Collection consists of photographs, posters, business correspondence, financial ledgers and statements, memorabilia, internal manuals, publications, biographical files, and manuscript memoirs relating to the MacLaren Advertising agency.
The records were acquired, assembled, and created by Edward Enright, the donor, over several decades to illustrate the history of the MacLaren Advertising agency, Toronto, which was run by John A. MacLaren from the early 1920s, and developed into an international advertising business that is still in operation today.
The collection documents the business activities and products of a company that created advertisements, including radio and television advertisements, to sell the goods and advance the commercial interests of its corporate clients. MacLaren Advertising clients included General Motors, General Electric, Imperial Oil Canada, Canada Packers, and the Government of Canada. The collection includes a video created by the company in 1984 as a retrospective, titled, "MacLaren: The Story So Far" (see F 4467-10).
The collection also documents the numerous awards won by the company. It includes photographs and textual records depicting the firm's success in winning the Canadian Advertisers and Sales Executives' silver medal in 1942, numerous newspaper awards in 1963, Strategy's Agency of the Year in 1995, Marketing Magazine's Agency of the Year in 1988 and 1999 and the recognition of John MacLaren as a Canadian Giant in the advertising business. The collection also includes a Tribute to John MacLaren presented as an illuminated resolution by the artist, A. J. Casson, signed by the executive staff in Canada and England expressing their pride in the business and in their leader (see F 4467-1).
Collection also includes MacLaren family records assembled by the donor concerning John MacLaren's illness and death in Florida in 1955, and records related to his wife Christine MacLaren, his sister Audrey Jane MacLaren, and his brother William Hunter MacLaren. Included also are home movies of various family events and the wedding of Barbara, John A. MacLaren's daughter.
For a more detailed description, use this link to the Archives of Ontario's descriptive database:
http://ao.minisisinc.com/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/PROV/PROV/REFD+F+4467?SESSIONSEARCH