American Magazine, July 2015

This long gallery of iconic advertising lines the
outside of the exhibition hall. Pepsi, Nike, MTV,
and the California Milk Processor Board
(Got Milk?) are among the featured brands.
“Advertising started in the eighteenth century in
newspapers and evolved into the visual language
we have today,” Franz says.
BY MIKE UNGER AND ADRIENNE FRANK
Commercialism. Consumerism. Capitalism. All
have played key roles in American life since the
earliest days of America itself. For better or for
worse, the story of the country’s ascent from
renegade republic to global power cannot be fully
told without delving into its economic history. Yet,
the nation’s premier museum system has never
attempted to explain it in-depth to the public.
Until now.
On July 1, the National Museum of American
History opened American Enterprise, an 8,000-
square-foot permanent exhibit that “chronicles
the tumultuous interaction of capitalism and
democracy that resulted in the continual remaking
of American business—and American life.”
AU history professor Kathleen Franz is one of
three curators who worked under Project Director
David Allison for more than four years. She was
responsible for the section of the exhibit related
to the history of advertising and consumer culture
after World War II.
“We place the consumer at the center of the
story and look at advertising as the essential
bridge between products and people,” she says.
“Advertising is a creative and innovative force in
business that creates desire for products and a space
in our lives for those products. It’s an integral part
of not just business culture, but American culture.”
Housed in the gleaming, newly renovated Mars
Hall of American Business in the west wing of
the museum, the exhibit begins in the Merchant
Era, from 1770 to the 1850s, and continues
through the Global Era into the present day. It
takes an unvarnished look at the good (the rise of
computers), the bad (snake oil salesmen), and the
ugly (the slave trade) of American business history.
“There was a moment when there was no ad
industry, and businesses tried to talk directly to
consumers,” Franz says. “When businesses began
to get bigger in the nineteenth century, they
figured out that it wasn’t working. So they hired
this very specialized group of people to do that
and it changed everything.”
From this shift were born the likes of Mr.
Peanut, Tony the Tiger, and Buster Brown, iconic
characters who not only amused us but enticed us
to buy things as well. Aided by several of her AU
grad students, Franz worked tirelessly, selecting
pieces from the Smithsonian’s permanent
collection and acquiring objects from around
the country for the exhibit. She even scored an
original cast-iron Mr. Peanut from Planters.
Franz treated American to a sneak peek of
the exhibit before it opened to the public. As the
photographs and Franz’s explanations on the
following pages reveal, American Enterprise brings
seemingly mundane business topics—accounting
and regulation, for example—to life, and is sure
to pay off for the millions of people who will invest
their time (but no money) exploring it.
An interactive media wall greets visitors outside the
gallery space. It’s one of 34 interactive displays
throughout the exhibit. “This gives people a flavor
of the themes of the American Enterprise exhibition:
innovation, opportunity, competition, and the
common good. It allows them to connect with the
material culture of business.”
MTV POSTER, 1990, COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE EXHIBITION
30 AMERICAN MAGAZINE JULY 2015