Albert W. Hampson Commercial Artwork Collection
name: label: Creator
content: Hampson, Albert W., 1911-1990 (artist)
title: label: Topic
content: Look (magazine)
label: Topic
content: Saturday Evening Post (magazine)
topic: label: Occupation
content: Artists' models
label: Topic
content: advertising -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: Advertising agencies -- United States
label: Topic
content: Advertising art -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: Advertising, magazine -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: Design sketches
label: Topic
content: Fiction -- Novels
label: Topic
content: Magazine covers -- Design
label: Topic
content: Magazine illustration
label: Topic
content: Photography of women -- 1940-1950
label: Topic
content: Women in advertising
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The collection was donated by Hampson's son, Theodore Hampson, September 1996.
creator: label: Creator
content: Hampson, Albert W., 1911-1990 (artist)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Albert W. Hampson Commercial Artwork Collection
abstract: label: Summary
content: Collection documents the personal life and work of commercial artist Albert W. Hampson.
bioghist: label: Biographical
content: Albert W. Hampson was born May 20, 1910, in West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He demonstrated artistic ability at an early age, winning all of the available school awards. Observing teachers encouraged him to pursue a career as an artist. His mother's death and father's unemployment forced him to get a job while still attending high school. He balanced work, school, and art all through his adolescence.

 After his graduation from Northeast High School in June of 1927, Hampson pursued his art education at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art (the University of the Arts) until June of 1931. While at the university, he was quarterback of the Germantown Boys Club football team and a semi-pro team in Chestnut Hill, and he attended the Cape Cod School of Art under a scholarship provision, for one year in 1930. Also during his education, and after graduation, Hampson earned a living by providing draft and architectural drawings for several Philadelphia architects. He was driving a bread wagon and preparing advertising layouts for a Philadelphia bakery, the Old Bond Bakery, when he got his first big break: one of his oil paintings was featured on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post on November 30, 1934. Between 1935 and 1944, his work appeared on the covers of Post and Look magazines more than a dozen times.

 Hampson had been working as a commercial artist for a decade and was well established before marrying Josephine Unger Corson, a jewelry designer and librarian, on February 7, 1945. They had two children, Hillary, born 1945, and Theodore "Ted" born 1956.

 In his personal life Hampson was known for his strong political opinions and work ethic, sometimes working eighteen hours a day. He did not believe in short-cuts, and his determination for perfection was evident in his do-it-yourself landscaping, according to his son. He spent time away from home, working five days a week in New York when Ted was young, but Hampson always brought gifts home and was ready for a discussion on politics. He was an active member of the Philadelphia Sketch Club, the oldest continuing artist organization in the nation. He was remembered by long-time colleague and friend, Fred Decker, as a staunch democrat (borderline socialist) who firmly publicized his views. This tenacious attitude provided him with the abilities of a great salesman, and knowing how to sell ideas can make a great commercial artist, as his son noted. He also had personal success as a father figure, according to Ted.

 Hampson enjoyed a long and successful career as a freelance artist, staff artist, and art director for several New York and Philadelphia advertising agencies. He illustrated books and dust jackets and was a noted portrait painter. His work also encompassed commercial art, newspapers and magazines, point-of-purchase product displays, and was employed by such noted corporations as Johnson & Johnson™, DuPont©, General Electric©, Hiram Walker & Sons Incorporated, & Philco Television©. Hampson credited his success to the Saturday Evening Post for giving him the courage to continue as an artist. He saved examples, along with scrapbooks, photographs and business correspondence, as a record of his work. Ted preserved his father's collection after his death on February 19, 1990. His collection was donated to the Smithsonian on September 5, 1996 by Theodore "Ted" Hampson, who worked as a News Editor in Chicago until his death at forty–four years of age in 2000.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 6 Cubic feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1926-1980, undated
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0561
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Advertisements
label: Type
content: Artwork
label: Type
content: Black-and-white negatives
label: Type
content: Black-and-white photographs
label: Type
content: Black-and-white photographic prints
label: Type
content: Correspondence
label: Type
content: Design drawings
label: Type
content: Diaries
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Point-of-purchase displays
label: Type
content: Sketches
label: Type
content: Slides (photographs)
label: Type
content: Sketches, conceptual
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged in five series.

