Margot Opdycke Lamme

Outside the Prickly Nest: Revisiting Doris Fleischman

Abstract Historians have learned much in the past decade about Doris E. Fleischman and her partnership in marriage and in public relations with Edward L. Bernays, and they have tended to agree that despite Bernayss high profile, Fleischman was indispensable to the success of the Bernays firm. This study expands on that research by examining Fleischmans work in the context of public relations ideas and principles. Relying on primary sources that included four speeches that had not been discussed heretofore, it was found that although there was duplication between her and Bernayss work, there were also evident shifts in Fleischmans thinking about public relations, including a sense that she was as much of a public relations pioneer as Bernays was, without, perhaps, his drive for self-promotion.

United States–Development and Expansion of Public Relations

Twentieth-century US public relations historiography has focused primarily on corporate public relations and agencies, incorporating a “great man” perspective and largely excluding women and minorities. This scholarship allows us to begin to build a narrative, presented here, but the authors call for an expansion of what is considered public relations and of who practiced it. Public relations was often used by people in areas such as politics, churches, higher education institutions, and social service agencies who were not trying to invent public relations; rather they were solving problems by using communication to inform and persuade their audiences. The activism of suffragist and women’s rights advocate Alice Paul, and Henry Lee Moon, NAACP public relations director, illustrates that American public relations history is broad, diverse, and expansive.

Launching PRimary Source: a clearinghouse for public relations history

Purpose – This brief essay aims to introduce public relations historians to PRimary Source, a new search tool designed to help them, their students, and public relations professionals locate archives and manuscript collections relevant to the field.Design/methodology/approach – The article outlines the site which is scheduled to be tested and then launched in October to coincide with the publication of this special issue of Journal of Communication Management. The site address will be: www.prhistorywiki.org Findings – The site will be available for use in historical research, student papers, and decision‐making among scholars and practitioners concerning the disbursement of their papers to a repository as part of their estate planning.Originality/value – At the time of writing this article, an online tool with this emphasis currently does not exist.