Circulars, 1978

This series contains advertising materials created and produced by Building #19. Building #19’s advertising included circulars, mockups, sale signs, and runs of press clippings, mostly featuring drawings by Mat Brown. The drawings showcased products and sales available at Building #19 stores and often included caricatures of Jerry Ellis, Building #19 staff members, celebrities, and more. Included are weekly advertising circulars—organized chronologically—that were inserted into newspapers across New England, including the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Daily Item (Lynn), Patriot Ledger, Eagle-Tribune (Merrimack Valley), Lowell Sun, Telegram & Gazette, The Enterprise (Brockton), Providence Journal, The Pawtucket Times, New Hampshire Union Leader, and more. Some advertising circulars were regional and contained the same advertisements for all of Building #19’s store, while others—usually the ones inserted into smaller newspapers—advertised products and sales for the local store (for example, circulars inserted in the Pawtucket Times showed sales specific to the Pawtucket store). The advertising mockups are the original, hand-drawn art created by Brown that were utilized in printed advertisements. The mockups are generally sorted by theme or store department (children’s clothing, rugs, handbags, etc.), and were often created by combining (usually using glue) individual drawings (for example, a caricature of Ellis or other staff member, a drawing of a product, and advertising copy) into one, cohesive advertisement. The mockups also include the original artwork used to create the covers for the weekly advertising circulars. The sale signs are hand-drawn signs used in Building #19 stores to advertise specific store sales. The runs of press are newspaper clippings of advertisements Building #19 ran in newspapers across New England and are sorted chronologically.