Summary Information
National Public Relations Council of Health and Welfare Services Records
1922-1978
- National Public Relations Council of Health and Welfare Services
Mss 712; Micro 1113
2.4 c.f. (2 record center cartons and 1 archives box) and 1 reel of microfilm (35mm)
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Records of the National Public Relations Council of Health and Welfare Services, an organization founded in 1921 that provided consultation, publications, continuing education, and other services in order to better apply public relations techniques to social work issues. In 1977 the NPRC became part of the Public Relations Society of America. Included are detailed minutes, 1931-1976, which include not only proceedings of board of directors and committee meetings, but also extensive information on finances and program planning functions; additional financial records; and records of conferences (1922-1931) and institutes (1960-1976), fragmentary information on various projects and publications, and membership information. Early issues (1923-1936) of the NPRC newsletter, News Bulletin, which disseminated reports of successful publicity for private-sector health and welfare agencies, is available only on microfilm. Later issues of the bulletin and its successor, Channels, are available at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Memorial Library.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00712 ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
For over half a century, the National Public Relations Council of Health and Welfare Services (NPRC) was the major agency promoting public relations techniques in the funding and provision of social welfare services. The council also provided consultation and continuing education for an emerging administrative focus in social work. Over the years such prominent social workers as Gertrude Springer, Viola Paradise, George Rabinoff, Claire Tousley, and William F. Kirk played prominent roles in the council.
The council was formed in 1921 as the Committee on Publicity Methods in Social Work by Evart and Mary Swain Routzahn and a group of 22 health and welfare workers, with a budget of $145. A succession of name changes between 1921 and 1977 indicate how the organization sought to articulate more effectively its mission. The council existed as the Social Work Publicity Council (1929), the National Publicity Council for Health and Welfare Services (1943), the National Public Relations Council of Health and Welfare Services (1960), and the National Communication Council (NCC) for Human Services (1976).
Council membership included both individuals and institutions and grew from 86 in 1921 to over 1000 by 1931. A slight downturn in membership in the midst of the Depression was quickly curtailed, and the organization had roughly 1400 members by 1939. Development of a constitution and by-laws in 1935 led to incorporation in 1937 and attainment of tax-exempt status in 1939.
Over the years, services to council members included national conferences, newsletters, publications, consultation (including portfolio service), and educational materials. Creation of local public relations councils, sponsored by the national organization, provided members with more immediate resources to meet their public relations needs. Creation of a mimeographed News Bulletin in 1923 further promoted communication among members. Channels, a typeset monthly magazine, replaced the News Bulletin in 1938.
Major financial support from the Russell Sage Foundation began in 1922. This assistance sustained the organization for the next 25 years. Before 1938 foundation support amounted to over half of the agency's budget, so termination of that funding between 1940 and 1948 necessitated a difficult financial readjustment in order to maintain basic membership services. In the wake of massive economies and membership drives, the council--always a membership institution--was nevertheless operating entirely without subsidy by 1956. Membership rose to 1660 during this period, and contributions from a network of sustaining members and development of a new dues structure saw the organization through the 1950s.
The year 1960 began a series of ten institutes for members, which revived the educational, social, and informational functions of the early Public Relations Council conferences. Early in the decade, the council conducted a study of the public-relations problems of governmental welfare programs; subsequently they turned their attention to communications problems between social agencies and inner-city residents. In 1970-1971, the group conducted its first major governmental project, which related to publicity for youth programs. A 1972 demonstration project in Columbus, Ohio, concerned communication between the government, the voluntary welfare sector, and inner-city residents. The 1970s saw increasing involvement in a series of income-producing consultation projects, while a national economic downturn provoked rapid erosion of council memberships. This amounted to a nearly 40 per cent loss between 1971 (1816) and 1976 (1100).
Committees, especially convened on “priority needs” (1974-75) and “the NCC future” (1975-1977), struggled unsuccessfully to surmount this trend. Failure to reverse the membership downturn, combined with chronic budget deficits and difficulty in fundraising, ultimately dictated the council's end. In September, 1976, the council's board and membership voted to merge with the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), ending 55 years of independent operations.
Scope and Content Note
The records consist of minutes, financial records, publications, correspondence, and other documents of the National Public Relations Council (NPRC), arranged in five series: incorporation documents, board and committee minutes, financial records, membership communications, and publications and project files.
Historically social work sought to interpret the character and needs of disadvantaged clients to funding and policy-making authorities. The NPRC collection reflects this communication function as transformed by the emerging discipline of public relations. A major portion of council activities were directed toward increasing private philanthropy to health and social-service agencies. In this regard, the collection complements other State Historical Society holdings in the fields of mass communications and philanthropy.
The most significant source within the collection is the BOARD AND COMMITTEE MINUTES, which serve as a capsule barometer of shifting technical and policy-making concerns. Typically the minutes contain not only proceedings of meetings, but also agenda, budgets and financial statements, committee reports, and planning documents. Mimeographed board-member manuals (1941-1974) also filed here provide even briefer summaries of council objectives over a thirty-year period. FINANCIAL RECORDS consists of loose material which supplements the information in the minutes.
