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Richard L. Gilbert Advertising Collection

Call Number

PR 309

Date

1960's-1970's, inclusive

Creator

Extent

3.01 Linear feet (2 boxes)

Language of Materials

English .

Abstract

90 print advertisements and proofs by Richard L. Gilbert's advertising agency from the 1960's and 1970's.

Biographical / Historical

Richard L. Gilbert was born in the Bronx on March 23, 1921. After attending DeWitt Clinton High School and City College of New York, he was drafted into the Army in 1942.

After his discharge from the Army in 1946, Gilbert returned to New York, working various jobs in the advertising industry. In 1950, Gilbert opened his own firm, Gilbert Advertising, in an office on West 31st Street. Over the next 40 years, Gilbert's firm compiled an impressive roster of high-profile clients, including Anne Klein, London Fog, Renault, and the Metropolitan Opera. Although it remained a small agency, the firm created some high-impact ad campaigns, most notably Some Toys Hate War, an anti-Vietnam war-themed ad for silversmith Georg Jensen.

More information about Gilbert's career can be found in his memoir, Marching Up Madison Avenue, also held in the collection. Originally published in 2008, the book was re-issued in 2013 with the title I Was a Mad Man: A Madison Avenue Memoir.

A long-time resident of the Bronx neighborhood Riverdale, Gilbert became a frequent contributor to the "Point of View" column in the Riverdale Press after retiring from advertising. He died at home on December 29, 2013.

Arrangement

This collection is housed in two boxes, according to size, and organized into folders by client/product.

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of 90 laminated proofs and advertisements created by the Gilbert Agency in the 1960's and 1970's. The advertisements are arranged by client/product names, which are specifically identified in the box and folder list.

Emblematic of the "creative revolution" that changed the face of advertising in the 1960's, these ads are characterized by humor, irony and irreverence. Notable examples include an After Six advertisement offering Russian Premier Alexi Kosygin a free tuxedo ("For you, we'll make it up in red"); a Renault ad pitched to "people who swore they would never buy another one"; and a London Fog ad picturing a man and a woman on an ark full of animals (mostly borrowed from the 1964 World's Fair African exhibit) with the tagline "When it looks like rain, believe in London Fog."

The collection provides an interesting window into the popular culture of the 1960's and early 1970's. It also reflects the social issues of the time, in particular the anti-war movement, which features in several advertising campaigns (Some Toys Don't Like War, for Georg Jensen, and a series of political ads urging a vote on the war).

Access restrictions

Available by advance appointment only. To schedule an appointment, contact the Print Room Librarian at printroom@nyhistory.org. Photocopying undertaken by staff only. Limited to twenty exposures of stable, unbound material per day. (Researchers may not accrue unused copy amounts from previous days.)

Use restrictions

Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to:

Department of Rights and Reproductions
The New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194
rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org
212-485-9228

Permission to reproduce or quote text from this collection in a publication must be requested from and granted in writing by the Library Director, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194.

The copyright law of the United States governs the making of photocopies and protects unpublished materials as well as published materials. Unpublished materials created before January 1, 1978 cannot be quoted in publication without permission of the copyright holder.

Preferred Citation

This collection should be cited as: Richard L. Gilbert Advertising Collection, PR 309, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, The New-York Historical Society.

Provenance

Gift of Richard Gilbert, 2013.

Collection processed by

Susan Kriete

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 15:48:28 -0400.
Language: Description is in English

Repository

New-York Historical Society
New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024