Title: Philip Lesly Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1946-1993

Creator:

• Lesly, Philip, 1918-1997

Call Number: U.S. Mss 177AF; PH 6661; Audio 753A

Quantity: 5.0 cubic feet (3 records center cartons, 2 archives boxes, and 2 flat boxes), 6 photographs (1 folder), and 3 tape recordings

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 Philip Lesly, a prominent Chicago public relations counsel, consisting of speeches and writings (some in recorded form) and a miscellaneous assortment of printed matter prepared for clients. Of special interest is Lesly's Everything and the Kitchen Sink (1955), written for the centennial of the Crane Company, and a 1969 report on the public relations problems of the American Medical Association.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0177af

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Philip Lesly was born in Chicago, Illinois, the city in which he was to achieve prominence as a public-relations counsel, on May 29, 1918. After working as a news editor at the Chicago Herald and Examiner from 1935 to 1937, he graduated from Northwestern University in 1940. In the same year he began his professional career as a copywriter in the advertising department of Sears, Roebuck & Company. He worked for his alma mater as assistant director of publicity during 1941 and later headed the public-relations department of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. During the 1940s Lesly also held executive positions with two Chicago advertising agencies: account executive with Theodore R. Sills & Company (1942) and executive vice-president of Harry Coleman & Company (1947-1949). Lesly left Coleman in 1949 to found his own firm, the Philip Lesly Company. Eventually this firm grew to become one of the nation's most important public-relations agencies, with offices in Chicago and Toronto. Among its clients were the American Medical Association, First National Bank of Chicago, State Farm Insurance, 3M Company, and U.S. Steel. In 1968 Lesly disbanded this firm to turn to independent counseling.

A popular public speaker and a widely-published author, Lesly has written Public Relations: Principles and Procedures (1945, with Theodore R. Sills), Public Relations in Action (1947), Public Relations Handbook (1950), Everything and the Kitchen Sink (1955), and The People Factor: Managing the Human Climate (1974). His handbook, which has gone through many editions, is one of the classics in the field. Philip Lesly is a charter member of the Public Relations Society of America and a member of the International Public Relations Association.

Philip Lesly died in 1997.

The Philip Lesly papers are a miscellaneous, incomplete collection consisting of numerous speeches and articles by Lesly, promotional materials for a variety of clients, and general publications of his firm, the Philip Lesly Company.

The general papers include a long run of “Managing the Human Climate” which was produced by Lesly as an independent counselor in order to promote his own services; testimonials; files on the Public Relations Society of America; and interviews including one of Edward Bernays.

The client files consist only of the finished public relations programs, together with occasional background materials, the majority having been discarded before contact was established with the Historical Society. Among the most extensive files are those concerning the American Medical Association, the American Music Conference, Armour Company (Dial Soap), the Association for Modern Banking in Illinois, Canon, Cereal Institute, Dow Chemicals, IBM, and Quaker Oats. Also of note is the copy for Everything and the Kitchen Sink, which was written by Lesly to promote the centennial of the Crane Company.

The photographs consist of images of Lesly alone and with others. Other photographs received with the papers are in the Name File and the Oversize Name File in the Visual Materials Archive.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Philip Lesly, Chicago, Illinois, 1965-1993. Accession Number: MCHC65-81, MCHC66-42, MCHC66-110, MCHC67-074, MCHC68-054, MCHC69-007, MCHC69-012, MCHC69-066, MCHC70-027, MCHC71-074, MCHC72-007, MCHC72-060, M90-055, M93-083, M93-188

Processing Information

Processed by Carolyn J. Mattern, 1979, 2001.

