HAT celebrates JWT’s 150th birthday in style!

JWT’s unique archive images are now online:
Can you help HAT to fill in the information gaps?

The J Walter Thompson (JWT) advertising agency is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. In recognition of this milestone event, HAT has digitised the London agency’s  stunning photographic archive which provides  a rare and fascinating glimpse ‘behind the scenes’ from the late 1940s to the 1980s. Now uploaded to HAT’s online catalogue, the archive is accessible to view here.  

HAT’s cataloguing team has entered as much information as possible into the online catalogue database to facilitate searching. However, several photos arrived at HAT Archive from the agency without accompanying data e.g. names of people, places, dates or operations depicted. As a result we would like to invite anyone who worked at, or with, the agency during this era to assist us by sharing their memories and providing more details and context. Please get in touch with HAT if you can help to fill in the gaps or use the ‘comment’ function via the online catalogue.
 
The original photographs are from the JWT London Archive (1895-2000s) which is carefully preserved, managed and documented at HAT. They provide insights into company operations within its various departments (e.g. Art, Copy, Marketing, Public Relations, Radio) as well as portraits of staff members at work. Although many images relate to the London office in the 1950s, there are also some that show international operations, including a rare picture of a Plans Board in session at JWT’s Bombay office. The collection also features celebrities from JWT commercials such as Gracie Fields and Bing Crosby. The images have already helped project officers at the University of York working on the ‘Aero Girls’ campaign who were thrilled to discover photos showing these portraits in situ at JWT’s Art Department and on the wall at the agency’s offices. 

JWT’s rich advertising heritage is well represented at HAT by several inter-related collections. These include client account files (1920s-1970s), now searchable via HAT’s online catalogue through funding from the National Cataloguing Grant, and guard books containing client advertising proofs and JWT in-house publications of the same period. There are also papers of distinguished JWT staff members e.g. George Butler (Head of Art, 1942-61), John Treasure (Director of Marketing and Research, 1960-74 also Chairman, 1967-74) and Stephen King (Head of Account Planning, 1968-78). 


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