Wattenmaker Advertising evolved from a business enterprise founded by Jacob Wattenmaker (1894-1968), a Cleveland-area businessman and philanthropist. Wattenmaker began his career as owner of a wholesale dry goods store in Cleveland in the 1920s. He then became merchandising manager of Bailey Co., a clothing store. In 1932 he founded his own chain of dress shops and was later named managing director of the Cleveland Fur Institute and Executive Secretary of the Cleveland Fashion Institute. He was a lecturer in merchandising, commerce, and public relations at several area schools, including Fenn College, Cleveland College, and John Carroll University. Subsequently, Wattenmaker opened a public relations and merchandising counseling office which evolved into Wattenmaker Advertising, Inc. after World War II.
Wattenmaker Advertising specialized in food and real estate campaigns. Some of its larger campaigns were for the Northern Ohio Food Terminal, the Dry Cleaners Guild, and Zinner's, a flower shop. In 1965, Wattenmaker Advertising won the first Cleveland Advertising Club's Horace C. Treharne Medal for its campaign for the Sandusky Distributing Co. Following Jacob Wattenmaker's death in 1968, control of the company was given to his son, James.
The Wattenmaker Advertising Photographs, 1930s-1948, consist of a photograph album of Cleveland Market Week of the Cleveland Fashion Institute and photographs from Zinner's Flowers.
This collection is of value to those studying local businesses, advertisements, and advertising methods in the 1930s and 1940s in Cleveland, Ohio. Businesses represented in the collection include garment manufacturers and retailers and florists.
The collection is arranged alphabetically by subject and then retained in original order within each subject.
For more work done by Jacob Wattenmaker, the researcher should also consult Pamphlet B987, Buyer's Guide to the Cleveland Apparel Market and MS 5032, United National Clothing Collection, Greater Cleveland Branch Records, 1945-1946.
Processed by Jessica Marra and Sean Martin in 2012
None.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] PG 578 Wattenmaker Advertising Photographs, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
Jim Wattenmaker, 2011.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.