I’m always attracted to mid-century messaging; advertising seems to explode around that time and much of it reflects contemporary society, for better or worse. I came across some “historical” ads by John Hancock Insurance a couple of years ago, and since then have been assembling a small “collection.” These full-page ads ran in national magazines from the 1940s to the early 1960s, and while they start with the traditional founding fathers they also include a range of historical figures representing technology and innovation (first and foremost), sports and entertainment, industry and agriculture, literature, medicine, explorers, presidents. Most of the ads feature real people, but there are also some fictional representatives of certain essential services: roadbuilders, nurses, small shopowners, judges and juries, ministers, teachers, “John Smith,” the minuteman who answered Paul Revere’s call, the oil men who “freed black sunshine from an ancient dungeon,” fallen soldiers and reporters. We can easily ascertain what’s important in terms of values and accomplishments by those featured and their captioned roles, past and present. It’s unfortunate that there are very few women (Clara Barton, Amelia Earhart, an anonymous teacher and nurse), and NO minorities that I could find. Some of the men featured are new-to-me and seem a bit obscure from my perspective. Elizur Wright, Massachusetts insurance commissioner, really? (close to home for the John Hancock, I guess). The captions and stories seem to indicate that all of these people saved democracy in their very different ways: we need them now!
P.S. There are a couple of Salem-related ads: Hawthorne in an early black-and-white variation, Alexander Graham Bell (above) and Nathaniel Bowditch, who is not featured as himself but rather as a salty sea captain who is in debt to him.
February 6th, 2024 at 10:16 am
What a beautiful collection! The artwork is fantastic and the text really interesting and informative. Thanks for posting that.
February 6th, 2024 at 10:23 am
Was glad to see US GRANT in the lineup there!
February 6th, 2024 at 2:16 pm
I’m a Grant fan too.
February 6th, 2024 at 10:48 am
What a great collection! Remarkable artwork, too — the style is more or less “love child of N.C. Wyeth and Norman Rockwell”, but very skillfully done, as was not uncommon then. Most of those would have been full-sized oil paintings, commissioned for each ad and probably not used again.
The various forms of obliviousness of the period are, as you say, quite evident, although never in my life did I expect to see an ad — never mind a full-color, full-page magazine ad — with Asher Benjamin as its hero! Also it’s fun to see at least two Jewish men and one LGBTQ man crashing the gates of Hancock’s “pantheon”, even if the gatekeepers likely were unaware. The endless “pull up a chair” body copy is good for a bit more shaking of modern heads.
Donna, do you know who the artist of most of the oil illustrations is? A local, I’m guessing.
February 6th, 2024 at 2:15 pm
You know, I should put the artists in there, if I can find all of them. I’ll update. Definitely not local—these are national ads with the best illustrators of the day featured. Thanks for pointing out that there is a some diversity here.
February 7th, 2024 at 2:51 pm
A fine collection–not just the artwork, but the excellent copy!
February 8th, 2024 at 2:48 pm
Thanks for the art history lesson. Your post prompted me to do a google image search for “john hancock insurance advertising art” my mind did a double take on one of the images: Hey what’s that picture of Uncle Joe doing in there?
February 9th, 2024 at 1:04 pm
Wonderful illustrations!!! I can’t cite the article but I remember reading how Austin Briggs ( at that time, late ‘50s early ‘60s, was the leading illustrator in the field) was informed that he lost the commission to the Hancock ads to a then new up and coming Bernie Fuchs (now recognized as one of the all time great illustrators). Once seeing Fuchs work for the Hancock ad Briggs gladly tipped his cap to the young upstart seeing the tremendous talent he possessed! Bernie Fuchs work is the Amelia Earhart ad. Also i see art from Harry Anderson ( the Winslow Homer ad) and I believe art from Robert Fawcett ( Sam Adams ad).
February 12th, 2024 at 6:16 pm
Thanks for all the illustrator credits!