Title: Rosser Reeves Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1927-1971

Creator:

• Reeves, Rosser, 1910-1984

Call Number: U.S. Mss 112AF; Audio 399A; PH 3182; AC 952-958; CA 500-502; GA 001; VAA 001

Quantity: 10.2 cubic feet (27 archives boxes), 5 tape recordings, 5 disc recordings, 78 photographs and 4 transparencies (1 archives box), 10 reels of film (16 mm), 1 reel of film (35 mm), and 1 video recording

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 Rosser Reeves, an advertising executive who was chairman of the board of Ted Bates and Company Inc. The collection documents his career in advertising, noted for his “hard-sell” philosophy and his induction into the Advertising Hall of Fame, and reflects his anti-Communist sentiments and his involvement in Republican politics, both nationally and in New York from 1952 to 1964. The visual materials include images of Reeves, his family and friends and images related to Ted Bates and Company.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0112af

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Thomas Rosser Reeves Jr. was born in Danville, Virginia on September 10, 1910 to the Reverend Thomas Rosser Reeves and Mary Scott (Watkins) Reeves. He attended the University of Virginia from 1928 to 1930. On December 2, 1934 he married Elizabeth Lovejoy Street, with whom he has had three children: Rosser Scott, Abbott Street, and Elizabeth Lovejoy Reeves.

In 1929 Reeves began working as a cub reporter for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, but the next year switched into advertising as the advertising manager of the Morris Plan Bank of Virginia. In 1934 he quit Richmond for New York City and a position as copywriter for Cecil, Warwick and Cecil. Dissatisfied with that agency's soft sell approach, he soon moved to Blackett-Sample-Hummert, working in association with Duane Jones and the legendary copywriter Frank Hummert from 1938 to 1939. From there Reeves moved to Benton and Bowles, where he first worked with Ted Bates.

Bates left Benton and Bowles to form his own agency, Ted Bates and Company Inc., which opened its doors on December 2, 1940; with him he took Rosser Reeves and two accounts, Colgate-Palmolive and Continental Baking. Their first year's billings amounted to $4.5 million. Reeves advanced at Ted Bates from copy chief to chairman of the board, the position he held at the time of his retirement in 1966. The Bates agency has historically been a leading exponent of the hard sell school of advertising and has relied heavily on radio and television spot commercials to give the maximum penetration to its clients' messages. With the publication of his 1961 book Reality in Advertising, Reeves became the major theoretician of the Bates philosophy. Written originally as interoffice memos, the book is best known for its theory that all good advertisements have a “U.S.P.”, a Unique Selling Proposition; that is, a successful ad must promise something about the product that is unique and meaningful to the potential purchaser. Using U.S.P. as the basis of its ads, the Bates agency has risen to be the fifth largest advertising agency in the world, specializing in package goods ads and handling such accounts as Warner-Lambert Pharmaceutical, Brown and Williamson Tobacco Products, Mobil Oil, and the Chase Manhattan Bank. By 1966 its billings had risen to $241 million. Reeves even adapted U.S.P. to the 1952 Eisenhower Presidential campaign, for which the candidate filmed 32 spots for television, a practice that has since become common in political campaigns.

Reeves' prominence in the advertising profession is attested to by his place in the Advertising Hall of Fame, where he symbolizes hard sell advertising of package goods and of political candidates.

Since his retirement from Ted Bates and Company, Reeves has served as president of the Tiderock Corporation of New York City; as a limited partner of Bacon, Stevenson, and Reeves and of Oppenheimer and Company; and as chairman of the board of Daniel Starch and Statt Inc.

He has served the U.S. as deputy chairman of the President's Citizens Food Campaign in 1947 and was a member of the Federal Marketing Commission sent to West Germany in 1953.

A man of varied interests, Reeves is an accomplished yachtsman who published Boats magazine from 1953 to 1960; a skilled chess player who captained the first U.S. chess team to Moscow in 1955 and has been chairman of the American Chess Foundation since 1958; a jewel collector who in 1966 donated to the Smithsonian Institution the Rosser Reeves Ruby, the largest star ruby in the world; and an investor in oil and Jamaican real estate. He is a trustee of Randolph-Macon Women's College in Virginia and of St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland.

