Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Byron Lewis Papers

Summary

Collection ID:: NMAH.AC.1583
Creators:: Lewis, Byron E., Sr., 1931-
Dates:: 1931-2023, undated
Languages:: English
Physical Description:: 15 Cubic feet
27 boxes, 1 map folder
Repository:: Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Collection documents the life and career of Byron Eugene Lewis, Sr. founder of UniWorld Group, Incorporated, (UWG), an early African American advertising agency.

Content Description

Archival materials documenting the life and career of Byron Eugene Lewis, Sr. founder of UniWorld Group, Incorporated, (UWG), an early African American advertising agency. Materials include photographs, correspondence, business records, awards, drawings, newspaper clippings, magazines (e.g.

Urbanite Magazine

and the

Tuesday Magazine

), radio scripts, compact discs, and video cassette tapes. The collection is arranged in eleven series.

Arrangement

Collection is arranged into eleven series.

Series 1: Personal Papers, 1942-2021, undated

Series 2: Business Records, 1969-2023, undated

Series 3: Correspondence, 1950-2022, undated

Series 4: Projects, 1961-2012, undated

Series 5: Awards, 1980-2013, undated

Series 6: Events, 1972-2022, undated

Series 7: Press, 1971-2019, undated

Series 8: African Burial Ground, 2003-2021, undated

Series 9: Sylvia Wong Lewis, 1981-2017, undated

Series 10: Photographic Materials, 1931-2021, undated

Series 11: Audiovisual Materials, 1980s-2014, undated

Subseries 11.1: Video Cassette Tapes, 1991-2003, undated

Subseries 11.2: Compact Discs, 1980s-2014, undated

Biographical / Historical

Byron Eugene Lewis, Sr. was born on Christmas Day in 1931 to Eugene and Myrtle Lewis in Newark, New Jersey. Lewis founded UniWorld Group, Incorporated (UWG) advertising agency in 1969 to champion multicultural advertising and promote the importance of African American and Latino consumers. His company created multi-media advertisements and campaigns for clients such as Lincoln Motor Company; Mars, Incorporated; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM); Stax Records; American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T); Ford Motor Company; United States Marine Corps; Burger King Corporation; PepsiCo, Incorporated; Quaker Oats Company; Avon Products, Incorporated; and Home Depot, Incorporated.

Lewis leveraged his corporate clients to help Civil Rights projects, including his media work for Black activists and politicians; provided work for Black artists and creatives; helped educational and cultural causes like Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Apollo Theater, the Schomburg Research Center, and the African Burial Ground Project. In addition, he travelled to Kenya, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Sudan, and Ghana in the 1970s as part of his work for the United States State Department to promote advertising and national brand-building strategies.

Administration

Author

Audrey Willius and Vanessa Broussard-Simmons

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Collection donated by Byron Eugene Lewis, Sr. and Sylvia Lewis, December 8, 2022.

Processing Information

Collection processed by Audrey Willius, intern, 2023 and Vanessa Broussard-Simmons, archivist, 2023. Finding aid encoded by Audrey Willius, intern, 2023 and Meredith Clowse, intern, 2024.

Separated Materials

National Museum of American History (NMAH), Division of Work and Industry

Advertising Hall of Fame award, accession number 2022.0243

Best of Black Business award, accession number 2022.0243

Giraffe sculpture, accession number 2022.0243

Graphic print, accession number 2022.0243

Hippopotamus sculpture, accession number 2022.0243

Motorcycle sculpture, accession number 2022.0243

Print "Equipoise" by Daniel LaRue Johnson, accession number 2022.0243

Print "Picking Cotton" by Robert Gwathmey, accession number 2022.0243

Digital Content

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research. Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with gloves. Researchers must use reference copies of audio-visual materials. When no reference copy exists, the Archives Center staff will produce reference copies on an "as needed" basis, as resources allow.

Preferred Citation

Byron Lewis Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Conditions Governing Use

Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Related Materials

Materials at the Archives Center, National Museum of American History

NW Ayer & Sons, Incorporated Advertising Agency Records, NMAH.AC.0059

Emmett McBain Afro-American Advertising Poster Collection, NMAH.AC.0192

Kraft Television Theatre Oral History Project, 1947-1992, NMAH.AC.0464

African American Cosmetic and Food Label Collection, NMAH.AC.0480

Caroline R. Jones Papers, NMAH.AC.0552

Sosa, Bromley, Aguilar, and Associates Records, NMAH.AC.1351

Hector and Norma Orcí Advertising Agency Records, NMAH.AC.1384

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms	Keyword Types
advertising	Topical	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Advertising agencies	Topical	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
African American actors	Topical	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
African American actresses	Topical	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
African American politicians	Topical	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
African Americans -- Politics and government	Topical	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
African Americans -- Religion	Topical	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Audio tapes	Topical	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Black people -- History	Topical	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Brochures	Genre Form	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Business Advertising	Topical	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Business cards	Genre Form	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Commercials -- 20th century	Genre Form	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Consumerism. Consumers--History--20th century	Topical	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Consumers--History--20th century	Topical	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Correspondence	Genre Form	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Ethnic radio programs	Topical	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Film festivals	Topical	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Fraternal organizations	Topical	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities)	Topical	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Magazines (periodicals)	Genre Form	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Minority consumers	Topical	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs	Genre Form	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Videotapes	Genre Form	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Publicity	Topical	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Radio scripts	Genre Form	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Soap operas -- 1970-1990	Topical	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Lewis, Sylvia Wong	Personal Name	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid
Uniworld Group, Inc. (Bethesda, Md.)	Corporate Name	Search Smithsonian Collections	Search ArchiveGrid

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