Series V. Merchandising Working File, 1953-1957, inclusive

The Merchandising Working File documents the efforts of the Merchandising Department to place displays promoting Sports Illustrated (SI) in retail stores and coordinating events promoting SI. Records come from various staff of the Merchandising Department including merchandising manager George Trescher; Eleanor Lambert, owner of Eleanor Lambert Inc. Publicity, contracted for SI's first year; West Coast merchandising representative Marjorie Kessler; and merchandising representatives Ruth Lieder, Mary Mitchell, Eleanor Montville, Alberta Scribner, and Fred Smith. Extensive correspondence from Trescher is throughout the files. Files for assistant publishers Richard "Dick" Neale and Harry Phillips and advertising promotion manager Bill Scherman include memoranda to them reporting on Merchandising's efforts. The Merchandising Working File also contains some of the earliest correspondence from founding managing editor Sidney James.

Records include correspondence to and from retailers, form letters promoting the magazine, memoranda from merchandising represenatives reporting on their activities and retailers' responses, press releases, lists of retailers contacted, and a few photographs of store displays featuring SI. Samples include posters, brochures, press kits and other specialized printed material promoting SI or retailers mentioning SI.

The presentation scripts from Merchandising are very similar in structure to those in Advertising Promotion although trying to place SI displays in retail stores instead of trying to place ads in SI. "The Sporting Look" refers to the weekly fashion feature in SI, and this feature was used to convince retailers to include SI in their merchandising plans. Suggestions to retailers are detailed in the Launching Letter to Retailers.