Early US Corporate Public Relations: Understanding the “Publicity Agent” in American Corporate Communications, 1902–1918

Abstract

The publicity agent in the United States during the early twentieth century served as a transitional profession between the nineteenth-century press agent and the post–World War I public relations practitioner. This article examines the corporate roots of publicity agents, their split from the advertising industry, and their role in grassroots organizations. It shows that publicity agents and publicity men participated in a stand-alone, salaried profession with professional associations and standards. More importantly for public relations history, the rise of the publicity agent shows the initial connection and eventual split between advertising and public relations that was previously ignored in public relations historiography.

Notes

Alfred Chandler, The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business (Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1977); “Business People at Work,” Christian Science Monitor, January 20, 1912, 2.

Edward Bernays, Public Relations (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1952), 63–76; Scott Cutlip, The Unseen Power (Hillsdale: Erlbaum, 1994), 37–73.

Chandler, The Visible Hand, 15–29; Richard Tedlow, “Preface: Up from Press Agentry,” in Keeping the Corporate Image: Public Relations and Business 1900–1959, ed. Richard Tedlow (Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1979), 25–58.

Tedlow, “Up from Press Agentry,” 25–58.

Roland Marchand, Creating the Corporate Soul: The Rise of Public Relations and Corporate Imagery in American Big Business (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), 7–48.

Alan Raucher, Public Relations and Business (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1968), 17–64, 145–146.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/1038038.

Bernays, Public Relations, 50–98; Cutlip, The Unseen Power, 105–113; Tedlow, “Up from Press Agentry,” 25–58; Marchand, Creating the Corporate Soul, 88–357.

Tedlow, “Up from Press Agentry,” 25–58; Marchand, Creating the Corporate Soul, 7–47, 130–163.

Karen Miller Russell and Carl O. Bishop, “Understanding Ivy Lee's Declaration of Principles: US Newspaper and Magazine Coverage of Publicity and Press Agentry, 1865–1904,” Public Relations Review 35, no. 2 (2009): 91–101.

Bernays, Public Relations, 27–115.

Bernays, Biography of an Idea: Memoirs of Public Relations Counsel Edward L. Bernays (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1965), 287.

Scott Cutlip and Allen Center, Effective Public Relations (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1958).

James Grunig and Todd Hunt, Managing Public Relations (New York: Holdt, Rinehart and Winston, 1984), 22.

Larissa Grunig and James Grunig, “Public Relations in the United States: A Generation of Maturation,” in The Global Public Relations Handbook: Theory, Research and Practice, ed. Krishnamurthy Sriamesh and Dejan Verčič (Hillsdale: Erlbaum, 2003), 337.

Marvin Olasky, “Retrospective: Bernays’ Doctrine of Public Opinion,” Public Relations Review 10, no. 3 (1984): 3–12; Marvin Olasky, Corporate Public Relations: A New Historical Perspective (Hillsdale: Erlbaum, 1987), 7–32; Karen Miller, “US Public Relations History: Knowledge and Limitations,” Communication Yearbook 23 (2000): 381–420; Meg Lamme, “The ‘Public Sentiment Building Society,’” Journalism History 29, no. 3 (2003): 123–132; Meg Lamme, “Tapping into War: Levering World War I in the Drive for a Dry Nation,” American Journalism 21, no. 4 (2004): 63–91; Med Lamme, “Alcoholic Dogs and Glory for All: The Anti Saloon League and Public Relations, 1913,” Social History of Drugs and Alcohol 21, no. 2 (2007): 138–159; Karla Gower, “US Corporate Public Relations in the Progressive Era,” Journal of Communication Management 12, no. 4 (2008): 305–318.

Tom Watson, “Let's Get Dangerous,” Public Relations Review 40 (2014): 874–877; Gower, “US Corporate Public Relations in the Progressive Era,” 305–318; Günter Bentele, “Is a General (and Global) PR-Historiography Possible?: Questions Problems” (Presentation, Annual Convention of the International History of Public Relations, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, UK, July 4, 2010); Günter Bentele and Peter Grazyna-Maria, “Public Relations in the German Democratic Republic and the New Federal German States,” in International Public Relations: A Comparative Analyses, ed. Hugh Bulbertson and Ni Chen (Mahwah: Erlbaum, 1996), 349–350; Günter Bentele, Manfred Piwingerd, and Gregor Schöbon, eds., Handbuch Kommunikationsmanagement: Strategien, Wissen, Lösungen (Neuwied, Germany: Luchterhand, 2001).