The Rosser Reeves papers, spanning 1927 to 1971, are arranged into files of general correspondence, writings and speeches, politics, personal finances, publications regarding advertising, awards, clippings, Ted Bates and Company Inc., visual materials, and tape recordings. The arrangement is generally chronological.

The general correspondence, forming the bulk of these papers, contains family and business correspondence intermixed. There are exchanges of family news among three generations of Reeves and their in-laws, among whom are included Francis and David Ogilvy. Reeves' activities as a major advertising executive are heavily documented by interoffice memoranda and letters with clients and others important in advertising and publishing, such as Fairfax M. Cone, Ernst Dichter, Sherwood Dodge, Alfred A. Knopf, Gerard Lambert, Frank Hummert, and Alfred Politz. Much correspondence from the years 1952 to 1960 reflects his concern for the dangers to U.S. security from communist infiltration; his participation in the President's Citizens Food Campaign in 1947; his membership in the Federal Marketing Commission sent to West Germany in 1953; and his involvement in Republican national and New York State politics in the campaign years from 1952 to 1964. The correspondence also offers valuable insights into the life style of a wealthy organization man and Reeves' hobbies of yachting and chess. One especially remarkable letter written to Winston Churchill on September 22, 1941 invited the Prime Minister to discuss his brick laying hobby with the American people on the U.S. radio show Hobby Lobby.

Of Reeves' writings, Reality in Advertising is most heavily documented, although the collection includes correspondence regarding his proposed second book The World Persuaders and his poetry as well as drafts and copies of his major poems. The file on Reality in Advertising contains correspondence, research material, drafts, a unique complete run of English and foreign language editions showing the book's international penetration, business and financial papers, and mailing lists.

The material on his speeches includes correspondence, drafts, and copies of his presentations on brotherhood and on libraries, his speech in Moscow in 1955, and an undated speech on the principles of advertising.

Concerning his political involvement is one box of papers illustrating the development of the 1952 Eisenhower spot campaign, including correspondence, reports, art work, drafts, financial papers, and schedules. One of the two remaining films of these commercials is in the Film Archives of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. There is also one folder on his involvement in Thruston Morton's 1956 senatorial campaign in Kentucky.

The file on Reeves personal finances documents some of his investments outside of the Bates agency, among them the publication of Boats magazine, the Larchmont Foundation's support of a widowed black mother of ten children, his collection of modern art, and the donation of the Rosser Reeves Ruby to the Smithsonian Institution. There is also information on his investments in Jamaican real estate, a Physicians' Index, and an executive marketing institute.

The publications regarding advertising include those articles, clippings, and a book which Reeves preserved as especially valuable for understanding the nature and problems of his profession.

The file on Reeves' induction into the Advertising Hall of Fame in 1966 contains correspondence, a program, a pamphlet entitled “An Advertising Omelette” in which Ted Bates satirized the style of other major agencies' ads, Reeves' acceptance speech, and an interview and clippings relating to this award. A tape recording of this speech is also included in this collection.

The file of newspaper and magazine clippings is comprised of a few loose clippings and two boxes of laminated clippings, for which Reeves prepared an extensive bibliography giving a brief summary of each article.

The material on Ted Bates and Company Inc. has been arranged at the conclusion of these papers because it does not reflect Reeves' activities; rather it contains a fragmentary archive of the agency. This file includes marketing plans and research for products the agency advertised; copies of commercials written by Frank Hummert and Claude Hopkins; the records of a Federal Trade Commission investigation into the claims of a Bates ad; the records of a landmark legal decision in which the courts upheld the agency's claim for a high degree of financial liquidity; organizational charts; decisions on copy; and material concerning the agency's 25th anniversary celebration. Arranged with the Society's disc recordings is one disc relating to this anniversary celebration.

