Earnest Elmo Calkins

Earnest Elmo Calkins (March 15, 1868 – October 4, 1964) was a deaf American advertising executive who pioneered the use of art in advertising, of fictional characters, the soft sell, and the idea of "consumer engineering". He co-founded the influential Calkins & Holden advertising agency. His work was recognized with many awards during his lifetime and was called the "Dean of Advertising Men" and "arguably the single most important figure in early twentieth century graphic design."

Calkins was born to Mary Manville and William Clinton Calkins in Geneseo, Illinois. They moved soon after a few miles south to Galesburg, where his father became the city attorney for a short while. At age 6, a bout of measles left him “almost completely deaf”, although it was not recognized until he was 10. His teachers told him he could hear if he paid more attention. By age 14 he was fully deaf. His mother was a Baptist who forbade him to read fiction, even Arabian Nights and Jules Verne, but he read widely on a variety of subjects, devouring books with enthusiasm. He was exposed to printing at an early age, and was determined to become a printer himself.

After high school, his father secured him a position in a local printshop as a Printer's devil, and he worked 12 hours a day for six months for no pay. When he finished his chores, he was allowed to set type for the patent medicine readers.

He attended Knox College and established a mediocre academic record, unable to hear almost anything in his classes. He did well at writing however, and in his senior year was elected editor-in-chief of the college newspaper, Coup d'État. He was then made editor of the college news published in the local paper every Thursday. He learned to master lip reading, although he said he got more from reading than from the classes. He barely graduated in 1891, after the faculty failed him in Geology, but the Trustees overruled them and allowed him to graduate.

Calkins married Angie C. Higgins (1863–1950) in 1904. They had no children.

Once he finished college, he became a typesetter at the local paper, earning $USD10 (or about $358 in current dollars) per week. It was supposed to be his life's vocation. He was stimulated by the first publication devoted to advertising, a small periodical named Printers' Ink. Calkins gleaned ideas from the magazine, reinforcing his notion that the design of typography was important, He mustered up the courage to suggest a few of his ideas to the local merchants up and down Main Street in Galesburg, who welcomed his input. He experimented with type and layout in those local advertisements.

He learned from the hardware store owner of a contest offering $USD50 (or about $1,792 in today's dollars) to the winner who designed the best ad for a Bissell carpet sweeper as a Christmas present. He submitted an ad, one of 1,433 entries, and won the contest. One of the three judges for the Bissell carpet sweeper advertising contest was Charles Austin Bates, an important early copywriter and New York ad agency founder and owner. Calkin's winning ad impressed Bates. In the fall of 1891, against his parents' wishes, Calkins set out for New York the first time at age 23. He found work writing copy for a small print shop for a while, but returned home after less than a year, unsuccessful. He moved back into his parents' home where he worked various jobs as a printer, reporter, columnist, advertising man, and publisher. Unable to make a living, he finally secured a job as an advertising manager in a department store in Peoria, Illinois for $USD19.50 (or about $726 today), per week.

Calkins continued to send copies of his ads to Bates in New York, who finally offered him a job in New York at the rate of $USD15 (or about $558 in today's dollars) per week. Calkins went to work for Bates as a copywriter. Inspired by a visit to an exhibit of the Pratt Institute School of Design, he began to think hard about typography and design in advertising. He saw that form, visualization, color and design could be used to strengthen the visual appeal of advertising. As soon as he was able, he enrolled in a night course in applied design.