Margot Lamme and Karen Russell, “Removing the Spin: Toward a New Theory of Public Relations History,” Journalism and Communication Monographs 11, no. 4 (2010): 281–262, 356.

Russell and Bishop, “Understanding Ivy Lee,” 99–100.

Because ProQuest Historical Newspapers produced approximately 750 articles for the three search terms, a sample was used to reduce the amount of articles to a manageable size. This was accomplished by placing results of each search term in chronological order with every fifth article included for analysis. The initial result from all databases was 137 articles for “publicity agent,” 129 articles for “publicity man,” and 58 articles for “publicity men.” After removing unusable articles, an overall sample was reduced to a total 277 articles. All 277 articles in the sample were used and organized according to theme. The first article in this sample was published in 1902 and the last in 1918.

Tedlow, “Up from Press Agentry,” 25–48; Marchand, Creating the Corporate Soul, 1–5.

Sherman Morse, “An Awakening in Wall Street, How the Trusts, after Years of Silence, Now Speak through Authorized and Acknowledged Press Agents,” American Magazine, September 1906, 2.

“Two Million Partners Own the Corporations,” New York Times, October 4, 1908, SM1.

“Business People at Work,” Christian Science Monitor, January 20, 1912, 2. This article is not part of the sample taken for this chapter. It appeared in the sample for “press agents” used in another study.

“Worthless Publicity,” Washington Post, November 5, 1916, A19.

“The Man at the Megaphone,” Washington Post, June 19, 1911, D3.

Joseph Clarke, “The Agony of Peace,” Current Literature, July 1909, 103; “The County and the Manager,” Washington Post, February 3, 1918, SM3.

“Talked about in Hotel Corridors,” Washington Post, July 17, 1908, 6.

“Insurance Officers Didn't Fear Inquiry,” New York Times, September 9, 1906, 20.

“New Publicity Man for Georgia Ry. & Power Co.,” Atlanta Constitution, October 4, 1914, C15.

Edward Woolley, “A $100,000 Imagination,” McClure's Magazine, May 1914, 126.

“Jimmy Ryall to Drive Buicks,” Atlanta Constitution, May 30, 1909, E6.

“Firing Line Notes,” Atlanta Constitution, October 17, 1915, C5.

“Building News,” American Architect, November 13, 1918, 20.

“Ford Asks Bryan to Be First Mate on His Peace Ship,” New York Times, November 26, 1913, 1.

“Ohio ‘Red Whizzer’ Will Repeat Tour,” Atlanta Constitution, November 4, 1910, 9; “Publicity Men Open New Bureau,” Christian Science Monitor, October 12, 1914, 11; “A.R. Keen Heads Atlanta Hotel Men,” Atlanta Constitution, January 7, 1914, 2; “The Confessions of a Literary Press Agent,” Bookman, December 1906, 335; Frank Jones, “The Rube,” McClure's Magazine, December 1916, 14.

George Schreiner, “San Antonio Texas: A Progressive Commercial Center Basis of Present,” Bankers’ Magazine, October 1910, 521; “Local Financial,” Washington Post, December 21, 1911, 10; “State Chamber Will Meet Here,” State (Columbia, SC), October 21, 1912, 10; “Reardon Elected by Sumter Chamber,” State, October 19, 1913, 16; “Names an Agent in Each County,” State, November 12, 1914, 3; “Organization: The Keynote of Southern Progress Today,” Atlanta Constitution, December 18, 1910, E2; “First Liberty Loan Sale,” New York Times, March 19, 1918, 8.

“Bankers Neglect of Money Making Possibilities,” Bankers’ Magazine, November 1909, 798; T. D, MacGregor, “Banking Publicity,” Bankers’ Magazine, January 1910, 140; “An Educational Campaign by a Los Angeles Bank,” Bankers’ Magazine, November 1915, 704; “Book Talks,” Bankers’ Magazine, February 1916, 1; “A Connection with the National Stock Yards National Bank,” Bankers’ Magazine, April 1917, 8; W. R. Morehouse, “Talks on Business Building,” Bankers’ Magazine, July 1917, 20.

“Bank Men Honored,” Bankers’ Magazine, August 1918, 213; “Co-operative Bank Advertising,” Bankers’ Magazine, August 1915, 228; “How Banks Are Advertising,” Bankers’ Magazine, August 1914, 235.

“Good Advertising Work,” Bankers’ Magazine, October 1915, 497.

“Banking and Financial Notes, Banker's Magazine, October 1916, 377.

“Value of a Special Department, Bankers’ Magazine, December 1916, C3.

B. C. Bean, “Banking Publicity,” Bankers’ Magazine, December 1908, 907.

“How Banks Are Advertising,” Bankers’ Magazine, December 1916, B5.