The Visual Materials include photographs, transparencies, and moving images materials. The photographs and transparencies mainly consist of images of Reeves most likely made for publicity. There are a small number of images related to his personal life including photographs of family events and his residence. Additional images include a minimal number of photographs from Russia when he was there for a speaking engagement and several from his work on the Eisenhower presidential campaign. Materials documenting Ted Bates and Company Inc. include images of executives, functions such as the 25th anniversary of the company, and publicity photographs. The collection contains no still photography documenting advertising campaigns. The moving images include two copies of the film Eisenhower Answers America, 1952; a film reel of commercials by Young and Rubicam dated 1965; a film reel of commercials for Mars Ltd. and Petfoods Ltd., circa 1965; numerous home movies, circa 1927-1928; and a Kodak newsreel, Lindbergh Captures New York, #8503.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Rosser Reeves, New York, New York, in numerous installments from 1965 to 1971.

Processing Information

Processed by Eleanor Niermann, October 8, 1971; and David Benjamin, July 2011.

U.S. Mss 112AF	Series: General Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   1	1940 March-1943 December
Box   1 Folder   2	1944 January-1946 December
Box   1 Folder   3	1947 January-August
Box   1 Folder   4	1947 September-December
Box   1 Folder   5	1948 January-May
Box   1 Folder   6	1949 January-1952 May
Box   1 Folder   7	1952 June-October
Box   2 Folder   1	1952 November-December
Box   2 Folder   2	1953 January-October
Box   2 Folder   3	1953 November-December
Box   2 Folder   4	1954 January-March
Box   2 Folder   5	1954 April-December
Box   2 Folder   6	1955 January-February
Box   2 Folder   7	1955 March
Box   3 Folder   1	1955 April-May
Box   3 Folder   2	1955 June-August
Box   3 Folder   3	1955 September-October
Box   3 Folder   4	1955 November-December
Box   3 Folder   5	1956 January-February
Box   3 Folder   6	1956 March-May
Box   4 Folder   1	1956 June-December
Box   4 Folder   2	1957 January-March
Box   4 Folder   3	1957 April-June
Box   4 Folder   4	1957 July-September
Box   4 Folder   5	1957 October-December
Box   5 Folder   1	1958 January-February
Box   5 Folder   2	1958 March-April
Box   5 Folder   3	1958 May-July
Box   5 Folder   4	1958 August-September
Box   5 Folder   5	1958 October
Box   5 Folder   6	1958 November-December
Box   6 Folder   1	1959 January-February
Box   6 Folder   2	1959 March
Box   6 Folder   3	1959 April
Box   6 Folder   4	1959 May-June
Box   6 Folder   5	1959 July-August
Box   6 Folder   6	1959 September
Box   7 Folder   1	1959 October
Box   7 Folder   2	1959 November
Box   7 Folder   3	1959 December
Box   7 Folder   4	1960 January-February
Box   7 Folder   5	1960 March-April
Box   7 Folder   6	1960 May-June
Box   8 Folder   1	1960 July-August
Box   8 Folder   2	1960 September
Box   8 Folder   3	1960 October
Box   8 Folder   4	1960 November
Box   8 Folder   5	1961 January
Box   8 Folder   6	1961 February-April
Box   8 Folder   7	1961 May-July
Box   8 Folder   8	1961 August-December
Box   9 Folder   1	1962 January-April
Box   9 Folder   2	1962 May-June
Box   9 Folder   3	1962 July-August
Box   9 Folder   4	1962 September-December
Box   9 Folder   5	1963 January-March
Box   9 Folder   6	1963 April-December
Box   9 Folder   7	1964 January-April
Box   10 Folder   1	1964 May-August
Box   10 Folder   2	1964 September-December
