19. October 2023

For more on the history of Sun-Maid Raisins in China please visit our previous blog post here.

18. September 2023

This 1929 Pond’s advertisement calendar is not only one of the most stunning pieces in our collection, but also an important artefact of China’s modern social history. The beauty brand and its ad agency, Carl Crow Inc., were instrumental in creating the archetypal “Modern Girl” whose image prevails in Chinese popular and commercial culture to this day. Here is the back story of what made it so iconic.

14. November 2022

The Quaker Oats trademark was registered in 1877 by Henry Seymour, an Ohio milling company owner. In 1901 his former company was merged with several other producers under the newly formed Quaker Oats Company, founded by Henry Parsons Crowell, and soon started to sell its products internationally through global distribution networks. In 1908, Quaker Oats introduced the first in a series of cookie recipes on the box and the iconic cylindrical package made its first appearance in 1915.

28. October 2022

This large 1932 map of Shanghai was produced by Millington Inc., one of the “Big 4” advertising agencies of old Shanghai. It was issued in the same year when Millington also started to produce the monthly “The Cathay” hotel magazine and features almost the same advertisers. The map was a supplement to the “City Directory of Shanghai”, a publication issued by Millington and which complemented the “Rosenstock’s Business Directory of China” which the agency also produced annually...

29. March 2022

1940s letterpress printing block for "Great Dreadnaught" (大无畏) batteries advert. From the MOFBA collection

29. November 2021

With community support, the California Associated Raisin Company was established in 1912 and membership comprised 85 percent of the state’s raisin growers. In 1915, the brand name Sun-Maid, coined by advertising executive E.A. Berg, was launched. Sun-Maid began developing raisin markets in Asia in 1918, and by 1922 had set up offices in Japan and China, where it immediately became a hugely popular brand. While raisins were considered to be commonly available foodstuffs by Americans, they were...

16. April 2021

Although neither the first, nor the largest in terms of billings or staff, Carl Crow Inc undoubtedly was the most famous advertising agency of old Shanghai – thanks to its founder, American ad-man, author and adventurer Mr. Carl Crow. his company never employed more than 20 people - three times fewer than the Chinese Commercial Advertising Agency (C.C.A.A.) and six times fewer than its British competitor Millington Ltd. - but it was well known for its family-like company culture and secondly...