Omeka - Digital History at Ursinus

Browse Exhibits (2 total)

Bears Make Smoke - The Evolution of Cigarette Advertisements (1940's & 1980's)

monday september 30, 1940 pg.6.jpg

Hello and welcome to Bears Make Smoke, a project researching Ursinus smokings ads in the Grizzly and Lantern. This project focuses exclusively on the 1940's and 1980's, investigating the contrasts between these two decades. Our goal is to understand the extent to which smoking ads changed in Ursinus texts over these years, and the social trends/advancements that came with it.

In other words, how and why have the advertisements in Ursinus' texts changed throughout time, specifically in the 40’s and 80’s?

Why the 1940's and 1980's?

A question everyone must be wondering, as they seem like quite random time periods at first glance. There are many reasons for this, but possibly the most important was to avoid a tidal wave of information drowning everyone. Focusing on two specific times allows for more information to be found and analyzed, without having to worry about finding sources for every decade or so. But why the 40's and 80's specifically? That's simple - we wanted to show a drastic difference in history, and the 40's and the 80's had this drastic difference.

1940's - A plethora of smoking advertisements year after year after year

1980's - The appearance of Cancer Society advertisements (anti-smoking ads)

Although there were many trends during the other decades, there was the most startling difference between these two specifically. A lot can happen in fourty years, and continuing forward, our goal of this project is to show you exactly what happened during these years. Afterwards, we will then take a look at all our unique advertisements from the 40's and 80's and put it in perspective with both Ursinus College and America. Intersted? Let's take a look.

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“For Home and Country”: Ursinus at War

The second World War reared its ugly head in Europe in 1939 when Poland fell victim of Germany's blitzkrieg and the Soviet war machine simultaneously. While shocked, the American public largely maintained their isolationist viewpoint for some 2 years following this unexpected invasion. This, of course, changed dramatically when the United States was the target of a surprise attack by the Imperial forces of Japan in December of 1941. Almost overnight, the United States went from being 68% in favor of sending aid, to being 91% in favor of direct military involvement.

Imagine the dramatic shift to go from a standard college student to having to legitimately consider direct personal involvement in a distant war with threats looming on two fronts. This change is exactly what we as a group have set out to examine through our research of Ursinus documents. Specifically, we are observing general attitudes about the war, how rationing effected campus life, how residence life shifted, a summation of who from the community served, and how the news of the war was reported through the school's newspapers.

Through this project, we are looking to answer how specifically the Ursinus community during World War II changed. We believe that the shifts are most noticeably see through the five categories of research presented in the tabs on the right. 

"Promise/Anthem" on display on the upper floor of the Wismer dining hall on campus at Ursinus College.

Navigate this cite by using the tabs on the right side of the page.

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