“Bitter Indictment of Van Antwerp,” Atlanta Constitution, December 20, 1914, A13.

“I.C.C. Position for R. W. Woolley,” Washington Post, September 26, 1917, 3.

“Cicero Majors Struck by Ponce De Leon Car and Dies of Injuries,” Atlanta Constitution, August 14, 1909, 1; “Puck in Wall Street,” Puck, September 25, 1912, 6; “New Plan to Aid Highway Offered,” Christian Science Monitor, December 13, 1913, 9; “Publicity Man Chosen,” Christian Science Monitor, February 20, 1914, 10; “Publicity Agent Sees Rainbow's End,” State, March 21, 1915, 22.

“A “Harmony Special,” Outlook (New York, NY), September 8, 1918, 60.

Donald Wilhelm, “The Failure of the Fourth Estate,” Independent (New York, NY), December 29, 1918, 432.

Ray Baker, “Railroads on Trial,” McClure's Magazine, March 1906, 535.

“Gompers and Burns on Unionism and Dynamite,” McClure's Magazine, February 1912, 363.

“Walsh Accuses Rockefeller, Jr.,” New York Times, April 24, 1915, 1; “Denied by John D., Jr., Washington Post, May 21, 1915, 1.

“Questioned Raised as to Charter of Foundation,” Christian Science Monitor, February 3, 1915, 1.

“Wideman Lee Jr., Succeeds Brother,” Atlanta Constitution, October 24, 1909, D2; “Study Is Order of Rail Problem,” Atlanta Constitution, August 7, 1918, 5.

Morse, “An Awakening in Wall Street,” 5.

“Dinner to Tom Moore,” New York Times, August 21, 1907, 5.

Morse, “An Awakening in Wall Street,” 2.

“Publicity Men Will Meet,” State, July 12, 1909, 1; “Loses His Libel Suit,” Washington Post, June 21, 1912, 14; “Our Publicity Man Said,” New York Times, October 3, 1912, 4; “The Real Publicity Man,” State, August 3, 1913, 9; “The Cackle Sells the Egg!” Washington Post, January 23, 1916, MT4; “Hot News Hundred Years Ago,” Washington Post, May 14, 1916, MS4; “Personal,” New York Times, May 24, 1905, 15; “Help Wanted Male,” New York Times, November 30, 1913, S6; “Situations Wanted,” New York Times, February 3, 1917, 19; “Situations Wanted—Male,” New York Times, December 1, 1918, S4.

“This Advertisement, by a Prominent Publicity Agent,” Christian Science Monitor, April 23, 1910, 6.

Charles Stelzle, “Publicity Men in Campaign for Clean Advertising,” Outlook, July 11, 1914, 589; “Selecting Neighbors among Advertisers,” Christian Science Monitor, April 15, 1914, 22; “Would Prevent Fake Advertising,” Atlanta Constitution, June 7, 1914.

“Advertising Talks,” New York Times, January 12, 1910, 2; “Strict Methods of Advertising Convention Idea,” Christian Science Monitor, June 12, 1913, 5; “Advertising Helps Work, Says Schwab,” Washington Post, May 8, 1918, 5. “Pilgrim Publicity Men Are Out for 1000 Membership,” Christian Science Monitor, September 8, 1911, 2; “Publicity Men to Attend Opera,” Christian Science Monitor, March 9, 1912, 2; “Publicity Men Meet,” Christian Science Monitor, January 16, 1913, 4; “Publicity Men Place Seal on Fair Methods,” Christian Science Monitor, June 25, 1914, 5; “Publicity Men Seek Change in Trademark Law,” Christian Science Monitor, February 1, 1915, 7; “Pilgrim Publicity Men to Go,” Christian Science Monitor, June 21, 1916, 13.

“Publicity Men Plan Big Meet in Philadelphia,” Christian Science Monitor, February 12, 1916, 7.

“Editorial Comment,” Christian Science Monitor, October 22, 1913, 12.

“Publicity Advertising,” State, August 3, 1913, 5; “The Moral Effect of Advertising,” Bankers’ Magazine, October 1911, 436.

Edward Purnton, “Something to Sell,” Independent, May 19, 1917, 333.

“Colleges are Coming Forward with Business Courses in Education,” Christian Science Monitor, June 22, 1915, 11.

“Dollars and Display: The Earnings of Advertising Men,” Bookman, September 1910, 26.

Railroad Gossip,” Atlanta Constitution, February 3, 1912, 3; Mary Watts, “Van Cleve,” New York Times, October 19, 1913, BR559; “Supremacy,” Life, July 17, 1913, 104.

