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.
