Barton Cummings Papers
name: label: Creator
content: Ayer (N W) Incorporated.
label: Creator
content: Cummings, Barton A., 1914-1994 (advertising executive)
label: Creator
content: Brower, Charles H.
label: Creator
content: Bolte, Brown
label: Creator
content: Bond, Edward L., Jr.
label: Creator
content: Bernbach, William
label: Creator
content: Ogilvy, David
label: Creator
content: O'Toole, John
label: Creator
content: Seaman, Alfred J.
label: Creator
content: Schultz, Arthur W.
label: Creator
content: Matthews, Len
label: Creator
content: Marsteller, William
label: Creator
content: O'Conner, Neal W.
label: Creator
content: Mithun, Raymond O.
label: Creator
content: Meyer, Ed
label: Creator
content: Harper, Marion, 1916-1989 (advertising executive)
label: Creator
content: Healy, Robert
label: Creator
content: Hagopian, Lewis T.
label: Creator
content: Jacoby, Robert F.
label: Creator
content: Fatt, Arthur
label: Creator
content: Fitzgerald, Clifford
label: Creator
content: Foote, Emerson
label: Creator
content: Gilliatt, Neal
label: Creator
content: Foley, Paul
label: Creator
content: Thiele, Edward
label: Creator
content: Tinker, Jack
label: Names
content: Ad Council
label: Names
content: Advertising Educational Foundation
label: Names
content: American Advertising Federation
label: Names
content: American Association of Advertising Agencies.
label: Names
content: Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn, Inc
label: Names
content: Best Foods.
label: Names
content: Colgate-Palmolive Company
label: Names
content: Compton, Inc.
label: Names
content: Dancer Fitzgerald Sample.
label: Names
content: Doyle Dane Bernbach.
label: Names
content: Foote, Cone and Belding.
label: Names
content: Grey Advertising.
label: Names
content: Interpublic.
label: Names
content: Jack Tinker & Associates.
label: Names
content: Leo Burnett Co.
label: Names
content: Marstellar Agency.
label: Names
content: McCann Erickson
label: Names
content: Mithun Advertising.
label: Names
content: Ogilvy & Mather.
label: Names
content: SSC&B/Lintas.
label: Names
content: Saatchi & Saatchi.
label: Names
content: Sullivan Stauffer Colwell & Bayles (SSC&B)
label: Names
content: Ted Bates Worldwide, Inc.
label: Names
content: Young & Rubicam
topic: label: Topic
content: Advertising copy
label: Topic
content: advertising
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection donated by Barton Arthur Cummings in November 1991.
creator: label: Creator
content: Ayer (N W) Incorporated.
label: Creator
content: Cummings, Barton A., 1914-1994 (advertising executive)
label: Creator
content: Brower, Charles H.
label: Creator
content: Bolte, Brown
label: Creator
content: Bond, Edward L., Jr.
label: Creator
content: Bernbach, William
label: Creator
content: Ogilvy, David
label: Creator
content: O'Toole, John
label: Creator
content: Seaman, Alfred J.
label: Creator
content: Schultz, Arthur W.
label: Creator
content: Matthews, Len
label: Creator
content: Marsteller, William
label: Creator
content: O'Conner, Neal W.
label: Creator
content: Mithun, Raymond O.
label: Creator
content: Meyer, Ed
label: Creator
content: Harper, Marion, 1916-1989 (advertising executive)
label: Creator
content: Healy, Robert
label: Creator
content: Hagopian, Lewis T.
label: Creator
content: Jacoby, Robert F.
label: Creator
content: Fatt, Arthur
label: Creator
content: Fitzgerald, Clifford
label: Creator
content: Foote, Emerson
label: Creator
content: Gilliatt, Neal
label: Creator
content: Foley, Paul
label: Creator
content: Thiele, Edward
label: Creator
content: Tinker, Jack
setName: label: See more items in
content: Barton Cummings Papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: Collection documents Barton Arthur Cummings's career as an advertising industry spokesman, particularly in the areas of advertising education, and advertising in the public interest.
bioghist: label: Biographical/Historical note
content: Barton Arthur Cummings (1914-1994) was a former Chief Executive Officer of Compton Advertising, Incorporated, and Chairman Emeritus of Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide.