Shepard Morgan, “Getting the Night News, Outlook, March 19, 1911, 603.

“Tainted News as Seen in the Making,” Bookman, December 1906, 396; Rollin Hartt, “Choosing a Life Work,” Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, July 1915, 77.

“CRPT. Gonzales Gives Testimony on Ethics,” State, July 20, 1912, 12.

“Charleston News Gleaned in a Day,” State, November 3, 1915, 2.

“Press Agents’ Menace Creates a New Sherlock Holmes,” New York Times, June 9, 1912, SM9.

Burton Hendrick, “Christian Science since Mrs. Eddy,” McClure's Magazine, September 1902, 481; “Mrs. Eddy's Fortune Not Her Church's,” New York Times, November 2, 1906, 7; “Mrs. Eddy Leaves Concord,” Zion's Herald, January 29, 1908, 133; “True and False ‘Healing,’” Zion's Herald, February 5, 1908, 166.

“A Plan to Interest the Mechanic in Our Churches,” Zion's Herald, June 24, 1908, 802; “Thousands Arrive for Catholic Week,” New York Times, August 19, 1916, 16.

“Corn Production All over State,” State, April 3, 1910, 1; “Movements of People,” State, November 4, 1913, 6; “News of Columbia Society Women's Clubs Philanthropies,” State, April 1, 1917, 18; “Preparing Plans for Elks’ Parade,” State, April 18, 1913, 14; “Boosting Round Star Tour,” Atlanta Constitution, September 25, 1911, 3; “Government as Publicity Agent,” Christian Science Monitor, November 21, 1912, 17; “Patriotic League,” Atlanta Constitution, July 26, 1918, 4; “Tells Why Magazine Withdrew War Book,” New York Times, September 13, 1918, 13.

Isma Dooly, “Mrs. Watterson's Influence as Exerted in Her Silence,” Atlanta Constitution, March 27, 1913, 8.

“Quakers Defy Drill Law,” New York Times, March 31, 1916, 3.

“Columbian Debaters Dine,” Washington Post, April 1, 1916, 11; “Clark Howell, Jr. Is President of Thalians,” Atlanta Constitution, June 3, 1914, 9; Ralph Paine, “The School and College World,” Outing, May 1905, 239.

“Emory Boys Threaten to Use Dictograph on Trustee Meeting,” Atlanta Constitution, June 8, 1913.

Barnett Franklin, “That Extraordinary Personage, the Theatrical Press Agent,” Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine, February 1909, 4; “John Trump on the Weeks Bill,” State, September 20, 1914, 22; Gesses Smith, “A Shop Window of Civilization,” Independent, June 28, 1915, 534; Anna Richardson, “Who Gets Your Dime,” McClure's Magazine, November 1915, 21; “Her Forte,” Life, November 25, 1915, 995; “Up and Down Broadway,” New York Times, February 27, 1916, X10; “Friend of Cleveland Dead,” Washington Post, July 6, 1918, 3; “A ‘Movie’ Chronicle,” Forum, May 1918, 637; “The Rise of Schelley Hull,” New York Times, August 25, 1918, 32.

“Picture Men Meet in Capital City,” State, May 4, 1917, 2; “Circus Is Coming,” State, October 28, 1909, 5; “How to Judge an Advertisement,” State, June 26, 1910, 4. “Orange County to Have a Fair,” Indiana Farmer's Guide, August 5, 1922, 811; “Moulan's Grand Mogul,” New York Times, March 26, 1907, 9; “Hartsville Plans for Coker Festival,” State, April 7, 1916, 3.

“Caesar Knew Value of Advertising, So Pointed Was for Men of Today to Achieve Greatness by Publicity,” Washington Post, July 2, 1916, ES5. “Lived Happy Ever After,” New York Times, November 24, 1912, X9; “Buyers Are Plenty at the Auto Show,” New York Times, January 17, 1913, 14; “An Undergraduate Essayist,” State, May 4, 1913, 28; “Advertisement at the Columbia Theatre,” State, February 6, 1914, 5; “Drew Record Pay for Film Posing,” State, August 24, 1916, 8; “With the Plays and Players,” State, June 17, 1917, 25.

“No Publicity Agent Hired by Col. Green,” Atlanta Constitution, December 8, 1911, 11.

“Advertising and Selling Liberty Bands,” Bankers’ Magazine, February 1918, 195; “Business Writer Publicity Agent for Food Control,” State, September 20, 1917, 1; “Education First Then the Drive,” State, October 8, 1917, 3; “Busy in Clarendon,” State, October 14, 1917, 10; “Agents Are Named to Canvass the State,” State, October 21, 1917, 2; “Lancaster at Work for Conservation,” State, October 30, 1917, 11.

