Pharmaceutical Promotions collection

The Pharmaceutical Promotions collection houses a number of promotional prints, advertisements, and visual materials from multiple pharmaceutical companies including: Ethicon, Inc.; Abbott Laboratories; Davis and Geck, Inc.; Burroughs Wellcome and Company; Parke, Davis and Company; Armour Laboratories; CIBA; Upjohn; and Wyeth Incorporated. In addition to reproductions of commissioned materials, there are also magazine clippings housed within this collection that were created by several of the aforementioned companies, as well as by other companies who are not otherwise represented in this collection.

This collection, which dates from 1925 to 1965, consists of educational graphic prints, magazine advertisement clippings, and promotional portrait series that evidence the commissions made by these pharmaceutical organizations and sent to hospitals, doctors, and pharmacies in targeted marketing efforts to encourage the use and prescription of their pharmaceutical products. This was achieved primarily through the commemoration of significant historical accomplishments in the medical and pharmaceutical disciplines in art, the glamorization of pharmaceutical product benefits in contemporary magazine advertisements, and the depiction of significant figures and relevant biographical information about them in the medical and pharmaceutical fields in contemporary publications, all of which are represented in some form in this collection.

Items of interest in this collection include two complete sets of oversized reproductions of Parke, Davis and Company’s iconic A History of Pharmacy in Pictures(1947-1965) and A History of Medicine in Pictures (1957-1965), as well as a series of correspondence between Bertha Hallam, the first Library Director of the Library at the University of Oregon Medical School, and representatives of Parke, Davis and Company, dating between 1959 to 1961. Other unique items in this collection include an assortment of magazine clippings and advertisements from contemporary magazines of the mid-20th century, such as Time and Modern Medicine.

This collection provides a uniquely visual representative body of the advertising campaigns of several major pharmaceutical companies during the mid-20th century, whose goals and influence on medical history were primarily realized through the use of these targeted mass-marketing efforts. As may be expected in advertising and promotional media, not all information found in these materials were factually accurate, but it is important to note that the records contained in this collection do have genuine and persisting educational value despite this potential factual inaccuracy. Through impressive displays of artwork and use of flowery language, the recurring historical theme of extolling the positive benefits of their products and catalog of invaluable contributions to society, while ignoring or concealing anything remotely negative, is readily observed in this collection’s materials.

Researchers with an interest in pharmaceutical marketing and advertising, the history of corporate artwork, and general medical or pharmacological history will find this collection an invaluable resource to explore.

The “Abbott Laboratories” records date from 1938 to 1958, and consist of a 1938 copy of a promotional pamphlet titled Abbott: Servant to Medicine, and a copy of the Winter 1958 of Abbott’s What’s New magazine, Issue number 204. The Servant to Medicine pamphlet is a self-published promotional publication made to highlight the history of Abbott Laboratories, its contributions to pharmaceutical science and research, and the innovations the company had made since its initial founding in the pharmacy of Dr. Wallace C. Abbott in 1888. The pamphlet is unique in that it contains many high-quality color and black and white photographs of contemporary laboratory equipment and buildings at the Abbott Laboratory campus in North Chicago. The What’s New magazine features articles and unique commentary on widespread medical/pharmaceutical debates at the time, such as the provision of psychotherapy via television, and a thorough review on tetanus, including methods of treatment and the prevention of tetanus.

The “Armour and Company" records are approximately dated to the 1940s, and consist of a partial set of medical lithographs. These portraits were all painted by Frank H. Netter, M.D., a notable medical illustrator of the time who had previously worked with Armour Laboratories in the 1930s. Each portrait depicts a dramatic scene taking place in an “environment” in the medical world, which include a group of male students cramming for an exam in an apartment, the scene of a firefighting catastrophe, and a doctor arriving on the scene of a rural house call following a blizzard. This partial set of medical lithographs forms a unique and remarkably well-preserved sample of Netter’s medical art career, which spanned nearly 60 years and resulted in over 4,000 illustrations.