Box   10 Folder   3	1965 January-March
Box   10 Folder   4	1965 April
Box   10 Folder   5	1965 May-June
Box   10 Folder   6	1965 July-September
Box   10 Folder   7	1965 October-November
Box   11 Folder   1	1965 December
Box   11 Folder   2	1966 January
Box   11 Folder   3	1966 February
Box   11 Folder   4	Correspondence on the occasion of Reeves' retirement from Ted Bates and Company Inc., 1966 February-March
Box   11 Folder   5	1966 March
Box   11 Folder   6	1966 April-May
Box   11 Folder   7	1971 May
	Series: Writings and Speeches	⇧
	Subseries: Reality in Advertising
	Correspondence
Box   12 Folder   1	1960 January-May
Box   12 Folder   2	1960 June-August
Box   12 Folder   3	1960 September-October
Box   12 Folder   4	1960 November-December
Box   12 Folder   5	1961 January-February
Box   12 Folder   6	1961 March
Box   12 Folder   7	1961 April
Box   13 Folder   1	1961 May-June
Box   13 Folder   2	1961 July-December
Box   13 Folder   3	1962 January-August
Box   13 Folder   4	1962 September-December
Box   13 Folder   5	1963 January-December
Box   13 Folder   6	1964 January-December
Box   13 Folder   7	1965 January-1966 February
Box   14 Folder   1	Research materials, undated
Box   14 Folder   2	First draft, 1956
Box   14 Folder   3	Fragmentary annotated drafts, 1960-1961
Box-folder   14-4 Volume   1	Ted Bates and Company issue (softbound), 1960
Box-folder   14-5 Volume   2	Book printed by Ted Bates and Company (hardbound), 1960
Box-folder   14-6 Volume   3	Book printed by Ted Bates and Company (hardbound), 1960
Box   14 Folder   7	Chapters published in Esquire, 1961 March
Box   14 Folder   8	Manuscripts for Alfred A. Knopf, 1961
Box   14 Folder   9	Advance proofs, 1961
Box   14 Folder   10	Annotated galley fragment, 1961
Box-folder   15-1 Volume   4	Knopf trade edition, 1961
Box-folder   15-2 Volume   5	Knopf deluxe edition, 1961
	Foreign language editions
Box-folder   15-3 Volume   6	British edition, 2nd printing, 1962
Box   15 Folder   4	Danish edition, translation of introduction, 1962 September-October
Box-folder   15-5 Volume   7	Danish edition, 1962
Box-folder   15-6 Volume   8	Dutch edition, 1962
Box-folder   15-7 Volume   9	Dutch edition with Hou Maet agency last chapter, 1962
Box-folder   16-1 Volume   10	Finnish edition (hardcover), 1963
Box-folder   16-2 Volume   11	Finnish edition (softcover), 1963
Box-folder   16-3 Volume   12	French edition, page proofs, 1963
Box-folder   16-4 Volume   13	French edition, 1963
Box-folder   16-5 Volume   14	First German edition (rejected), 1962
Box-folder   16-6 Volume   15	Second German edition (authorized), 1963
Box-folder   16-7 Volume   16	German edition, 1968
Box-folder   16-8 Volume   17	Hebrew edition, 1963
Box-folder   17-1 Volume   18	Italian edition, 1963
Box-folder   17-2 Volume   19	Japanese edition, 1963
Box   17 Folder   3	Mexican serial edition, 1963
Box-folder   17-4 Volume   20	Norwegian edition, 1963
Box-folder   17-5 Volume   21	Spanish edition, 1964
Box   17 Folder   6	Swedish edition, translation of Gunnar Rune interview, 1961
Box-folder   17-7 Volume   22	Swedish edition, 1961
Box   17 Folder   8	Advertisements, 1961
Box   17 Folder   9	Contracts and Royalties, 1961 April-1962 August
Box   17 Folder   10	Mailing lists, 1961
Box   17 Folder   11	Individual mailing lists, 1960, 1961 January-February
Box   18 Folder   1	Corporation mailing lists, 1961 February
	Subseries: The World Persuaders	⇧
Box   18 Folder   2	Correspondence, 1963 July-1965 April
	Subseries: Poetry	⇧
Box   18 Folder   3	1951-1962
Box   18 Folder   4	Correspondence, 1956 January-1961 September
