HAT helps solve the mystery of the 'Aero Girls'

UoY Website front page Aero Banner_ By permission of University of York


In February HAT played host to Kerstin Doble (pictured, R) and Francesca Taylor (pictured, L), curators of the Who Were the Aero Girls? project for the Borthwick Institute of Archives at the University of York. 

In the 1950s a famous advertising campaign for Rowntree’s Aero chocolate bars featured a series of paintings of contemporary women. Examples of these portraits were found in the Rowntree’s company archives held at the Borthwick Institute but not much was known about the sitters or theartists. A nationwide appeal was launched and, as part of their Opening up Archives events, the Borthwick mounted an exhibition to document their voyage of discovery.

The Institute approached HAT for help in finding supporting information about the campaign strategy for the Aero advertising brief. Rowntree’s advertising agency in the 1950s was J Walter Thompson, London. HAT holds the client account files, advertising guard books and client/agency communications  papers of this significant agency and proofs of many of the Aero advertisements are included in the collection. Kerstin and Francesca were keen to look at this complementary material with a view to a further collaboration with HAT in the development of an Aero Girls project website and repository with York University's digital library. Their interest was piqued by a couple of photographs of Aero girls canvasses in situ in the JWT Art Department in the 1950s, and they were eager to look for other evidence. 

Coincidentally, prior to the exhibition, HAT had received an independent enquiry about one of the Aero models. The enquirer’s mother had been sketched by the artist Anthony Devas whilst sitting on a bus in 1951, and the resulting portrait had become one of the Aero advertisements. HAT was able to square the circle by putting the model in touch with the project curators, to much mutual excitement. The exhibition and the fascinating stories behind it, were featured in the national press, the Internet and on Channel Four.

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