David,
 
        For alcoholic drink advertising you might try the Anheuser-Busch
archives located at the main brewery in St. Louis. I think they have an
exhaustive collection related to the Busch breweries. Distilleries would
also be another good bet, especially ones like Glenlivit (which was carried
in the holds of CSA blockade runners during the civil war), Jim Beam, and
others that have been in business for a century or more. But beware, many
of these companies put the corporate archives in the hands of PR
departments who have little interest in anything that does not generate a
buck. Be sure to try the advertising collections at the Smithsonian where I
found a great bar fixtures catalog. The work is detailed (perhaps too much
so for a student paper) and much of it would have to be done on site. Your
student might want to narrow the focus to one brewery or distillery; if a
brewery, he might want to contact the breweriana collectors who have
encyclopedic collections (I'd be glad to share one contact off the list).
 
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Byron A. Johnson
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Author: Wild West Bartender's Bible: Saloonkeeping 1862-1908
         The Authentic Guide to Drinks of the Civil War Era 1853-1873