by Sharon Ruth Hill

Created on: July 16, 2009

"R.W. Durham, Piano Tuner and Repairer" reads the starkly printed, black bold face title of just one of the many print broadsides in the collection housed at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The month of May in the year 1912 was the red-letter month when R.W. Durham visited Bowling Green and he used a large print broadside as the means of advertising his presence and ability for piano tuning and repair. Succinctly stated and very well put, he admonishes local piano owners that they are "careless in taking care of their instrument." The advertisement adeptly covers all the bases for any possible concerns on the part of the piano owner by further stating that he has "no axe to grind" and receives no commission of the sale of any piano that he might recommend for purchase.

Spanning the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the collection of print broadsides, or broadsheets, at WKU is as interesting as it is eclectic. A wide variety of more than forty print broadsides are included in the collection and runs the gamut of subject matter with general advertisements, government announcements, certificates, Kentucky historical, and even mortuary cards. From standard block print against a plain background, with the text as the only visual, to the sublime of adding heavily detailed landscape drawings or still-life black and white photographs. These broadsides seem well versed and effective, but not too flashy. All this comes without a high paid marketing or advertising team that is the foundation of the multi-million dollar media campaigns of the modern era.

"It's Swingtime" advertises a 1951 local benefit musical for the Bowling Green Boy's Club as musical notes surround the main body of information with the location, time, and admission of sixty five cents while a young male and female duo represents two dancing figures at the bottom left corner. The draft would have been hand drawn and somewhat time consuming since this print broadside is from the time before PowerPoint, Photoshop, or any similar software program.

The libation "Old Danton-The Honest Whiskey, As Pure As Youth-But Aged" obviously for the complete whiskey connoisseur since the remainder of the broadside is matter-of-fact dedicated to liqueur specifics and pricing instead of sex appeal and fuzzy media messages with a double entendre.

"Eagle Fountain Pen" is the "most complete, useful and convenient" fountain pen. The Eagle Pencil Company is the manufacturer and they take great pains on this broadside to inform that the model is solely and legally patented. Full instructions on the use and function of the pen are explicitly rendered and the pen appears well detailed in all components. Nothing tricky or misleading and the manufacturer is clearly proud to offer this pen to the public.

Replete with many examples of local history, as well as some advertisements for nationally known or available products, the print broadside collection at Western Kentucky University is fun and informative for anyone interested in the preservation of media history, or history in general.

Source:

Western Kentucky University-Broadside Collection

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