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During World War II, alumni journal readers were frequently urged to buy war bonds. This ad appeared on the back cover of the September 1944 Minnesota Alumnus.

The first issue of the alumni journal included just one advertisement: Hyde and Manuel teachers agency took the back cover of the September 14, 1901, Minnesota Alumni Weekly to announce its recruiting services for "teachers in all grades and schools." A few issues later, advertising activity picked up, with local businesses filling several pages of the 16-page weekly to sell their products and services the latest fiction for 98 cents; rail service between the Twin Cities, Duluth, and Chicago; and printing services for weddings and society affairs. In the early years of the Alumni Weekly, insurance

Decades ago, cigarette ads were among the most colorful, and bountiful, in the publication. This ad was from the back cover of the January 14, 1939, Alumni Weekly.

companies were among the most frequent advertisers, both to sell their policies to U grads and to recruit new agents; in one ad, Aetna Life warned that "unsuccessful canvassers or failures in other lines need not apply."

Local and national advertisers have played an important role in the alumni journal throughout its 100-year history. They've supported the publication's mission to inform alumni about the goings-on at the University and to keep them in touch with their alma mater and each other. The journal's advertisers have from the beginning recognized the value of reaching University of Minnesota alumni, and now their ads have

Minneapolis-Moline Power Implement Company used the back cover of the September 1943 Minnesota Alumnus to sponsor a recruitment ad for the Navy and Marines.

become an important part of the journal's archives. With their pitches, these ads reflect the concerns (or what were presumed to be the concerns) of society of the day. And in many cases they present a facet to those days not depicted in the journal's editorial content.

Many ads in the first two decades of the 20th century appealed to alumni concerned about their personal hygiene and appearance. One, for example, touted corsets allegedly "worn and endorsed by all the leading actresses and social leaders." In the 1930s and 40s came car ads for the "success-minded" and cigarette ads for the "discriminating." During World War II,

An ad for Kondon's Catarrhal Jelly in the March 17, 1921, Alumni Weekly asks readers if they've been neglecting their catarrh: ". . . think how offensive it is to other people."

full-page ads sold war bonds and telephone communications. In the 1950s, the pages were filled with recruitment ads from Union Carbide, Douglas Aircraft, General Electric, and other booming businesses. Ads in the 1960s and '70s introduced alumni to products they didn't know they needed: a Gopher sleeping bag for two, a musical cigarette box, and a maroon-and-gold toilet seat cover.

Today, these ads seem curious, eloquent, sobering, silly, or beautiful. And most are obsolete. Together, however, they are a valuable part of the alumni journal's historical record.

Shelly Fling is editor of Minnesota.