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Catalog Data

Creator:
Landor Associates  Search this
Landor, Walter  Search this
Names:
Mair, Francis M., 1916-1991 (commercial artist)  Search this
Extent:
68 Cubic feet (198 boxes, 4 map folders)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Audiovisual materials
Business letters
Business records
Personal papers
Videotapes
Interviews
Oral history
Date:
circa 1862-2002, undated
Summary:
Collection consists of the business records and original art documenting the work of Walter Landor and his design firm Landor Associates located in San Francisco, California.
Scope and Contents:
Collection documents the career of designer Walter Landor and the significant body of commercial imagery and packaging produced by Landor Associates design firm. Contains corporate and business records of Landor Associates, Landor's personal papers, oral history interviews, films, videotapes, and other audiovisual resources.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into seven series. Series 1: Landor Associates Business Records, 1862-1993, undated Subseries 1.1: Historical Background and Project Administration Files, 1941-1993, undated Subseries 1.2: Office Files, 1960-1993, undated Subseries 1.3: Newsletters, 1978-1986 Subseries 1.4: Scrapbooks, 1940s-1990s, undated Subseries 1.5: Memoranda, 1956-1979 Subseries 1.6: Magazine Articles, Newspaper Clippings, and Trade Journal Articles, 1926-1992, undated Subseries 1.7: Press Releases and Miscellaneous Files, 1982-1987, undated Subseries 1.8: Walter Landor Reading Files, 1948-1978 (bulk 1970-1978) Subseries 1.9: New Brochure, 1978-1983, 1978-1985 Subseries 1.10: International Files, 1938-1993, undated Subseries 1.11: Promotional Files, 1964-1991, undated Subseries 1.12: Conventions, Seminars, and Conferences, 1955-1989, undated Subseries 1.13: Awards, 1937-1989, undated Subseries 1.14: Tours, Presentations, and Parties, 1951-1986, undated Subseries 1.15: Communication Films, 1965-1969, undated Subseries 1.16: Client Files, 1936-1992, undated Subseries 1.16.1: Companies A-Z, 1936-1992, undated Subseries 1.16.2: Montedison Group S.p.A., 1971-1980, undated Subseries 1.17: Ferryboat Klamath and the Museum of Packaging Antiquities, 1924-1992, undated Subseries 1.18: Labels, 1862-1986, undated Subseries 1.19: Packaging, 1949, undated Subseries 1.20: Original Artwork, 1976-1992, undated Series 2: Walter Landor Papers, 1939-1996, undated Subseries 2.1: Papers, 1939-1993, undated Subseries 2.2: Trip Files, 1954-1988, undated Subseries 2.3: Speeches, 1948-1992, undated Subseries 2.4: Corporate Historical Reference, 1950-1996, undated Series 3: Photographic Materials, 1930-1993, undated Subseries 3.1: Photographic Prints, 1930-1993, undated Subseries 3.2: Slides, 1940-1990, undated Subseries 3.3: Publications, 1965-1992, undated Series 4: Landor Archives Project, 1949-2002, undated Subseries 4.1: Lillian Sader Files, 1950-1993, undated Subseries 4.2: Ed Scubic Files, 1968-1990, undated Subseries 4.3: Other Associates Files, 1949-1993, undated Subseries 4.4: Oral Histories, 1969-1994 Subseries 4.5: Archives Project Reference Files, 1939-2002, undated Series 5: Motion Picture Films, 1944-1977, undated Subseries 5.1: Landor Associates, 1958-1972, undated Subseries 5.2: Educational and Training Acquired by Landor Associates, 1944-1975, undated Subseries 5.3: Promotional Films Acquired by Landor Associates, 1958-1977, undated Subseries 5.4: Television Commercials, Advertising and Public Service Announcements, 1964-1975, undated Subseries 5.5: Miscellaneous Films Acquired by Landor Associates, 1967-1970, undated Series 6: Video Cassette Tapes, 1980-1993, undated Series 7: Audio Cassette Tapes, 1971-1991, undated
Biographical / Historical:
Walter Landor (1913-1995), son of Jewish Bauhaus architect Fritz Landauer, came to the United States in 1938 with the design team for the British Pavilion at the 1939 World's Fair in New York City. He emigrated to the United States in 1941, launching a small design firm in San Francisco. Landor started out doing package design for a largely local and regional clientele (including many West Coast wineries and breweries), although he soon developed a client list that included some of the world's largest and most prestigious corporations. Corporate identity projects were an important specialization. In addition to his own considerable design abilities, Landor had a gift for inspiring and organizing the creativity of a group of associates, and for developing lasting and productive relationships with his clients. The firm developed particular strength in its portfolio of airlines, financial institutions and consumer goods, and prided itself on a network of international clients. From the beginning, Landor linked design to research in consumer behavior, developing increasingly sophisticated methods for evaluating the effectiveness of his designs. This collection documents Walter Landor's remarkable career, the significant body of corporate identity, packaging and other commercial imagery produced by Landor Associates, and the interplay between industrial design and American consumer culture.
German Historical Institute Walter Landor in the Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present. The collaborative research project Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present sheds new light on the entrepreneurial and economic capacity of immigrants by investigating the German-American example in the United States. It traces the lives, careers and business ventures of eminent German-American business people of roughly the last two hundred and ninety years, integrating the history of German-American immigration into the larger narrative of U.S. economic and business history.
Related Materials:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History Francis M. Mair Papers NMAH.AC.0548 NW Ayer Advertising Agency Records NMAH.AC.0059 Hills Bros. Coffee Company, Incorporated Records NMAH.AC.0395 Emmett McBain Afro American Advertising Poster Collection NMAH.AC.0192 Warshaw Collection of Business Americana NMAH.AC.0060 Marilyn E. Jacklar Memorial Collection of Tobacco Advertisements NMAH.AC.1224 Marlboro Oral History and Documentation Project NMAH.AC.0198 Black and Decker Collection NMAH.AC.1441 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Documentation Project NMAH.AC.0816 Frito-Lay, Incorporated Records NMAH.AC.1263 Smothers Brothers Collection, NMAH.AC.1437 Division of Work and Industry, National Museum of American History The division holds artifacts related to the Walter Landor and his advertising work. See accession 1993.0393.
Provenance:
Personal papers donated to Archives Center in 1993 by Josephine Landor, widow of Walter Landor; business records donated to Archives Center in 1993 by Landor Associates.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Industrial design  Search this
advertising  Search this
Industrial designers  Search this
Marketing  Search this
Genre/Form:
Audiovisual materials
Business letters
Business records -- 20th century
Personal papers -- 20th century
Videotapes
Interviews -- 1980-2000
Oral history
Citation:
Landor Design Collection, circa 1862-2002, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0500
See more items in:
Landor Design Collection
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep85b2af5a7-7d92-4d6e-b7fe-f715312975d4
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0500