HAT

Tracking Down Boots in Stoke-on-Trent

Back in 2016 I gave a short talk about my archiving work at the annual conference of the Business Archives Council, where one of the organisers was a project archivist for Boots chemists.  Afterwards I shared the above image and forwarded her the archival photo below which was shared on the Ghostsigns Facebook page by […]

30 Mar 2018

When Daren Became Hovis: A Bizarre Ghostsigns ‘Restoration’

‘Ask for Daren Bread’ was once the simple slogan on this ghostsign on Avignon Road, London, SE4. The above image was taken by Lisa Edwards in 2007, sourced here in the History of Advertising Trust Ghostsigns Archive. The site was likely a former bakery, sourcing its flour from the mills on the river Darent in […]

7 Jan 2017

Puck Matches: Archival Photo of a Gable End

This fascinating archival image is part of a larger collection of outdoor advertising captured photographically in the early 1930s and donated to the History of Advertising Trust (HAT) by Alan Bristow. This particular gable end in Pendleton features a painted sign advertising Puck Matches, which was once a Bryant & May brand. Both Puck and […]

9 Oct 2014

HAT Ghostsigns Archive upgrade

The Ghostsigns Archive has been updated as part of the wider upgrade to the History of Advertising Trust website. There are not only more photos available but also a new search function which allows you to browse just the ghostsigns pages. This is not the main site search but the one pictured above immediately before […]

3 Oct 2012

Digital Engagement & the Ghostsigns Archive: History Workshop Article

Laura Carletti and I have written a short paper for History Workshop Online.  This builds on the survey and offers some reflections on the development of the archive in 2009-10.

4 Apr 2012

HAT Archive: January 2012 Additions

A number of new additions have been made to the History of Advertising Trust Ghostsigns Archive.  Some of these are new photos of signs already covered in the archive but many are completely new material for the collection.  Here are a handful of my favourite new additions, the rest can be found by searching for […]

31 Jan 2012

49 New Signs

Since handing over day-to-day responsibility for the archive to the History of Advertising Trust there has been a steady influx of new material. 49 new signs have been uploaded to the online galleries and this means that c.750 are now documented through the collective efforts of photographers across the country. I’ve listed the codes for […]

5 Aug 2011

Project press (BBC Liverpool)

Caroline has secured the first press coverage for the archive and her work capturing signs in Liverpool.  Read the full story on the BBC Liverpool website. If anyone else has any contacts that would be interested in covering the 18th March launch then get in touch. [Update: Liverpool Ghost Signs book now published.]

15 Jan 2010

Hovis Process

Also on my visit to HAT I found this nice example of how big companies got the consistency of style across the country.  It is some directions issued by Hovis as to how the back of a bread van should be painted. In a 1952 Association of National Advertisers (USA) book there is a reference […]

18 Jun 2007

Watneys Competition

Further to the post on Watneys Wall here are a couple of pictures showing how the competition was run. Above is the sign that was displayed in bars to encourage entries for a prize of £50, and below a picture from the article in the January 1938 ‘The Poster’ showing the 40,000 entires being dealt […]

17 Jun 2007

Watneys Wall

Yesterday I visited the History of Advertising Trust (HAT). I came across a funny old poster for Watney’s Ale.  It was a parody of the painted ad format and of painted political slogans and was done in 1938 by an advertising agency called Horrocks and Company. This picture from the October 1938 edition of ‘The […]

16 Jun 2007