Hagley Fall Conference 2026
This conference will explore the networks of creative and intellectual labor in American advertising and marketing, broadly defined, from the colonial period through the twentieth century. It aims to understand the variety of creators and producers who contributed to persuasion in American commerce and along with their connections to advertising agencies.
“Nodes and Networks”
Greta Keiper-Blake, University of Maryland Global Campus, “From Household Knowledge to Advertising Strategy: Helen Lansdowne Resor and the Role of Women’s Labor at J. Walter Thompson”
Monica Penick, The University of Texas at Austin, “Hidden Wires: How the Electric Industry Convinced Mid-Century America to “Live Better…Electrically”
Lisa Jacobson, University of California, Santa Barbara, “Manufacturing the All-American Neutral: The Network of Persuaders Behind Vodka’s Cold War Rise”
Debra Michals, Merrimack College, “Setting the Revolution: Feminist Design Entrepreneurs and the Marketing of the Movement in the1970s”
Comment: Cynthia Meyers, Art & Media at University of Mount Saint Vincent
“Experts Outside the Agency”
Amy Sopcak-Joseph, Wilkes University, “Before the Advertising Agency: Louis Godey and the Making of Commercial Networks”
Anca I. Lasc, Pratt Institute, “Nostalgia and Fashion Design History in the Pre-WWI American Window”
Emily M. Orr, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, “Made You Look: Designing Modern Window Display in New York City”
Sue Collins, Michigan Technological University, “Jacob Mogelever: Social Capital & Star Testimonies”
Comment: Jennifer Black, Misericordia University
“Networks and the Limits of Persuasion”
Peter Kovacs, University of California, San Francisco, “Silva Thins vs. Virginia Slims: The Role of Inter-Organizational Networks in the Success or Failure of New Brand Launches”
Penelope Dean, University of Illinois at Chicago, “The Failed Persuaders: How Xerox (Didn’t Benefit) You”
Edward Timke, Michigan State University, “Creative Networks of Disability Representation in Commercial Spaces: Rick Guidotti and Positive Exposure”
Comment: Katherine Parkin, Monmouth University
