Francis M. Mair Papers
name: label: Donor
content: Mair, LaVeda
label: Creator
content: Mair, Francis M., 1916-1991 (commercial artist)
label: Names
content: Landor Associates
label: Names
content: United States. Naval Training School
label: Names
content: Landor, Walter, 1913-1995
place: label: Place
content: San Francisco (Calif.)
label: Place
content: United States Naval Academy
topic: label: Topic
content: advertising -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: Beverages -- advertising -- 1940-1990
label: Topic
content: Commercial art -- 1940-1990
label: Topic
content: Industrial design
label: Topic
content: Erotica
label: Topic
content: Graphic design
label: Topic
content: Labels -- Alcoholic beverages
label: Topic
content: Labels -- Crates -- Fruit
label: Topic
content: Liquors -- advertising -- 1940-1990
label: Topic
content: Nudes
label: Topic
content: Nudity
label: Topic
content: Packaging
label: Topic
content: Rattan furniture
label: Topic
content: Toys
label: Topic
content: Wine labels
label: Topic
content: Wit and humor
label: Topic
content: Wit and humor in advertising
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection donated by LaVeda Mair, April 23, 1996.
creator: label: Donor
content: Mair, LaVeda
label: Creator
content: Mair, Francis M., 1916-1991 (commercial artist)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Francis M. Mair Papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: Client files, administrative files, artwork, and collected food labels from graphic and industrial designer Francis Mair. Mair specialized in beverage labels and packaging during his many years with Landor Associates in San Francisco. Late in his career, he directed Landor's Museum of Packaging History. His prolific freelance career included designs for furniture, decorative arts, letterhead, and corporate images. His personal artwork included alphabets, typefaces, and sketchbooks. Much of his personal artwork is humorous or erotic.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Francis Marion Mair was born in Streator, Illinois to Alexander Morrison Mair and Jessie C. Williams on May 5, 1916.  He began his career as an artist and designer at the University of Illinois School of Design in Chicago receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Painting in 1938.  That year he joined the United States Navy and where he designed visual aids for the Naval Training School in Chicago, Illinois. Even at this early stage in his career, acute design sense and humor are evident in his work. In 1949, he joined Landor Associates in San Francisco, California where he worked for forty years, retiring in 1989. At Landor, he specialized in designing packaging and labeling for beverages. He also was the director of Landor's Museum of Packaging History which shared quarters with Landor Associates on the Ferryboat Klamath. Throughout his career, Mair took on diverse freelance projects. One of his most successful was the Suva line of rattan furniture and decorative objects for Decorative Imports. Mair published articles in Advertising Age, Industrial Design, Advertising Techniques, and Wines and Vines. Mair died on April 29, 1991 in Contra Costa County, California.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 56 Cubic feet (104 Boxes, 41 map-folders)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1935-1994
custodhist: label: Ownership and Custodial History
content: The collection was donated to the National Museum of American History in two increments (July, 1994 and March, 1998) by Francis Mair's widow, LaVeda Mair, Berkeley, California.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0548
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Beverage labels
label: Type
content: Fruit crate labels
label: Type
content: Labels
label: Type
content: Artwork
label: Type
content: Speeches
label: Type
content: Invitations
label: Type
content: Correspondence
label: Type
content: Awards
label: Type
content: Reprints
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Collection is arranged into eight series.

Series 1, Professional Materials, 1956-1991, undated 

Series 2, Landor Associates Files, 1946-1993, undated

Series 3, Landor Museum of Packaging Antiquities, 1960-1989, undated

Series 4, Freelance Client Files, 1946-1989, undated

Series 5, United States Naval Training School, Radio Chicago, 1943-1945, undated

Sereis 6, Personal Artwork and Designs, 1935-1994, undated

Series 7, Reference Files, 1950-1985, undated

Series 8, Labels, undated
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Processed by Mimi Minnick, archivist, October 1998; Lisa Conathan,intern,  June-July, 2006; Kevin DeVries, intern, September 2019; John Benko, intern, September 2019; and Vanessa Broussard-Simmons, archivist, September 2019.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Beverage labels
label: Genre/Form
content: Fruit crate labels
label: Genre/Form
content: Labels
label: Genre/Form
content: Artwork
label: Genre/Form
content: Speeches
label: Genre/Form
content: Speeches -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Invitations
label: Genre/Form
content: Correspondence -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Awards
label: Genre/Form
content: Reprints
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection consists largely of client files and artwork from Mair's years with Landor Associates and his freelance design work. Mair's specialty was the design of beverage containers, labels, and packaging, and there is a significant body of material produced for West Coast and national breweries and wineries. Mair also managed Landor's Museum of Packaging Antiquities, and there are several boxes of the Museum's administrative files. Of particular interest is Mair's large collection of historical and contemporary wine, liquor, and fruit crate labels (both foreign and domestic). The labels seem to have served as an inspiration and a record of his work, as well as documentation of historical packaging for the Museum. Mair's freelance clients were diverse, though most of them were small businesses and organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to food and beverage labels, these commissions included posters, promotional materials, letterhead and personal announcements, invitations, and cards. Lastly, the collection includes personal artwork and records of entrepreneurial projects (such as the Flexigon, a flexible geometric toy).
relatedmaterial: label: Related Archival Materials
content: Materials at the Archives Center, National Museum of American History


NW Ayer Advertising Agenecy Records, NMAH.AC.0059


Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, NMAH.AC.0060


Emmett McBain Afro American Adertising Poster Collection, NMAH.AC.0192


Marlboro Oral History and Documentation Project, NMAH.AC.AC0198


Alan and Elaine Levitt Advertisement Collection, 1920-early 1960s, NMAH.AC.0303


Campbell Soup Advertising Oral History and Documentation Project, NMAH.AC.0367


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


Hills Bros. Coffee Company Records, NMAH.AC.0395


Walter Landor and Associates, NMAH.AC.0500


Industry on Parade, NMAH.AC.0507


Albert W. Hampson Commercial Artwork, NMAH.AC.0561


Revlon, Incorporated Advertising Collection, 1936-1986, NMAH.AC.0939


Christian Heurich Brewing Company Records, NMAH.AC.1104


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


Marilyn E. Jacklar Memorial Collection of Tobacco Advertisements, NMAH.AC.1224


Dan Friedman Papers, 1967-1995, NMAH.AC1277


Archives Center Brewing History Collection, NMAH.AC.1419


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


Reel #167, Sitting Bull's Last Stand, 1953. Peter Meindl, a German woodcarver, making cigar store wooden Indians, New Hampshire.
label: Related Materials
content: A glass final production version of a French's mustard jar and three hand-carved, solid-wood prototypes for this jar are in the Museum's Division of Work and Industry. These were found in Mair's home studio.