	Subseries: Speeches	⇧
Box   18 Folder   5	Regarding Brotherhood, 1954 September-October; 1957 March
Box   18 Folder   6	In Moscow, 1955 June
Box   18 Folder   7	At Larchmont Library, 1971 April
Box   18 Folder   8	Regarding Principles of Advertising, undated
	Series: Politics	⇧
	Eisenhower TV Spot campaign
	Correspondence
Box   19 Folder   1	1952 August-September
Box   19 Folder   2	1952 October
Box   19 Folder   3	1952 November-1953 January, 1954 January
Box   19 Folder   4	Research material, 1952
Box   19 Folder   5	Art work, 1952
Box   19 Folder   6	Drafts, 1952
Box   19 Folder   7	Finances, 1952 September-October
Box   19 Folder   8	Schedules by States, 1952 October
Box   19 Folder   9	Schedules by Stations, 1952 October-November
Box   19 Folder   10	Advertisements, 1952
Box   19 Folder   11	Participants, 1952 September
Box   19 Folder   12	Reports, 1952 August
Box   19 Folder   13	Clippings, 1952 October-November
Box   19 Folder   14	Thruston Morton Senatorial Campaign, 1956 May-July
	Series: Personal Finances	⇧
Box   20 Folder   1	Boats magazine, 1951 December-1953 September
Box   20 Folder   2	Larchmont Foundation, 1956 January-1957 December
Box   20 Folder   3	Physicians' Index, 1957 May-1958 December
Box   20 Folder   4	Montego Bay, 1960 April-1965 October
Box   20 Folder   5	Art Collection, 1960-1961
Box   20 Folder   6	Rose Hall, 1961 February-September
Box   20 Folder   7	Executive Marketing Institute, 1961 March
Box   20 Folder   8	Rosser Reeves Ruby, 1961 November, 1964 October-1966 May
Box   20 Folder   9	Chase Account Analysis, 1961 December
	Series: Publications regarding Advertising	⇧
Box-folder   20-10 Volume   23	1961 July-1963 September
Box   20 Folder   11	1965
Box   20 Folder   12	1960s
	Series: Awards	⇧
	Advertising Hall of Fame
	Correspondence
Box   21 Folder   1	1965 January-April
Box   21 Folder   2	1965 April
Box   21 Folder   3	1965 May
Box   21 Folder   4	1965 June-December
Box   21 Folder   5	Program, 1965 April 7
Box   21 Folder   6	“An Advertising Omelette,” 1965 March-May
Box   21 Folder   7	Acceptance Speech, 1965 April
Box   21 Folder   8	Advertising Age interview, 1965 April
Box   21 Folder   9	Clippings, 1965 February-April
	Series: Clippings	⇧
	Loose
Box   22 Folder   1	1950-1966 April
Box   22 Folder   2	1969 September-1971 January
Box   22 Folder   3	Bibliography of laminated clippings
Box   23-24	Laminated, 1938 March-1965 November
	Series: Ted Bates and Company Inc.	⇧
Box   25 Folder   1	Coroneed Heart Medicine, 1956 May
Box   25 Folder   2	Copy, 1957 February-1960 January
	FTC Complaint
Box   25 Folder   3	Complaint and Ted Bates and Company Response, 1959 November-1960 January
	Correspondence
Box   25 Folder   4	1959 November-1960 January
Box   25 Folder   5	1960 January
Box   25 Folder   6	1960 February-April
Box   25 Folder   7	Clippings, 1959 November-December
Box   25 Folder   8	Financial Papers, 1941 November, 1959 July, 1964 August
Box   25 Folder   9	Claude Hopkins Commercials, 1927 April-September, 1930 December, 1952, 1965 April
Box   25 Folder   10	Frank Hummert Commercials, 1938 January-1948 July
	Marketing Plans
Box   26 Folder   1	Dromedary Pimentos, 1964 July
Box   26 Folder   2	Dromedary Products, 1964 July
	Market Research, Shuffle Card Summary
Box   26 Folder   3	1943-1947
Box   26 Folder   4	1943-1950
Box   26 Folder   5	Miscellany, 1958-1965 November
Box   26 Folder   6	Organizational charts, 1941 November-1961
	Tax Trial
Box   26 Folder   7	Clippings, 1965 September
Box   26 Folder   8	Finding of Fact and Opinion, 1965 September
	Transcript
Box-folder   26-9 Volume   24	Volume 1, 1965 November
