IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOLS

Announcement was made today of the gift of a valuable collection of several hundred early American and foreign advertising cards to the Baker Library of the Business School by Mrs. Landauer of New York City. Dr. A. H. Cole, librarian, stated that it was an addition of great value to their growing collection of material relevant to the history of advertising.

These trade cards as they are called are difficult to obtain today and consequently of value. Passed by hand or distributed through the mails they formed an important medium of advertising until the advent of modern magazines and newspapers. Mrs. Landauer while collecting a large number of these has become an authority on the subject and has published a book on it. She also recently made a presentation of a collection of American trade cards to the New York Historical Society and French and English ones to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The British Museum has one of the world's largest collections of these with several thousand in its possession.

The gift fits in with the program of the library for the acquisition of an extensive collection of material relevant to the history and development of advertising. This department, according to Dr. Cole, is rapidly expanding and if it grows large enough will be allotted a separate room.

Varying in sizing from an inch to several inches square, the cards are highly colored and some are elaborately decorated. The collection is temporarily housed in the Manuscript Division of the library.