Finding aid for the Herbert E. Prentke Collection

Biography of Herbert E. Prentke and History of the Great Lakes Exposition, National Air Races and Cleveland Auto Show

HERBERT E. PRENTKE

Herbert Prentke was president of the Humphrey, Prentke & Associates, which was located at East 114 Street and Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio. He was named advertising director for the 1929 National Air Races while he worked for the Cleveland advertising agency Humphrey-Meredith; Prentke then directed the advertising and promotional campaigns for the National Aeronautical Exposition of 1929; the National Air Races of 1929, 1931, 1932, 1934 and 1935 (which were all held in Cleveland), the International Air Race and Gordon Bennett Balloon Race of 1933 (Chicago, Illinois) and the Great Lakes Exposition of 1936-1937 held in Cleveland, Ohio. Most of the advertising and promotional material in this collection was produced by the Prentke agency, including billboard mockups, directional and promotional signs, posters and banners, stickers and other ephemera, as well as cards and lobby displays.

GREAT LAKES EXPOSITION

The Great Lakes Exposition of 1936 was inspired by the 1933 Chicago Century Progress International Exposition. The brainchild of Lincoln Dickey, manager of Cleveland Public Auditorium, and Frank Ryan, the Exposition was intended as a boost to civic self-esteem, not to mention economic development, in Cleveland, Ohio, during the Great Depression. In 1935, Dickey and Ryan convinced prominent philanthropist Dudley S. Blossom to chair the Exposition's development committee, and Blossom quickly overshot the goal of raising $1 million. Major donors included Republic Steel, Sohio, Ohio Bell, CEI, and Sherwin Williams, all of whom would feature prominently in the Exposition's exhibits. After he was appointed general manager, Dickey decided the theme of the Exposition, which would celebrate Cleveland's centennial with the "Romance of Iron and Steel."

Because development of the lakefront as a public recreational area was a major goal of the Exposition, a 125-acre swath of land bisected by East 9th Street was chosen as the Exposition grounds, extending south to the Mall. This choice also served another function, which was to displace the unemployed who had set up a tent city, known as "Tin Can Plaza," along the lakefront. Construction of the grounds, however, did employ more than 3,000 mostly local workers, including hundreds of Works Progress Administration (WPA) laborers, which provided some relief from the Depression. The groundbreaking occurred on March 7, 1936, and proceeded at a rapid clip, finishing in only 80 days.

The Great Lakes Exposition opened to great fanfare on June 27, 1936, and it proved so popular that it was decided that it would continue for a second season, in 1937. Popular exhibits included Billy Rose's Aquacade, a glamorous musical swimming show starring Esther Williams, Eleanor Holm and Johnny Weismuller; a "Streets of the World"- themed midway with exhibits and food stands from more than 40 countries; and the Hall of Progress, which featured such innovations as the television.

In total, the Great Lakes Exposition drew more than 7.5 million visitors, two thirds of whom came from outside Cleveland. The Exposition drew many conventions to Cleveland, including the 1936 Republican National Convention, which was held a few weeks before the Exposition opened; promotional material for the Exposition was aimed at Republican business leaders, who might be enticed to relocate to Cleveland (bringing jobs with them).

The Exposition closed permanently on September 26, 1937, and demolition began shortly after. As the Exposition was intended to spur further, more permanent lakefront development, several buildings were left in place, including the Hall of Progress, Varied Industries Building, and Horticultural Building, but these quickly became an eyesore; the Horticultural Building burned down in 1941. Eventually, all that remained of the Great Lakes Exposition grounds were the Donald Gray Gardens just north of Municipal Stadium, which were razed to build the new Browns Stadium in 1999. In 2015, the Great Lakes Science Center and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum occupy the former Exposition grounds.

NATIONAL AIR RACES The National Air Races were a series of competitions held in various cities across the United States from 1920 to 1949. At this time, aviation was regarded as an exciting and innovative mode of transportation, and the National Air Races were meant to promote and drive that innovation. Like the Exposition, the races were meant as a boost to national self-esteem; in this case, after the devastation of World War I. The first air races were sponsored by Joseph Pulitzer and held on Long Island, New York, in 1920. In 1929, the National Air Races came to Cleveland, Ohio, through the efforts of Louis W. Greve, president of Cleveland Pneumatic Tool Company, and Frederick C. Crawford, who later became president of Thompson Products (later TRW). The first day of the 1929 National Air Races attracted over 100,000 people.

The races were held at Cleveland Municipal Airport (later Cleveland Hopkins International Airport) and typically featured 35 events, such as the closed-course Thompson Trophy and Sohio Trophy. The schedule also featured several cross-country races, including the Bendix Trophy and the All Women's Transcontinental Air Race (AWTAR) or Powder Puff Derby. Famous pilots who attended the Air Races included Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, and Roscoe Turner. The races were held in Cleveland in 1929, 1931, 1932, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1946 and 1949.