Cummings began his advertising career working during school breaks at his father's advertising agency, the Earl Cummings Advertising Agency (later Cummings Brand McPherson Associates, Incorporated) in Rockford, Illinois.  He graduated with a degree in Journalism from the University of Illinois in 1935, where he also played varsity football.  Cummings maintained a lifelong interest in football, and in 1959 was awarded the Sports Illustrated Silver Anniversary Award for former college football stars who go on to distinguish themselves in other fields.

After graduation, Cummings took a trainee position with his father's agency, leaving several months later to take a trainee position with Swift & Company.  From 1936 until 1942 he was with Benton & Bowles in New York, where he was a copywriter on accounts for Hellmann's Real Mayonnaise and Lord Calvert Whiskey, among others.  During World War II, he served in the Offices of War Information and Price Administration in Washington, DC.  He resigned in 1943 to join the Navy, and was assigned to the Amphibious Forces, 7th fleet.  He saw action in Guinea, Borneo, and the Philippines.

After the War, Cummings joined Maxon, Incorporated as an account executive, and was elected to Vice President a year later.  In 1947, he began a long and successful career with Compton Advertising, moving from account executive to President in only eight years.  In 1963, Cummings was named chairman and chief executive officer, a position he held for nearly twenty years.  When Compton merged with Saatchi & Saatchi in the 1980s, Cummings was named chairman emeritus of that international agency.

Mr. Cummings enjoyed a distinguished career as leader and spokesman for every major advertising industry association.  He served as chairman of the American Association of Advertising Agencies (1969-1970); chairman of the American Advertising Federation (1972-1973), Chairman of the Ad Council (1979-1981), chairman of the board of trustees for the James Webb Young Fund at the University of Illinois, and chairman and director of the Advertising Educational Foundation.  Other public service included work as the chairman of the advertising division for the New York Heart Association (1963-1973), chairman of the Public Service Advisory Committee for the City of New York, and director of the Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan New York (1954-1977).  Throughout his career, Mr. Cummings championed the use of advertising in the public interest, and washas been outspoken on the need for advertising education and industry self-regulation.

Mr. Cummings was preceded in death by his first wife Regina Pugh Cummings when he died in 1994. He was survived by his second wife Margaret K. Cummings, children Ann Haven Cummings Iverson, Peter Barton Cummings, and Susan Cummings, and one grandchild, Haven Cummings Iverson.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 4.5 Cubic feet (11 boxes)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1938-1991, undated
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0421
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Audiovisual materials
label: Type
content: Speeches
label: Type
content: Essays
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Business records
label: Type
content: Clippings
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Collection is arranged into five series. 

Series 1, Speeches and Publicity, 1950-1988, undated

Series 2, Business Papers, 1938-1991

Series 3, Published and Unpublished Manuscripts, 1981-1991, undated

Series 4, Advertising's Benevolent Dictators, undated

Series 5, Multi-Media Materials, undated
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: This collection was processed by NMAH Archives Center staff.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Audiovisual materials
label: Genre/Form
content: Speeches
label: Genre/Form
content: Essays -- 1950-1990
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews -- 1950-2000
label: Genre/Form
content: Business records -- 1950-2000
label: Genre/Form
content: Clippings -- 1950-2000
originalsloc: label: Location of Originals
content: The original tapes for Series 4 are at Crain Communications, Chicago, Illinois.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: Collection documents Cummings's professional career as an industry spokesman, particularly in the areas of advertising education, and advertising in the public interest. Materials include manuscripts, interviews, photographs, speeches, awards, magazine articles, interview transcriptions, and newspaper clippings. There is a significant amount of material relating to his book Advertising's Benevolent Dictators published in 1984. Collection is arranged into five series. Series 1, Speeches and publicity, Series 2, Business papers, Series 3, Published and unpublished manuscripts, Series 4, Advertising's Benevolent Dictators, and Series 5, Multi-media materials.