 Series 1, Personal Papers, 1928-1980, undated

 Series 2, Early Artwork, 1926-1927, undated

 Series 3, Commercial Artwork, 1938-1969, undated

 Series 4, Artwork for Covers of Publications, 1937-1950s, undated

 Series 5, Portraits, 1951-1977, undated
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Processed by Jennifer Namsiriwan, intern, 2006; Jennifer Ann Danenberg, intern, 2007; and Vanessa Broussard-Simmons, archivist, 2007.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Advertisements
label: Genre/Form
content: Artwork
label: Genre/Form
content: Black-and-white negatives
label: Genre/Form
content: Black-and-white photographs
label: Genre/Form
content: Black-and-white photographic prints -- Silver gelatin -- 1950-2000
label: Genre/Form
content: Correspondence
label: Genre/Form
content: Correspondence -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Design drawings -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Diaries -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Point-of-purchase displays
label: Genre/Form
content: Point-of-purchase displays -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Sketches
label: Genre/Form
content: Slides (photographs)
label: Genre/Form
content: Sketches, conceptual
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection documents the creation of promotional and advertising materials through photographs, original artwork and completed print advertisements and point-of-purchase displays. The research value of the collection lies in the documentation of this process. Researchers will find that these materials demonstrate how ideas are conceived and then expressed by artists for their clients. Evidence of decision making and collaboration between the artist and the client is illustrated by elements such as color choices or model poses. Often this evidence is lost when the only record saved is the completed advertisement or display. A good example of the developmental/creative process, complete with finished product, is the Tung-Sol Radio Tubes project. Materials also demonstrate the variety and occurrence of advertising projects during the mid-twentieth century. The artist created documents and artwork for different markets, both the consumer and the company.

 Materials are arranged first by parent company, then by product or brand name. However, there are a very small number of items, with obscure affiliations to a company listed by product name. Corporate ownership of many of these companies and products has changed since the era that Hampson was working in, but their historical application has been maintained in this container list. Researchers must research product or company names within their historical context.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

NW Ayer Advertising Agency Records, NMAH.AC.0059

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, NMAH.AC.0060

Alan and Elaine Levitt Advertisement Collection, NMAH.AC.0303

Federal Express Advertising History Collection, NMAH.AC.0306

Cover Girl Advertising Oral History & Documentation Project, NMAH.AC.0374

Louis Szalay Advertising Art Collection, NMAH.AC.0412

Landor Design Collection, NMAH.AC.0500

Francis M. Mair Papers, NMAH.AC.0548

Sandra and Gary Baden Collection of Celebrity Endorsements in Advertising, NMAH.AC.0611

Thomajan Advertising Collection, NMAH.AC.0643

Ivory Soap Collection, NMAH.AC.0791

Lucian Bernhard Advertising Art Collection, NMAH.AC.1161

Walter H. Voigt Brewing Industry Collection, NMAH.AC.1195

Saul Nesbitt Papers, NMAH.AC.1275

Lester Beall collection, NMAH.AC.1278


Benjamin H. Stansbury Papers, NMAH.AC.1350


Charles Sheldon Papers, NMAH.AC.1423


Anthony Moreno Papers, NMAH.AC.1478


Mahler Product Packaging and Advertising Collection, NMAH.AC.1482

Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

William E. L. Bunn Papers, 1AAA.bunnwill

Richard E. Filipowski Papers, AAA.filirich

Antonin Heythum Papers, AAA.heytanto

Paul Hollister Papers, AAA.hollpaul

Dorothy Liebes Papers, AAA.liebdoro

Museum of Graphic Art Records, AAA.museofga

Viktor Schreckengost Papers, AAA.schrvikt

Charles Sheeler Papers, AAA.sheechar

John Vassos Papers, 1898-1985, AAA.vassjohn

Inez Wheeler Papers, AAA.wheeinez

Douglas Leigh Papers, AAA.leigdoug


Frank Harmon Myers Papers, AAA.myerfran

Smithsonian Institution Archives


Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Exhibitions, Exhibition Records, SIA.FA10-061

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Department of Applied Arts and Industrial Design Records, SIA.FA95-170

National Museum of American Art, Department of Graphic Arts Records, SIA.FA95-143

National Museum of History and Technology, Division of Graphic Arts and Photography, Records, SIA.FARU0206

National Museum of History and Technology, Division of Graphic Arts Records, SIA.FARU0413

National Museum of American Art, Department of Graphic Arts Records, SIA.FARU0476

Ruel P. Tolman Collection, SIA.FARU7433