Produced by the US National Paint, Varnish and Lacquer Association throughout the 1940s, these illustrated pamphlets corresponded to the trade organisation’s radio broadcast programmes. The pamphlets advertised the many uses for paint and varnish, serving as inspiration for home improvement projects. In side the 8-page booklets were tips and varnish your way to a better world. A such, the advice in each was musth the same: in paint we trust. The real delight were the eye-catching covers – with bold graphics and titles like ‘The Romance of Shallac’, ‘Dramatizing Dinner’ and ‘Room for a Young Dictator’, the US National Paint, Varnish and Lacquer Association was not lacking in humor.
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The National Paint, Oil and Varnish Association, Inc. was formed in 1933 when the two national associations at the time (the National Paint, Oil and Varnish Association, Inc. and the American Paint and Varnish Manufacturers’ Association, Inc.) merged. It was the national professional association representing all branches of the paint, oil, and varnish industries.
In 1954, the organization’s humor reached new heights with an advert from the National Clean Up-Paint Up-Fix Up Bureau, an outfit created by the National Paint, Varnish and Lacquer Association. ‘The House In The Middle’ a 1954 film sponsored by the Bureau in cooperation with the Federal Civil Defense Administration advocated the case that a newly painted home could save your property from atomic destruction.
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