Automobile Advertising

Marmon, National, Jackson Automobile Advertising
This folder contains several newspaper ads appearing in the Indianapolis Star during the summer of 1909. Many of these ads trumpet the records set by automobile manufacturers such as Marmon, National and Jackson during the August 1909 race meet at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Some of these ads provide quick references for the race results. The Jackson ad is particularly interesting in that it promotes its victory in the first race for the Wheeler-Schebler Trophy, the seven-foot sterling silver cup designed by Tiffany’s. This race was controversial because it was called short due to accidents and the Speedway did not award the trophy at first because no car had completed the originally scheduled distance. The folder also contains a mix of miscellaneous ads for clothing, tobacco and other goods as historical context.


This ad was placed in the Sunday, August 15, 1909 Indianapolis Star by the Willis-Holcomb Company, an Indianapolis automobile dealership. It featured the Apperson four cylinder, five passenger touring car they sold with a call out for another of the marques they featured - Packard. Note that Frank Willis was the president.
 

This advertisement for Jackson Automobile Company product appeared in the February 27, 1910 Indianapolis Star.

This an advertisement for the Apperson Automobile Company that appeared in the March 20, 1910 Indianapolis Star. The text-heavy ad stresses the history of the Kokomo, Indiana company's founders, the brothers Apperson, Edgar and Elmer.