{"value"=>"<p>Artkraft Strauss designed, fabricated, installed, and maintained an extensive range of sign products, including exterior identification signs, theater marquees, billboards, directional signage, and the giant illuminated signs known in the trade as \"spectaculars,\" for which the company was particularly famous. These signs are documented in various ways throughout the collection, but of particular importance are the Job Files.</p> <p>Job files are records of sign construction, which may include sign fabrication, installation, maintenance, alteration, and repairs. Many job files contain work orders (sometimes referred to as \"Commercial Orders\") which give the name of the customer, the date and location of the job, a job number, and a general description of the work. Job files may also hold cost sheets, labor records, materials specifications, engineering and other technical information, contracts, permits, insurance policies, drawings, layouts, mechanicals, blueprints, photographs, and other material. Note that not all job files contain all these elements; the degree of documentation varies widely from job to job.</p> <p>Files are arranged alphabetically and are not comprehensive. Artkraft Strauss completed as many as 1000 jobs per year; as a result, the company opted to retain only those files they deemed interesting or notable in some way, whether because they contained interesting visual material, had historic or aesthetic significance, or contained other records of particular value. The longstanding relationship between Anheuser Busch and Artkraft Strauss is strongly represented in this series. Extensive documentation is present for work on Anheuser Busch breweries in Boston, Columbus, Houston, Jacksonville, Newark, and St. Louis; as well as material relating to the scoreboard display at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis, and to numerous Budweiser signs and spectaculars in New York City, Atlantic City, and elsewhere in the United States. The company was also responsible for a number of signs for Coca-Cola in Times Square and elsewhere. A number of designs for theatre marquees are present, including many Loews,Broadway, AMC, United Artists, and RKO theaters.</p> <p>Artkraft Strauss' largest and most technologically sophisticated projects from the 1980s onward, such as the British Airways installation in Times Square, the Morgan Stanley world clock and real-time financial information display, the refurbishment of the Long Island City Pepsi sign, and the 2002 Samsung Times Square display are documented in the project management files maintained by the company's Vice President of Design and Engineering Robert Jackowitz and Vice President of Special Projects James Manfredi. Additionally, some files documenting work for specific clients in the 1980s and 1990s can be found in Tama Starr's executive files, Series I.A.</p> <p>A small quantity of proposals and presentations are also contained within this series. These records document proposed signs and spectaculars, or provide statistics and feasibility studies relating to particular sign locations. Files are divided into two categories: those relating to specific commercial clients, and those relating to sign locations. Also included are card files containing alphabetized records of construction and maintenance for many Artkraft jobs.</p> <p>Series: III.A. Jobs; III.B. Project Management Files; III.C. Presentations; III.D. Proposals; III.E. Contracts, Leases, and Construction Card Files; and III.F. Audiovisual Documentation of Signs (closed until preservation copies are made).</p>"}