Box-folder   26-10 Volume   25	Volume II, 1965 November
Box-folder   27-1 Volume   26	Volumes III and IV, 1965 November
	25th Anniversary of Agency, Plaza Hotel, 1965 December 12
Box   27 Folder   2	Papers
Disc 58A/1	Disc Recording (printed program attached)
Audio 399A	Series: Audio Recordings	⇧
Audio   399A/1-2	Regarding history and personalities involved in the growth of Ted Bates and Company, 1965 July 29
Audio   399A/3	Reeves' speech to Advertising Writers Association of New York on his nomination to the Advertising Hall of Fame, 1961 April 7
Audio   399A/4	Reeves' interview with Myles Jackson of the American Management Association Inc., on the relationship of the chief executive of a company to advertising, 1965 December 21
Audio   399A/5	"Stop the Agency! I Want to Get Off!" / by Bob Margulies, 1965 December 12 Note: Formerly Disc 58A
Audio   399A/6	Ken Banghart's Radio Broadcast, Betty Joy Reeves' Verbal Duel with Georgy(?) Malenkov, Moscow, 1955 June 4 Note: Formerly Disc 58A
Audio   399A/7	Blue Note Recording: Bass On Top, Meade "Lux" Lewis, undated Note: Formerly Disc 58A
Audio   399A/8	NBC Recording: Jack Paar Show (Stan Freeburg), 1961 May 1 Note: Formerly Disc 58A
Audio   399A/9	A Marker on the Reeves Road With Love From the Ives and the Rudges, undated Note: Formerly Disc 58A
Audio   399A/10	Rosser Reeves being interviewed by Arlene Francis regarding "Pobo," 1980 September 24
	Series: Visual Materials	⇧
	Subseries: Photographs and transparencies
U.S. Mss 112AF Box   28	Photographs unsorted, undated
PH 3182	Rosser Reeves
Box   1 Folder   1	Portraits
Box   1 Folder   2	Family and friends
Box   1 Folder   3	Speeches: Moscow, 1955
Box   1 Folder   4	Politics: Eisenhower TV campaign
Box   1 Folder   5	Ted Bates and Company Inc.
	Subseries: Films	⇧
	Eisenhower Answers America, 1952
CA 500	Print Alternate Format: User copy VHB 293
CA 501	Archival Positive Alternate Format: User copy VBA 614
CA 502	“Some Y[oung] and R[ubicam] Commercials,” 1965 Scope and Content Note: Ted Bates and Company: Products include Tiparillo cigars; Gaines Burgers dog food; Excedrin pain reliever; Lays potato chips; Jello Whip N Chill dessert; Goodyear tires; Breck crème rinse; Hunt's catsup; Band Aids; Kaiser aluminum; Drake's Yodels candies; Manufacturer's Metropolitan Life Insurance Company; Modess sanitary napkins; and Chrysler Corporation cars.
GA 001	[Mars, Ltd. and Petfoods, Ltd. commercials], circa 1965 Scope and Content Note: Transfilm Caravel Inc.: Products include Bounty chocolate bars; Spangles candies; Tunes vapor drops; Yodel chocolate spread; Mars chocolate bars; Maltesers candies; Milky Way chocolate bars; Treets candies; and Petfoods Kit-E-Kat, Pal-Meet, and Lassie.
	Home Movies, circa 1927-1928
AC 952	Shots of family rowing boats, playing in the yard, ships in harbor, airplanes flying over harbor, family in motor boat, two young boys raising American flag, children swinging in hammocks, sail boating
AC 953	Shots of boys track and field events, water front activities (row boating, swimming, etc.), picnic, horseback riding, Camp Marbury, homes and surrounding gardens
AC 954	Shots of boys on pony, women in yard and garden and family on yacht
AC 955	Shots of children swimming, family car, construction on house, and sail boating
AC 956	Shots of motorboats, swimming, guests arriving at house, decorating the Christmas tree, horseback riding and water skiing
AC 957	Shots of older couple at swing, 1927 December 4
AC 958	Lindbergh Captures New York, #8503 [Kodak newsreel]
VAA 001	Advanced Problems in Advertising