SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA – Oct 29, 2026 – A privately held collection associated with commercial artist Sheldon “Shel” Starkman is being organized and preserved, revealing an unusually detailed record of the hand-painted billboards that once transformed Southern California streets and entertainment corridors.

The collection is not simply a portfolio of finished advertisements. It contains working photographic and paper materials that illuminate how outdoor advertising was designed, photographed, installed and documented before digital production became standard.

The current working inventory identifies:

• Approximately 414 snapshots and other smaller photographic prints, INCLUDING 36 provisionally identified Polaroids (not an additional 36 items).
• Approximately 25–30 larger photographic prints.
• About 12 mounted photographs and advertising proofs.
• Approximately 50–64 strips of photographic negatives.
• About 37 photo-processing envelopes and sleeves, plus roughly seven mailing and correspondence envelopes.
• About 14 letters, production forms and other paperwork items, and at least eight miscellaneous items.

These are estimates of physical materials, not counts of digital scans. The photographic-process classifications and some object counts remain under review.

The images document entertainers including Tom Jones, Trini Lopez, Engelbert Humperdinck, Vikki Carr, Mitzi Gaynor and Bob Hope, as well as Sinclair Paint advertising, studio environments, billboard installations and changing city streetscapes.

Among the surviving documents is a Foster and Kleiser photographic-department requisition dated 1972, referencing work involving Trini Lopez and Vikki Carr. Photographs in the archive show a Vikki Carr Hollywood Bowl billboard with a visible “design / starkman” credit. Other materials connect promotional campaigns with their production environments and photographic documentation.

The significance of such evidence lies in the fleeting nature of the work. An enormous painted billboard could dominate a street for weeks and disappear with the next campaign. Behind it were artists, designers, painters, installers, photographers and offices whose routine records were rarely preserved.

The Starkman archive is now being inventoried and digitized. Original objects and original scans are being preserved while chronological and thematic relationships are examined. The collection remains privately held, and certain identifications and dates are provisional.

Selected high-resolution photographs and documents, along with an illustrated ten-page prospectus, can be made available for editorial consideration. The collection’s current owner, William Malin, is available for interviews. To learn more about the center email center@prescott-boone.com or call 302-992-8490