“The President Now Free to Act Must Win the War,” North American Review, September 1917; Donald Wilhelm, “Our Uncensorious Censor,” Independent, January 5, 1918, 20; “How Big Is Baker,” Independent, February 9, 1918, 229.

“People in the News,” Christian Science Monitor, January 12, 1917, 11.

“President Wilson at the Peace Conference,” Outlook, December 4, 1918, 529.

“Where Are Those Lobbyists?,” Washington Post, March 22, 1912, 6.

“Guard Circular Urges Lobbying,” New York Times, April 13, 1916, 1.

“Endurance Run Receives Favor,” State, February 2, 1910, 9; “Something Colombia Has,” State, December 8, 1910, 4; “Folk and Things,” State, July 25, 1913, 13; “New Haven's ‘Other Expenses,’” Wall Street Journal, February 10, 1914, 5; “The State's Survey,” State, February 29, 1916, 4; “The States Survey,” State, August 20, 1917, 4; “South Carolina over the Top,” State, April 28, 1918, 27.

“Joe Curtis Named Publicity Agent,” Atlanta Constitution, January 29, 1911, B3.

“Chicago Inquiry Board in Boston,” Christian Science Monitor, August 13, 1917, 8.

“Call of Spring at Coney,” New York Times, February 22, 1915, 14.

“Concerning Union City,” Atlanta Constitution, March 30, 1909, 7.

Speaker Clark, “A Perennial National Problem,” North American Review, July 1914, 25.

“Part Clark Played in Chanler Boom,” New York Times, January 11, 1910, 6; “Swindlers Get $5000 from an Aged Man,” New York Times, July 8, 1910, 3; “Persons in the Foreground,” Current Literature, August 1910, 4; “Needs a Press Agent,” State, August 24, 1913, 1; “Serenades the President,” Washington Post, September 8, 1913, 12; John Whitehead, “A Plan for a Tariff Commission,” North American Review, May 1916, 794; “The Light of Publicity,” American Socialist, December 26, 1878, 410; “Tainted News as Seen in the Making,” Bookman, December 1906, 396.

“Ticker Topics,” Puck, February 12, 1916, 20.

“Chief Flynn Quits Secret Service,” New York Times, December 23, 1917, 1.

“Maurice Minton Explains,” New York Times, February 28, 1911, 2.

George Turner, “Manufacturing Public Opinion,” McClure's Magazine, July 1912, 316.

John Corrigan, “Publicity Man Hired by Taft,” Atlanta Constitution, February 20, 1911, 11; “‘Touring the Booms,’ Latest Fad of Capital Politicians,” Washington Post, March 10, 1912, 12.

“Sick China's Dilemma,” Washington Post, May 1, 1908, 6; “Brief Rest for Whitman,” New York Times, July 22, 1913, 2; “Ousted Men Demand Jobs,” New York Times, June 22, 1914, 2; “Delicate Situations in Relations with Japan,” New York Times, July 15, 1917, 53.

Frederic Haskin, “The Fate of Korea,” State, September 25, 1909, 4.

“The Anecdote of Bismarck” New York Times, August 14, 1914, 10; “Bernburg Sails for Native Land,” State, June 13, 1915, 1; “Pictorial History of America,” Puck, July 5, 1917, 18; “La Follette's Maneuvers for Peace,” Outlook, August 22, 1917, 601; “The Bernstorff Intrigue,” Independent, September 29, 1917, 495; “More Prussian Poison,” Independent, July 27, 1918, 115.

“Recognizes Names on Von Papen Stubs,” New York Times, January 21, 1916, 4; “Grand Jury Called to Begin Spy Inquiry,” New York Times, February 22, 1917, 2; “German Intrigue Revealed by IshII,” New York Times, September 22, 1917, 2; Arthur Lovejoy, “The United States and Austria,” New York Times, December 3, 1917, 12; “Bernstorff's Guile Shown to Senators,” Washington Post, December 7, 1918, 1.

Marchand, Creating the Corporate Soul, 7–48.

Bernays, Public Relations, 27–115; Cutlip, The Unseen Power, 1–9; Scott Cutlip, Public Relations History (Hillsdale: Erlbaum, 1995), ix–xiv; Tedlow, “Up from Press Agentry,” 25–58,

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Cayce Myers

Cayce Myers is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication at Virginia Tech, 121 Shanks Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061, [email protected].