John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising and Marketing History

Mission The John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History acquires, preserves, and promotes materials that document the history of the advertising, marketing, and sales industries, as well as the consumer movement. The center, housed at the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, makes these materials available to a diverse group of researchers from around the world. History The origins of the Hartman Center began with the library's acquisition of the corporate archives of international advertising agency the J. Walter Thompson Company (JWT) in 1987. In 1992, with funding from Duke alumnus John W. Hartman and others, the library established the Hartman Center to continue to actively collect and promote the use of material related to the history of advertising in society. In addition to the JWT archives, the most complete historical record of any advertising agency in the world, the center now houses the records of other advertising agencies and trade associations, the papers documenting the careers of advertising and communications professionals, and a large collection of sales and salesmanship literature.