American Advertising Museum facts for kids
| Established | 1986 |
|---|---|
| Dissolved | 2004 |
| Location | Portland, Oregon, United States |
| Type | Private: Advertising |
| Visitors | 4,000-6,000 |
The American Advertising Museum was a special place in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. It opened in 1986. This museum showed how advertising changed over time. You could see ads from the 1700s all the way to modern times. It had both permanent displays and special traveling shows. These shows taught visitors about famous ad campaigns and important people in advertising. The museum also had a library and a gift shop. It closed its doors by the end of 2004.
Contents
A Look Back: The Museum's Story
How It Started
The American Advertising Museum first opened in 1986. It was started by Mick Scott, with help from Leonard W. Lanfranco. Homer P. Groening, who was the father of The Simpsons creator Matt Groening, was also one of the museum's founding directors. The museum opened its doors on June 26, 1986. It was located in the Erickson Saloon building. The Portland Advertising Federation helped get the museum started. At that time, it was the only museum in the world focused only on advertising. For a short time, from 1995 to 1996, the museum moved to the east side of Portland.
Moving Around and Closing
In 1996, the museum moved again. This time, it went to Portland's Old Town Chinatown neighborhood. The popular PBS show Antiques Roadshow even featured the museum in an episode in 1999.
In 2000, another advertising museum opened. This was the William F. Eisner Museum of Advertising & Design in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This meant the American Advertising Museum was no longer the only one of its kind. The AAM moved one last time in 2001, staying in Portland's Chinatown area. In 2003, an ad agency called HMH won an ADDY award for designing the museum's stationery.
By February 2004, the Eisner Museum in Milwaukee took over the collections of the American Advertising Museum. They did this by paying off the AAM's debts. After this, the American Advertising Museum closed its doors for good. However, the Eisner Museum also closed later in 2010. The building it was in was sold. As of 2014, no one knows what happened to the American Advertising Museum's collection and old records.
What You Could See There
The American Advertising Museum had many interesting things to explore. It had a library filled with books. There was also a collection of very old and rare books. You could see original papers from big national advertising campaigns. The museum also had a gallery with prints of historic advertisements.
Cool Exhibits
Some of the museum's exhibits focused on famous people and characters from the advertising world. One exhibit was called "Aunt Jemima Meets Mr. Peanut." They also had displays from their permanent collection. These showed ads from as far back as the 1700s.
A special item at the museum was one of the six original Jantzen Diving Girls. These large statues were once seen at places like Jantzen Beach Amusement Park and Portland's PGE Park. The museum also had a gift shop. Here, you could buy merchandise related to advertising.
Other exhibits at the museum included displays about Coca-Cola ads. There were also exhibits on political campaigning and old Cream of Wheat ads. One fun display even celebrated "bad advertisements." Another exhibit looked at the role of women in advertisements throughout history.
