Direct Mail Advertising Collection
name: label: Creator
content: Wells, Ellen B.
topic: label: Topic
content: Advertising, Direct-mail
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection donated by Dibner Library, National Museum of American History, through Ellen Wells, 1984.
creator: label: Creator
content: Wells, Ellen B.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Direct Mail Advertising Collection
bioghist: label: Biographical/Historical note
content: Donor is a Smithsonian Institution librarian.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 9.6 Cubic feet (29 boxes)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1976-1977, 1980-1981, 1984
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0115
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Direct mail
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by NMAH Staff, 1998
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Direct mail
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: Unsolicited mail received by Ellen Wells during two twelve month periods, 1976-1977 and 1980-1981. Ms. Wells kept all materials received during these periods as a sample of the changing use of this mass communication medium. Ms. Wells received the first group in Ithaca, New York, and the latter in Alexandria, Virginia. This collection provides a substantial sample of materials used in direct mail advertising and solicitation. These techniques of mass communication have became increasingly sophisticated and more widely used in recent years and the products of these techniques--commonly called "junk mail"--are ubquitious in contemporary society.
label: Scope and Contents note
content: Because this collection consists of materials received by only one individual, it is not a scientific sample; however, it reflects the targetting of individual consumers based on interests, tastes, and past buying patterns; and the use of direct mail by a wide range of organizations and institutions and the changing techniques employed.