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Discover the Museum of PR

History – it’s said that those who do not learn from it are doomed to repeat it. The flip side of that sentiment is that those who do study history are better equipped to not only keep from making the same missteps of their predecessors but also to use the tools and techniques that those predecessors found to be successful.

The historical education of both the successes and failures of the public relations profession is part of the mission of the Museum of Public Relations.

Founded in 1997 by Shelley and her husband, Barry Spector, it is the world’s only museum dedicated to the international public relations profession and its role in business, society, culture and politics. While now focused on PR history in the United States, the Museum's goal is to move more into international history in the coming hears.

The idea for the museum began by happenstance in 1985 after the Spector’s met Edward Bernays (known as the father of public relations), then 94, and interviewed him on camera three or four times a year for the last 10 years of his life. These visits produced dozens of hours of footage, most of which have been made available online for free.

After Bernays's death in 1995, the Spector’s were offered the opportunity to collect any records or personal items that had not been taken by the Library of Congress.

The Museum has since grown to include many hundreds of rare artifacts documenting the history of the field—as well as how the field has impacted history. There are industry greats, such as Ivy Ledbetter Lee, Arthur W. Page, Daniel Edelman and Harold Burson. Many artifacts featured are from PR pioneers that history has almost forgotten, the women and minorities that are only now becoming recognized for their contributions to the industry including Doris Fleischman (wife of Bernays), Inez Kaiser, Moss Kendrix, Ofield Dukes, and Don Padilla.

Those visiting the Museum will learn about the success of many early PR campaigns, such as Bernays's work during the Depression to convince Americans to start their day with bacon and eggs by promoting the meal’s health benefits. This was a campaign that was so successful that bacon and eggs have become known as the traditional American breakfast.

While the Museum is filled with examples of strategies and tactics for PR professionals to emulate, it doesn’t shy away from talking about those campaigns that while successful may not have had the best outcome for society. For example, Bernays was hired by Lucky Strikes to persuade more women to smoke publicly. He organized a campaign to present cigarettes as “torches of freedom” and had women light up during a 1929 Easter Parade.

Bernays regretted his part in this campaign that encouraged women to smoke and spent much of his later career discouraging public relations firms from working with cigarette manufacturers.

The opportunity for students, professionals and academics to visit a central repository of rare historical artifacts, oral histories, letters, photos and film cannot be understated.

The ability to flip through the address book of Ivy Lee and read through the addresses of the Rockefeller family, whom Lee helped to build a reputation for their humanitarian and philanthropic endeavors, is awe-inspiring.

The Museum also has in its collection the only known full-length and previously unpublished manuscript written by Lee, discovered in the archives of his biographer, Dr. Ray Hiebert. Thankfully, the Museum has since published the manuscript and made available for readers to glean Lee’s advice on how to identify and cope with the relentless flow of messages – advice that is even more relevant today.

Additionally, visitors to the Museum may be interested in seeing the personal handwritten letter from former U.S. president Ronald Reagan to Harold Burson, a letter prominently featured in Burson’s book, “The Business of Persuasion;" the Gold Anvil won by Ofield Dukes, the founder of one of the first African American-owned PR firms; the 1904 stereogram, featuring 3-D photos of Teddy Roosevelt, Coney Island "Bathing Beauties" and the Paris Exposition, a student favorite; or the library of PR texts in a variety of languages, including Spanish, Croatian, Chinese, Russian and Japanese.  

Each of these artifacts and the others in the collection, on their own, are impressive. But together, they embody the rich history of the public relations profession and emphasize the importance of memorializing that history.

Together with its many supporters around the world, the Museum is using its impressive historical collection, and virtual tours and lectures, to tell the story of why public relations is practiced, the importance of the work that is done and the influence it has on society.

As professionals, we must always remember that without our history, we have no future and the Museum is making sure we safeguard our history.

Promoting diversity in the PR field is one of the Museum's top priorities, which is why it holds annual events to showcase the lives of those individuals not covered in the PR textbooks. The Museum will hold four events in 2020 to pay tribute to Black PR History (Jan. 30); PR Women Who Changed History (Mar. 12); The LGBTQ Experience in PR (June 5); and Latino PR History (Sept. 15).