Origins and Early Development of Outdoor Advertising in the United States

Abstract

Enumerates the origins and early development of outdoor advertising in the USA, stating that in early times (pre‐newspapers) most signs or symbols over shops, or handbills, were copied from the UK. Goes on to identify the areas and years that newspapers began to appear and make an impression, and gives breakdowns of how and where they started and grew to become formidable forces in the media‐starved years back then. Furthers the point that outdoor advertising in the USA evolved at a similar, but much slower, pace than in the UK. Posits that large circuses had an impact with regard to outdoor advertising and in particular Phineas Taylor Barnum, who was the first to use large illustrated posters for effect, and this soon caught on.