My stepdad’s father ran an advertising agency in Pittsburgh some time in the 60s, and because he died before I was born, I never had the chance to meet him. I’d really like to be able to find some of the stuff his agency worked on, or even just information about it - I think it would make a nice father’s day gift for my stepdad, and since I work in advertising myself, I feel like it would bring us closer. I’ve tried googling, but not had any success. Does anyone have tips on doing this kind of research, especially long distance? I live in Illinois, so I can’t really head down to the library and look stuff up. Do you think it would be helpful to try calling a local library?
It’s a long shot, but for decades the American Association of Advertising Agencies put out a directory of all their member agencies. It included the agency principals and a list o key accounts. If you know the name of the agency, and if they were a member, AAAA might be able to track down an old directory and give you some information about it.
What do you know about them? Anything at all will help even if you don’t think it is important. Some of us are good at piecing information together through small clues. I understand if you don’t want to share for privacy reasons but that greatly limits the ability for people here to help you find information on it.
Do you know the name of the agency? My gf works for one of the bigger ad agencies in Pittsburgh. If you want to email me the name or the guy’s name I could ask her.
I’d try emailing the old farts in the Pittsburgh ad community (I’ll bet they have an “Ad Fed” group). There’s a chance one of them knew someone that knew the agency.