thousands of television commercials created or collected by the D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles (DMB&B) advertising agency, dated 1950s - 1980s.
PSA Central
From the Ad Council, this site features current public service announcement campaigns across all media.
Vintage commercials on Youtube
This linked Youtube search for "old commercials" features television ads from the 1950s through the 1990s.

Not Technically Free, but...

The SMFA Library subscribes to the Vogue and Women's Wear Daily archives, both of which contain a wealth of vintage print advertisements. You will only have access to these as an SMFA student, faculty member, or staff member. This is supposed to be a guide to *free* resources, but we would be remiss in not mentioning these in the context of advertising.

The Vogue Archive This link opens in a new window
A complete searchable archive of American Vogue, from the first issue in 1892 to the current month, reproduced in high-resolution color page images. Every page, advertisement, cover and fold-out has been included and indexed. You can find images by searching garment type, designer, and brand names.
The Women's Wear Daily Archive This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive archive of Women’s Wear Daily, from the first issue in 1910 to material from within the last twelve months, reproduced in high-resolution images. Every page, article, advertisement and cover has been included, with searchable text and indexing.

Publicly Available Image Collections

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Print Advertising

Television Advertising

Not Technically Free, but...