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Courtesy of VannahVonTerror, all rights reserved
Collection: Downtown, USA
Location: Mansfield, Ohio,
Time Period: 1930's
Type style: decorative and script
Materials and methods: ghost sign and painted
Purpose: advertisement and identification

Addtional Information: This ghost advertisement is painted on the side of the old Bissman Brewery building in Mansfield, Ohio.. that dates back to the late 1800's.

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Throughout history lettering and type have been used on buildings and signs, surrounding us with visible words -- messages aimed at the common man. These signs reflect the character and activities of a neighborhood. Advertising on buildings give insight into how people lived: the products they used, the popular vocabulary of their time. Variations in materials and form reveal each generation's fascination with new technology.

But lettering and type in signage and on buildings get lost over time. Change of building use, the elements, and restoration decisions have led to the disappearance of decades of type history—and by extension a valuable component of the histories of architecture, advertising, industry, and society.

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