The “Burroughs Wellcome and Company” records have an inferred date to sometime after 1957, and consist of assorted cardboard-mounted educational prints. The prints are reproductions of educational quotations and their associated artworks from notable medical figures that primarily serve as summaries of notable moments in medical and pharmaceutical history, including (but not limited to) the beginnings of Joseph Lister’s antisepsis campaign, the first woman medical student, and the state of 18th-century hospital wards.

The “CIBA” records date from 1944, and consist of a complete oversized copy of The Seven Ages of a Physician portrait pamphlet. The pamphlet is a paraphrased nod to William Shakespeare’s seven ages of man, and represents a tribute “to the science of healing and to those great men of medicine whose devout selflessness has had an almost religious significance.” The paintings contained within this pamphlet were all painted by James Chapin, and unlike other portrait sets in this collection, it was explicitly intended to be viewed together as a complete set. Each portrait is preceded by a thin cover which briefly describes the scene of the portrait following it, which include a young boy grieving the death of a hare at his hand, a bedside instructional lecture between a doctor and his students, and doctors during war.

The “Davis and Geck, Inc.” records date from 1927 to 1955, and consist of a legal-sized reproduction of Sutures in Ancient Surgery. This collection of dramatically staged photographs was taken by artist and photographer Lejaren à Hiller, representing nearly three decades of his career. The photographs depict major figures in the history of surgery, including Lanfranchi of Milan, Haly Abbas, and Trotula. A textual summary of each figure’s most notable or lasting contribution to surgical history can be found below each photograph, which provides cursory biographical and historical information about the figure(s) depicted.

The “Ethicon, Inc.” records date from 1944 to 1948, and consist of reproductions of the Great American Surgeons and Past Presidents of the American College of Surgery portrait sets. These five portrait sets were commissioned by Ethicon during the mid-1940s and depict notable American surgeons and past presidents of the American College of Surgeons, all of which were the commissions of “Great American Artists." In addition to the portraits themselves, each item is paired with relevant biographical information about the figure depicted, as well as some information about the artist of each individual piece.

The “Multiple Companies: Magazine Advertisements” records date from 1925 to 1962, and consist of clippings from contemporary magazines that glamorize the benefits of pharmaceutical products to both medical professionals and the general public. Some of the notable publications represented in this collection include Time, Modern Medicine, and the Medical Record magazines.

The “Parke, Davis and Company” records date from 1947 to 1965 and primarily consist of portrait reproductions. One folder in this grouping contains correspondence between Bertha Hallam, the first Director of the Library at the University of Oregon Medical School, and representatives of Parke, Davis and Company between 1959-1961. One folder represents letter-sized reproductions of Great Moments in Medicine (1966), a partial reproduction of the A History of Medicine in Pictures portrait series. Finally, the two remaining folders in this grouping each contain a complete set of oversized commercial reproductions of Parke, Davis and Company’s iconic A History of Pharmacy in Pictures (1947-1956) and A History of Medicine in Pictures (1957-1965) promotional portrait series. The portrait series were painted on commission by Robert A. Thom, and the originals have been displayed at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C., and at the Hôtel des Invalides in Paris, among other famous art museums.

The “Upjohn” records date to 1944, and consist of an oversized reproduction of the Your Doctor Speaks pamphlet. The pamphlet primarily contains inspirational quotes from doctors and medical personnel, accompanied by portraits painted by various artists. Information about the artist is typically found on the left-hand page of the accompanying portrait and quotations, in the bottom-right corner of the page. The right-hand page contains the portrait itself, along with relevant quotations from “Your Doctor,” who also offers general medical advice on topics such as pneumonia and pregnancy.

The “Wyeth, Incorporated" records date from 1939 to 1961, and consist of assorted promotional portraits commissioned by Wyeth in the mid-20th century. The portraits depict paintings of various medical locales by artist Dean Cromwell, similar in nature to Frank Netter’s Armour Laboratory lithograph series. The prints themselves are slightly faded due to light exposure, but the subjects of the paintings themselves (and their respective environments) are still discernable despite the damage.