During World War II, the races were put on hiatus; after World War II, they featured military surplus planes. At the National Air Races in Cleveland in 1949, pilot Bill Odom lost control of his P-51 Mustang, the Beguine, during the Thompson Trophy Race and crashed into a home in Berea, Ohio, killing himself and a mother and child inside; the races were again put on hiatus, as local city ordinances were enacted to prohibit racing in residential areas.

Although the National Air Races officially ended in 1964, their legacy continues as the annual Cleveland National Air Show, held at Burke Lakefront Airport. CLEVELAND AUTO SHOW

The Cleveland Auto Show has been an annual tradition since 1903, when it was first held at Gray's Armory. At the time, Cleveland, Ohio, was at the epicenter of the automobile manufacturing world. Later it moved to Public Auditorium in downtown Cleveland, and eventually to the I-X Center, adjacent to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

Although mainly a showcase for automobile manufacturers to display their latest models and prototypes, the Auto Show also features classic and custom cars and provides a meeting place for car enthusiasts from all over Northeast Ohio. As of 2015, the Cleveland Auto Show is the fifth largest auto show in the United States.

Scope and Content

The Herbert E. Prentke Collection, 1929-1958 and undated, consists of artwork, banners, booklets, business documents, clippings, correspondence, directories, ephemera, film reels, membership cards, menus, newsletters, pamphlets, passes, photographs, pins, posters, programs, promotional materials, ribbons, signs and tickets.

The collection as a whole will interest researchers looking for information about work done by Cleveland, Ohio, advertising agencies or researching the history of advertising in Cleveland, especially during the 1920s-1940s.

Series I: Great Lakes Exposition will be of interest to researchers interested in the Exposition itself, the history of world's fairs in the United States, business and tourism in Cleveland during the Great Depression, and the geography and history of usage of the Cleveland lakefront. Of particular interest in Sub-series A: Papers is a set of Great Lakes Exponent newsletters, which chronicle the planning and construction of the Exposition grounds, including sponsor announcements. Business documents, though mostly blank samples, provide a unique context for the work that went into the construction of the grounds and the planning and development of the Exposition, hiring practices, and daily operations of the Exposition. Travel and tourism information including train and bus schedules from railway companies such as the Nickel Plate, Baltimore & Ohio, Reading Valley; Greyhound (which was a major sponsor of the exposition); cruises operating between Great Lakes cities (S.S. Seeandbee, later the USS Wolverine); maps of Cleveland and environs, typically issued by oil companies (who were looking to encourage driving) and local hotels. Sub-series B: Posters contains many iconic images of the 1936 and 1937 Expositions. Sub-series C: Photographs contains 100 black and white and 1 color photograph depicting the fairgrounds (including some panoramic construction photos), events including Billy Rose's Aquacade, the Goodyear Blimp, advertiser promotion from Greyhound, personnel, and visitors. There are also several photographs of Edith Backus, who posed for the iconic Yeomanette seen on the 1937 promotional posters. Sub-series D: Artifacts contains a small number of souvenir pins, ribbons, and buttons from the Exposition; and Sub-series E: Film Reels contains two film reels possibly showing footage of the Exposition events, including the flight of the Goodyear Blimp.

Series II: National Air Races will be of interest to researchers studying aviation history as well as the National Air Races themselves. Of note in Sub-series A: Papers are race schedules and official directories, as well as information on individual races and promotional materials. There are also several files on the Prentke agency itself, mainly containing contracts and newspaper clippings related to the National Air Races. Sub-series B: Graphical Materials contains 24 signs, posters, and banners, many of which are in extremely good condition. Sub-series C: Photographs contains approximately 150 black and white photographs depicting grounds and audiences, pilots, organizers of the National Air Races, and airplanes. Sub-series D: Artifacts contains a small number of participant pins and ribbons depicting the iconic art deco National Air Race logo.

Series III: Cleveland Auto Show consists of a small amount of mostly graphical material from the 1956 and 1958 Cleveland Auto Show held at Public Auditorium. It is unknown whether the Prentke agency produced this material, but it is likely.

Statement of Arrangement

Restrictions on Access

None.

The researcher should also consult MS 4309 Clifford Henderson National Air Races Collection; PG 385 Clifford Henderson Photographs; PG 386 National Air Races Photographs; MS 5265 Great Lakes Exposition Scrapbook; PG 227 A. H. Zychik Great Lakes Exposition Album; PG 298 Great Lakes Exposition Photographs; and MS 3607 Wings of A Century, Inc. Records.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

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Preferred Citation

[Container ___, Folder ____] MS 5331 Herbert E. Prentke Collection, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio

Acquisition Information

Gift of the Prentke Family in 2011.

Processing Information

The processing of this collection was made possible through a gift by Richard Prentke. Processed by Christine Borne in 2015.

Detailed Description of The Collection