Title: Robert L. Bliss Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1950-1970

Creator:

• Bliss, Robert L., 1907-

Call Number: U.S. Mss 98AF; PH 4017

Quantity: 1.6 c.f. (4 archives boxes), 0.1 c.f. of photographs (1 folder), and 1 film strip

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Papers of Robert L. Bliss, a public relations consultant, consisting chiefly of material on the International Public Relations Association (IPRA), an organization of which he was a founder and president. The IPRA material includes correspondence, minutes, reports, bulletins, and working papers for the magazine Communique. A smaller group of papers relate to Bliss's activities on behalf of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and the Third World Congress of Public Relations and to a public relations course taught at Cornell University. Also includes articles, addresses, biographical clippings, and photographs.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0098af

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Robert L. Bliss, prominent public relations consultant, was born in Binghamton, New York on November 19, 1907. He received his B.A. from Cornell University in 1930.

He began his career in public relations immediately after graduation; his career was interrupted only once by his service in the United States Army Air Force, 1942-1946. Bliss was employed by several public relations agencies and firms until he established his own company in 1956. A year earlier he had become a founding member of the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) in which he has served as chairman of the research committee, member of the council, vice-president, general reporter of its second World Congress in 1961, and president (1965-1967). He was also active in the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), having served as president of the New York chapter in 1962.

Bliss was also active in Republican politics in the State of Connecticut and was elected to several terms as a state senator beginning in 1962.

He married Friede Smidt on May 16, 1942; they had two children, John and Friede.

The Robert L. Bliss papers, 1950-1970, document only certain aspects of his career in public relations. Arranged alphabetically by subject and chronologically thereunder are files of his articles and addresses, clippings, and material on his role in the IPRA and PRSA as well as a public relations course he taught at Cornell University.

The bulk of the Bliss papers relate to his activities in the International Public Relations Association (IPRA), and consist of correspondence, minutes, committee reports, bulletins, and attendance and membership lists. There are also working papers of the IPRA's magazine Communique from 1966 to 1967. Included in the correspondence are congratulations on Bliss's election as IPRA president and information regarding international public relations meetings and proposed establishment of a public relations code of ethics by the United Nations.

A less extensive segment of the Bliss papers illustrate some of his activities in the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). There is the text and film strip for a 1955 lecture on public relations and material on the participation of Bliss in the third World Congress of the PRSA.

The papers also include information on public relations articles Bliss prepared for the Encylopedia Britannica during the 1960s and on a public relations course he taught at Cornell University in 1960. The undated and unsorted clippings are on Bliss's career generally and the IPRA.

The collection also includes photographs relating to the International Public Relations World Congress, 1961-1969, and other public relations meetings, depicting banquets, speeches, presentations, meetings in Montreal, Athens, Rome, South Africa and elsewhere.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Robert L. Bliss, New York, New York, 1960, 1965, and 1971. Accession Number: MCHC60-026, MCHC65-027, MCHC71-091

Processing Information

Processed by KG, July 13, 1972.

U.S. Mss 98AF Box   1 Folder   1	Articles and Addresses
Box   1 Folder   2	Clippings: undated, unsorted
	International Public Relations Association (IPRA)
Box   1 Folder   3	Communique magazine
Box   1 Folder   4	Correspondence regarding Bliss's election to IPRA presidency
	Meetings
Box   1 Folder   5	1960-1965
Box   1 Folder   6	1966
Box   1 Folder   7	1966-1967
Box   1 Folder   8	1967
Box   1 Folder   9	1967-1969
Box   2 Folder   1	1969-1970
	Minutes and Agenda of Meetings
Box   2 Volume   1	1954-1957
Box   2 Volume   2	1957-1958
Box   2 Volume   3	1959-1961
Box   3 Volume   4	1961-1962
Box   3 Volume   5	1962-1964
Box   4 Volume   6	1964-1966
Box   4 Folder   1	UN Committee on PR Code
PH 4017	Photographs, 1961-1969
U.S. Mss 98AF Box   4 Folder   2	Public Relations Course, Cornell
	Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)
Box   4 Folder   3	Scripts, Public Relations Film
Box   4 Folder   4	Third World Congress
Visual Materials Files	Filmstrip regarding PR principles, 1955 Physical Description: 35 mm color  Note Produced by the Jam Handy Organization, Detroit. Script in Box 4, Folder 3