U.S. Mss 177AF	General material
Box   1 Folder   1	Biography, 1993
Box   1 Folder   2	Correspondence, 1976, 1979, 1986
Box   1 Folder   3	Interviews, undated
Box   1 Folder   4-6	Laudatory letters, 1950s-1991
Box   1 Folder   7-11	“Managing the Human Climate,” 1970-1997
Box   1 Folder   12	Manual of policies and procedures, 1967
Box   1 Folder   13-14	PR Reporter memos, 1966, 1976, 1977, 1979
Box   1 Folder   15	Public Relations checklist, undated
Box   1 Folder   16	Public Relations Society of America, 1982-1992
	Scrapbooks
Box   7 Folder   1-14	Clippings, 1945-1950
Box   6 Folder   1-6	Clippings, 1974
	Speeches and writings
	Paper files
Box   1 Folder   17-24	1946-1947, 1953-1975
Box   2 Folder   1-14	1976-1992, undated
	Recordings
753A/1	“Dynamics of Public Relations,” 1963 July 22
753A/2	“Why Public Relations?,” 1963 July 29
753A/3	“The Public Relations Image,” 1965 December 5
U.S. Mss 177AF	Client files
Box   2 Folder   15	All-time client list, to 1993 March 11
Box   2 Folder   16	Abbott/Ross Laboratories, 1981
Box   2 Folder   17	Accordians-Programs, 1959
Box   2 Folder   18	Alexander Grant and Company, 1976
	American Medical Association (AMA)
Box   2 Folder   19	Analysis of communications, 1969
Box   2 Folder   20	Letters, 1968-1969
Box   2 Folder   21	Recommendation for PR counsel, 1954, 1969
Box   2 Folder   22	Review, 1969
Box   3 Folder   1	American Mining Congress, 1965
Box   3 Folder   2-3	American Music Congress, 1950s
Box   3 Folder   4	American Nurses' Association, 1971
Box   3 Folder   5-8	Association for Modern Banking in Illinois, 1974-1976
Box   3 Folder   9-10	AT&T, 1983-1984
Box   3 Folder   11	Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, 1973
Box   3 Folder   12	Beatrice Foods, 1983
Box   3 Folder   13	Builders' Hardware Industry, 1961
Box   3 Folder   14	Burlington Northern Inc., 1980
Box   3 Folder   15	California Wine Industry, 1960
	Canon
Box   3 Folder   16	Canon catalog, How-to Guide, 1987
Box   3 Folder   17	Marketing plan, 1987
Box   3 Folder   18	Memos and correspondence, 1987
Box   3 Folder   19-23	Cereal Institute, 1972-1975
Box   3 Folder   24	Coal Industry-Inland Steel Company, 1978
Box   3 Folder   25-26	Crane Company, 1954-1956
	Deere and Company
Box   3 Folder   27	General, 1986
Box   3 Folder   28	Program of Public Information about Agriculture, 1978
Box   3 Folder   29	Dial, undated
	Dow Chemical
Box   3 Folder   30-32	Canada, 1981-1989
Box   3 Folder   33	Information program on public issues, 1977
Box   3 Folder   34	Federisa, 1961
Box   4 Folder   1	First National Bank of Chicago, 1964-1968
Box   4 Folder   2	Furniture Development Committee, 1958
Box   4 Folder   3-4	Home Sewing Industry, 1960, 1982
Box   4 Folder   5	IBM, undated
Box   4 Folder   6	Iowa Manufacturers Association, 1980
Box   4 Folder   7	MGIC Investment Corporation, 1974
Box   4 Folder   8-9	Maytag, 1956, 1966
	Mead Johnson and Company
Box   4 Folder   10	1960-1962
Box   5 Folder   1	1963
Box   5 Folder   2	Merck and Company, 1964
Box   5 Folder   3	Midwest Bank Card System, 1968
Box   5 Folder   4	Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, 1957
Box   5 Folder   5	Northern Illinois Gas, 1988
Box   5 Folder   6-7	Pacific Gas and Electric, 1983-1984
Box   5 Folder   8	Public Relations Review, 1976-1977
Box   5 Folder   9-10	Quaker, 1967, 1970-1972, 1974, 1978-1979
Box   5 Folder   11	Renault, 1961
Box   5 Folder   12	Resonex, 1988
Box   5 Folder   13	The Shrine, 1963-1964
Box   5 Folder   14	3M, 1968
Box   5 Folder   15	Triodyne, 1985
Box   5 Folder   16	Tucson Clinic, 1981
Box   5 Folder   17	United States Steel, 1964
PH 6661 Folder   1	Photographs