PSU Magazine Spring 1992

a national or international level at any given time. An undergraduate thesis drawn from pioneer women's diaries from the Oregon Historica l Society's collection again emphasized the personal perspec– tive as a historical microcosm. After graduation from Portland State, Kurtz worked briefly in the public relations office of Pioneer Court– house Square. She became genera l ass is– tant to the director of the American Advertising Museum in late 1987. In March 1990, she was asked to become the American Advertising Museum's executive director. Ray Watson, vice- president and general manager of rad io station KXL, was president of the museum's board of directors at the time. And Watson says Kurtz initially had some doubts about the position. "Jan had done an excellent job of setting up programs for us, and she enj oyed it, so she was hesitant about leav ing her original position," Watson says. "But there were leadership qualities the board saw that made us want her in the top po ition. Perhaps one of the most important is that she works so we ll with people." And although the job description for the position of the museum's execu– tive director did not specify a back– ground in social history, Watson says that Kurtz's academic training has proven to be invaluable. "She has expanded the perception– for all of us-about the relevance of the museum," he says. "The emphasis on education, on understanding adver– tising within the scope of a large soc ial context, comes from Jan." The idea came up in 1986 at a meet– ing of the Portland Advertising Federa– tion, one of the oldest and largest advertising clubs in the United States. Why not set up a museum featuring work done by Portland advertisers? The concept was soon expanded to include the Pacific Northwest, then the entire American advertisingi ndustry. Initial displays came from the private collections of Advertising Federation members. But the advertis– ing grapevine began producing results. Offers for film, video, rad io, print, and 16 PSU television advertising collections started pouring in. Soon there were enough samples of decades of American advertising to fi ll the museum, a library, and a warehouse. '' Occupational surnames, like Smith, Weaver, and Potter were among the first forms of English advertising '' Both permanent and revolving displays were created. One of the museum's most interest– ing permanent exhibits places the earliest known advertising in Babylonia around 3000 B.C. T races of political advertising messages were found in Pompeii, some with negative campaign strategies that might stand up in today's presidential campaigns. And occupationa l surnames, like Smith, Weaver, and Potter were among the first fo rms of advertising in the English language. Other art ifacts displayed at the museum include a collect ion of Bu rma Shave road signs hanging from the rafters, a winged Mob il O il stallion, and a neon portrait of a boy and his dog: Buster Brown shoes. Although the museum is now six years old, Kurtz says offers to donate private collections are still frequently made. "We get calls every week," she says. "Someone might ca ll from Iowa, saying 'I have thousands of old magazine adverti ements hanging on the walls of my house. Do you want them?"' The call have increased, Kurtz says, since the museum's first traveling exhibit opened in New York C ity in September of 199 1. The Advertising Museum's most ambitious project to date, the five-panel exhibit examines predominant themes of advert ising in each of five decades: the '20s, '30s, '40s, '50s, and '60s. Booked through the end of 1992, the exhibit will also show in Houston, C incinnat i, South Carolina, Canada , and make its first appearance in Portland during June of 1992-Rose Festiva l time. Each of the exhibit's seven-foot panels shows how an era's advertising was related to larger trends of the times, Kurtz says. For example, she explains, one of the soc iological theme of the '20s was the cultural upheava l caused by rural populations migrating to the cities. Advertising at that time taught the rules of urban ex istence. People learned that it was polite to use deodorant, and that silk stockings were the norm. Advertising in the '20s was a stand– in fo r the social instructor, and the mes– sage was, "Are you soc ially correct?" It was an era of trust; people allowed advertising messages to shape their soc ial, dietary, and buying hab its. By the '30s, public confidence in advert ising had eroded. But the exhibits' 1940s panel shows how adver– tising of that decade was used to sell compliance with the aims of World War II. The '50s panel portrays the con– cept of America as a homogeneous mid– dle class: mother in an apron (and high heels) and dad as the bread-winner. Perhaps more than anything, this first traveling display has enhanced the American Advertising Museum's reputation as the definitive source for the study of advertising as a soc ial force. "We're not just assembling old things to be shown in glass cases for the ir curios ity value alone," Kurtz says, "but also as an education about the implications of advertising." "We tend to be squeamish some– times," Kurtz says. "The influence of advertising in society causes mixed feel– ings. Is it bad? Is it good? Is it manipu la– tive? Does it serve to perpetuate common goals? Probably the answer is yes to all of those questions. "Yet knowing our own social and cultural history is important," Kurtz says. "And advertising is an accidental cultura l discourse. "It's been sa id in other ways before, of course; but in order to choose what we will become as a cu lture, it's impor– tant to know who we have been." D (Eva Hunter, a Portland free-lance writer, is a regular contributor to PS U Magazine.)