Another indicator of council activity and interests, programs of membership institutes, 1960-1976, which are arranged as part of MEMBERSHIP COMMUNICATIONS, reflect prevailing publicity concerns during the council's final years. Additional membership material include the microfilmed News Bulletins, 1923-1936, which served as a forum for discussing promotional activities mounted by welfare agencies across the nation. Gaps in the files occur for bulletins 11-20 (1925-1926), 32 (1928), and 57-72 (1931-1933). Bound volumes of bulletins 100-112 (1936-1938) and its successor, Channels (1938-1983), are available at the University of Wisconsin's Memorial Library.
Individual PUBLICATIONS AND PROJECT FILES, which are arranged chronologically, are disappointingly fragmentary as are records of other membership communications and information on the decisions leading to merger with PRSA.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by the Public Relations Society of America, New York, New York, 1980-1981. Accession Number: MCHC80-86, MCHC81-17
Processed by Brian J. Mulhern (Intern), 1987.
Contents List
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Mss 712
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Series: Incorporation Documents
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Box
1
Folder
1
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Incorporation and legal documents, 1932-1977
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Dissolution
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Box
1
Folder
2
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Memoranda, 1976-1977
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Box
1
Folder
3
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Legal documents, 1977-1978
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Series: Board and Committee Minutes
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Minutes
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Box
1
Folder
4
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Board and Executive Committee, 1931-1937
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Box
1
Folder
5-12
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Board of Directors, 1937-1976
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Box
1
Folder
13-14
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Executive Committee, 1937-1970
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Box
1
Folder
15
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Committee rosters, 1934-1943
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Box
1
Folder
16
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Finance Committee, 1935-1942
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Box
1
Folder
17
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Program Study Committee, 1937-1939
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Box
1
Folder
18
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Ad Hoc Committee on Public Welfare, 1963-1966
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Box
1
Folder
19
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Publications Committee, 1963-1966
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Box
1
Folder
20
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Committee on NCC Future, 1975-1977
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Box
1
Folder
21
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Nominating Committee, 1967-1968
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Box
1
Folder
22-37
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Board member manuals, 1941-1965
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Series: Financial Records
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Box
2
Folder
1
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Audited annual reports, 1960-1978
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Box
2
Folder
2
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Monthly statements, 1974-1975
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Financial reports
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Box
2
Folder
3
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Federal, 1970-1978
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Box
2
Folder
4
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New York State, 1972-1978
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Fundraising
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Box
2
Folder
5
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Correspondence, 1974-1976
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Box
2
Folder
6
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Proposals, 1974-1976
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Box
2
Folder
7
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Ittleson Foundation, 1976-1977
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Series: Membership Communications
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Box
2
Folder
8
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Mailings, 1922-1932
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Micro 1113
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News Bulletins, 1923-1936
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Mss 712
Box
2
Folder
9
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Form letters, 1945-1955
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Box
2
Folder
10
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Loan packet service, 1947-1960
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Box
2
Folder
11
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Annual reports, 1955-1969
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Box
2
Folder
12
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Membership procedures handbook, 1957
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Task forces
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Box
2
Folder
13
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Women, 1975-1976
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Box
2
Folder
14
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Voluntary action, 1975
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Box
2
Folder
15
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Consumerism, 1976-1978
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Institutes
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Box
2
Folder
16
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Brochures, 1960-1976
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Box
2
Folder
17-22
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Programs, memoranda, 1960-1976
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Series: Publications and Project Files
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Publications
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Box
2
Folder
23
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Copyrights, 1944-1969
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Box
2
Folder
24
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“How to do it” series list, 1958-1973
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Box
2
Folder
25
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Royalties, 1970-1974
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Box
2
Folder
26
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Book, 1976
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Box
2
Folder
27
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Ittleson projects, 1976-1977
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Projects
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Box
2
Folder
28
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Inner-city interaction, 1968-1969
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Box
2
Folder
29
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Columbus seminar, 1971-1972
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Box
2
Folder
30
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Consultation: CTW, “Feeling Good,” 1974
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Box
3
Folder
1
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HEW grant: Youth Development and Delinquency Prevention Administration, 1971-1972
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Box
3
Folder
2
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Wakeman award, 1971-1974
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Box
3
Folder
3
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Altschul public relations handbook, 1973
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Box
3
Folder
4
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Consultation: CTW, “Feeling good,” 1974
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Box
3
Folder
5
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HEW, Administration on Aging, 1974
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Box
3
Folder
6
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Bernays videotape, 1974-1975
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Box
3
Folder
7
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Filer Commission, 1974-1976
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Box
3
Folder
8
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White House meeting, 1975
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Box
3
Folder
9
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Columbia University workshop, 1975-1976
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Box
3
Folder
10
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New York blood banks, 1977
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Box
3
Folder
11
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Western Kentucky University, 1977
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Box
3
Folder
12
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National Kidney Foundation, 1977
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Box
3
Folder
13
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Western Electric, 1977
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Box
3
Folder
14
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Bates speech, Columbus, 1977
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Box
3
Folder
15
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Columbia University workshop, 1977
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