Scroll through history on your iPhone

June 23, 2009 • 2:05 pm • POSTED BY ahartley

Some of you may already be familiar with Duke University’s digital collection of vintage advertisements at the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Marketing and Advertising History, which houses around 7,000 images from 20 collections, spanning from the nineteen-teens to WWII-era messaging, and beyond. Up until this point, these advertisements were only available online, but Duke just launched an iPhone App that allows you to browse through these advertisements as you stroll. Duke currently has the most comprehensive digital image collection available on the iPhone.

A few of my faves?

This anti-inflation advertisement from WWII (“Pointed Rhymes for Trying Times”), because apparently the world’s problems can be solved with a limerick.

“There  was a little dope with a fat pay envelope,/ And she spent every cent that was in it. /And she wondered, by-and-by, why the prices rose so high,/ but she didn’t blame herself for a minute.”

A cologne ad for a brand called TARS (very appealing), which touts “its tingling magic, its strikingly mannish scent”.

And, of course, the good old fashioned “Chorus of Electrons” ad, which describes the visual function of a TV in terms of a kick line of ruffle-skirted chorus girls.

In the down time between seasons of Mad Men, this is a fun way examine the changing trends in advertising  (and technology). Now you have yet another reason to whip out your iPhone and start playing around. (Cat Piano, anyone?)