Scope and Contents

Collection documents the career of designer Walter Landor and the significant body of commercial imagery and packaging produced by Landor Associates design firm. Contains corporate and business records of Landor Associates, personal papers of Landor, oral history interviews, films, videotapes, and other audiovisual resources.

Arrangement

Series 1: Historical Background and Project Administrations Files

Series 2: Newsletter, 1978-84

Series 3: Scrapbooks

Series 4: Memoranda, 1956-1979

Series 5: News stories and Newsclippings

Series.6: Corporate Subject files

Series 7: Walter Landor reading files

Series 8: New Brochure

Series 9: International files

Series I0: Promo files

Series I 1: Conventions and seminars

Series 12: Awards

Series 13: Tours, presentations, parties

Series 14: Communication films (a Landor subsidiary)

Series 15: Client files

Series 16: The Ferryboat Klamath and the Museum of Packaging Antiquities

Series 17: Papers

Series 18: Trip files

Series 19: Speeches

Series 20: Corporate reference

Series 2 1: Photographs

Series 22: Slides

Series 23: Publications

Series 24: Videos

Series 25: Films

Series 26: Speeches/interviews/discussion sessions on audiocassette

Series 27: Oversize materials

Series 28: Associates files

Subseries 28.1: Lillian Sader

Subseries 28.2: Ed Scubic

Subseries 28.3: Other associates

Subseries 28.4: Audiovisual materials - client projects

Series 29: Oral History Interviews

Biographical / Historical

Walter Landor, son of Jewish Bauhaus architect Fritz Landauer, came to the United States in 1938 with the design team for the British Pavilion at the 1939 World's Fair in New York City. He emigrated to the United States in 1941, launching a small design firm in San Francisco. Landor started out doing package design for a largely local and regional clientele (including many West Coast wineries and breweries), although he soon developed a client list that included some of the world's largest and most prestigious corporations. In addition to his own considerable design abilities, Landor had a gift for inspiring and organizing the creativity of a group of associates, and for developing lasting and productive relationships with his clients. The firm developed particular strength in its portfolio of airlines, financial institutions and consumer goods, and prided itself on a network of international clients. From the beginning, Landor linked design to research in consumer behavior, developing increasingly sophisticated methods for evaluating the effectiveness of his designs. This collection documents Walter Landor's remarkable career, the significant body of corporate identity, packaging and other commercial imagery produced by Landor Associates, and the interplay between industrial design and American consumer culture.