Madelyn O. Biggs papers
Call Number
Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
Advertising ephemera, proofs, and tear sheets illustrating the work of commercial artist Madelyn O. Biggs (1923–2016).
Biographical Note
Commercial artist Madelyn O. Biggs was born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, to Henry R. and Adell (McCracken) Oesterling on 16 September 1923. She graduated from Boyertown High School in Boyertown, Pennsylvania, and later moved to New York City. There she roomed at the Salvation Army's Markle Evangeline Residence (1941–1945) while attending the Art Career School, located in Manhattan's famous Flatiron Building.
She began working professionally as early as 1943 under her maiden name, "Madelyn Oesterling." A note from a pleased officer of L. C. Chase & Company, fabric manufacturers, thanked Miss Oesterling for "a very nice job" that year (see Folder 10 in the container list, below). But in an essay on the history of advertising penned around 1947, she modestly deemed her work of little interest since it kept her hunched "over a drawing table 7 days a week and often 7 nights" (see Folder 1).
On 27 February 1945, Madelyn married in Manhattan her first husband, Alden D. Hayes, and then worked as "Madelyn O. Hayes." In 1948 she received the Best of Industry Direct Mail Award for her work for Willson Products, Inc., makers of goggles, respirators, gas masks, helmets, sunglasses, and other forms of protective gear (see Folders 1 and 12, below).
Madelyn married her second husband, Richard Ashley Biggs, in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, on 19 November 1949, and then worked as "Madelyn O. Biggs." She died, age 93, on 4 December 2016.
Arrangement
The Madelyn O. Biggs Papers are housed in a single box of 21 folders, beginning with biographical material on the artist (Folder 1). The subsequent folders are named and sorted alphabetically by the type of product or business advertisements they contain (Folders 2–18). Companies are identified in notes for each folder. A few scrapbook pages and illustration boards follow (Folders 19–20). The portfolio in which the collection came to N-YHS is in Folder 21.
Scope and Contents
The collection contains approximately 100 examples of advertising ephemera, largely in the form of print publication tear sheets and proofs, along with booklets and product packaging, representing the work of commercial artist Madelyn O. Biggs (a.k.a. "Madelyn Oesterling" and "Madelyn O. Hayes"). Biggs created designs for advertising agencies, beverage manufacturers, confectioners, chemical concerns, clothing and fabric mills, hatters, hosiers, underwear makers, fraternal organizations, and utilities. Two purchase orders (Folder 1, below) issued to her by the Metropolitan Edison Company show she was paid $2.50 hourly (in 1947–1948) for "advertising consultation, advertising roughs and layouts, magazine roughs and layouts, [and] finished art work and such other commercial art work as may be ordered" (see Folders 18 and 20 for examples of the work she supplied). The collection also includes a small amount of personal material, and the artist's short essay on the history of advertising (in Folder 1).
Subjects
Conditions Governing Access
Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.
Conditions Governing Use
Taking images of documents from the library collections for reference purposes by using hand-held cameras and in accordance with the library's photography guidelines is encouraged. As an alternative, patrons may request up to 20 images per day from staff.
Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.
Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions
Preferred Citation
This collection should be cited as the Madelyn O. Biggs Papers, PR 335, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, The New-York Historical Society.
Credit line (for exhibition labels): Gift of the Estate of Madelyn O. Biggs.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of the Estate of Madelyn O. Biggs, 2017.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Processed by Archivist Joseph Ditta, August, 2017.
Repository
View Inventory
Biographical, 1945–2015, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Includes a Christmas card with a self-caricature of the artist at her drawing table, circa 1945–1949; purchase orders issued to Madelyn O. Hayes by the Metropolitan Edison Company, 1947–1948, for roughs, layouts, and artwork (see also Folders 18 & 20); the 1948 Best of Industry Direct Mail Award issued to "Madeline" Hayes for her work for Willson Products, Inc. (see Folder 12); the artist's five-page manuscript history of advertising, circa 1947; stationery of Madelyn O. Biggs, "Commercial Art"; and the Spring 2015 issue of Changing Lives, newsletter of the Salvation Army, Greater New York Division, in which Biggs recounts her time at the Markle Evangeline Residence, 1941–1945.
Advertising agencies, [1940s], inclusive
Scope and Contents
Raymond E. Nelson, Incorporated (New York, N.Y.)
Beverages, [1940s], inclusive
Scope and Contents
Crystal Rock Beverage Company
Van Ameringen-Haebler, Inc. (New York, N.Y.)
[See also Folder 19]
Candy, [1940s], inclusive
Scope and Contents
Barricini Candies (Greater New York)
Chemicals & dyes, 1943–1944, inclusive
Scope and Contents
National Aniline Division, Allied Chemical & Dye Corporation (New York, N.Y.)
Westvaco Chlorine Products Corporation (New York, N.Y.)
[See also Folder 19]
Children's clothing, 1948, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Alpha Mills Corp. (Schuykill Haven, Pa.)
[See also Folder 20]
Construction, 1951, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Franki Foundation Company (New York, N.Y.)
Department stores, [1940s], inclusive
Scope and Contents
Jeannette (Reading, Pa.?)
Direct mail advertising, [1940s], inclusive
Scope and Contents
Beaumont, Heller and Sperling, Inc. (Reading, Pa.)
Fabrics, 1943–1944, inclusive
Scope and Contents
L.C. Chase & Company (New York, N.Y.)
[See also Folder 19]
Fraternal organizations, 1949, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Rajah Temple [Shriners] (Reading, Penn.)
Goggles, respirators, gas masks, helmets, sunglasses, circa 1948, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Willson Products, Incorporated (Reading, Pa.)
Hats, [1940s], inclusive
Scope and Contents
Joseph Kanner Hat Co., Inc. (South Norwalk, Conn.)
Hosiery, 1948, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Infant Socks, Inc. (Reading, Pa.)
William G. Leininger Knitting Co., Inc. (Mohnton, Pa.)
Penn Hosiery Mills, Inc. (New York, N.Y.)
Jewelry, [1940s], inclusive
Scope and Contents
C. K. Whitner Co. (Reading, Pa.)
Laundry, [1940s], inclusive
Scope and Contents
Brown's Laundry (Reading, Pa.?)
Underwear, [1940s], inclusive
Scope and Contents
Arlan's
B.V.D.
Corliss
Cranbrook Jr.
Diener Knitting Mills (New York, N.Y.)
Fairy Silk Mills, Inc. (Shillington, Pa.)
Insulated Quilted Underwear
Insulated Thermal Underwear
Jordan Marsh
Kress
Marshall Field & Company
Royaltex
Tarleton Tots
[See also Folder 20]
Utilities & infrastructure, 1947–1949, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Greater Reading Development Fund (Reading, Pa.?)
Metropolitan Edison Company (Reading, Pa.)
Pennsylvania Electric Association
[See also Folder 20]
Scrapbook pages, 1943–1945, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Beverages: Van Ameringen-Haebler, Inc. (New York, N.Y.)
Chemicals & dyes: National Aniline Division, Allied Chemical & Dye Corporation (New York, N.Y.)
Fabrics: L.C. Chase & Company (New York, N.Y.)
Illustration boards, [1940s], inclusive
Scope and Contents
Children's clothing: Alpha Mills Corp. (Schuykill Haven, Pa.)
Underwear: C. R. Anthony Co. [men's t-shirts]
Utilities & infrastructure: Metropolitan Edison Company (Reading, Pa.)
Portfolio [empty], undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
The collection came to N-YHS in this portfolio.