Advertising Records
name: label: Collection Donor
content: Nickse, Hugo
label: Collection Donor
content: Johnson, Hanford
label: Collection Creator
content: Comstock, Cheney and Co.
label: Collection Creator
content: Pratt, Read and Company
label: Collection Donor
content: Steinway, Henry Ziegler
setName: label: See more items in
content: Pratt, Read Corporation Records
label: See more items in
content: Pratt, Read Corporation Records / Series 3: Pratt, Read and Company, Pratt, Read and Company, Inc., and Pratt-Read Corporation
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1958 - 1977
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0320, Subseries 3.5
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: ADVERTISING RECORDS, 1958-1977, consist of the actual materials which were created during the development of the company's advertisements.  Again, these advertisements were developed primarily for piano trade magazines.  These records include artwork, mechanicals, proofsheets, photoprints, photonegatives, transparencies, and preliminary sketches.  They represent about 95 percent of Pratt, Read's advertising campaigns between 1958 and 1977 and include advertisements that were never used.  Pratt, Read contracted with a number of different advertising agencies during this period, including C. A. Smith & Co. (Westport, Conn.), Shailer/Davidoff, Inc. (Fairfield, Conn.), Dexter Associates (Madison, Conn.), and McNamara Associates, Inc. (Detroit, Mich.).  However, the bulk of the records in this subseries was generated by the firm of Marc Dorian, Inc. (Mamaroneck, N.Y.), between 1970 and 1977.  Cleverly utilizing animated piano keys, hammers, and other piano action elements, Marc Dorian created several series of advertisements.  While most emphasized Pratt, Read's long history and tradition of quality, others adopted a slightly risqué theme or were built around quotations from Shakespeare.  Some of these advertisements were translated and used in German piano trade journals.  The materials in this subseries have been arranged by advertisement, in chronological order by date of their first recorded use.