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Descriptive Summary

Call No.: 1072--77M211
Repository: Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute
Creator: Doris (Fleischman) Bernays, 1892-1980
Title: Papers, 1914-1977
Quantity: 1.42 linear ft. (1 carton, 1 file box, 2 oversize folders)
Abstract: Correspondence, writings, photographs, etc., of Doris Fleischman Bernays, author, editor, feminist, and public relations consultant.

Processing Information:

Acquisition Information:

Preferred citation for publication:

BIOGRAPHY

The daughter of Samuel and Harriet (Rosenthal) Fleischman, Doris Elsa (Fleischman) Bernays was born in New York City on July 18, 1892. She graduated from the Horace Mann School in 1909 and in 1913 received her bachelor's degree from Barnard College. Upon graduation she took a job as a reporter for the New York Tribune, where she served successively as assistant women's page editor and assistant Sunday editor. An ardent feminist, she wrote on many issues of concern to women and was a participant in the first Women's Peace Parade in New York in 1917.

In 1919 DFB left newspaper work to join her future husband, Edward L. Bernays, in his new public relations firm in New York. It was largely through their pioneering efforts that the principles, practices, and ethics of the new profession of public relations were established. The firm went on to advise many important men, women, and organizations, including Dwight Eisenhower, Sigmund Freud, and Henry Ford. DFB and ELB were married in 1922; they had two daughters. DFB set a precedent in 1923, when the U.S. State Department issued her the first passport to a married woman under her maiden name. She continued to use her maiden name until 1955, when she decided that the continually required explanation was too much of a nuisance.

DFB contributed articles to the Ladies' Home Journal, the American Mercury, the Saturday Reivew of Literature, McCall's, and other periodicals. She was the editor of An Outline of Careers for Women (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1919), and a contributor to America As Americans See It (1932) and to Varied Harvest (1953), an anthology of writings by Barnard College graduates. In 1955 she published her bestselling memoir, A Wife Is Many Women (New York: Crown).

DFB was the vice-president of the Edward L. Bernays Foundation, president of the Woman Pays Club, and vice-president of the Lucy Stone League. A member of Women in Communications (the National Society of Women in Journalism and Communications), she received its highest honor, the National Headliner Award, in 1972. In 1961 DFB and ELB moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where DFB died following a stroke on July 11, 1980.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

This collection consists of DFB's correspondence, writings, source notes for A Wife Is Many Women, and background material on equal pay, household employment, and the status of women. The correspondence is largely professional; the bulk of it covers the genesis and development of AWIMW (1949-1955) and DFB's work with the Lucy Stone League (1950-1952), the Woman Pays Club (1956-1973), and Women in Communications (1971-1973). The writings include typescripts of stories and articles, clippings of articles and book reviews, and a portion of an unpublished science fiction novel.

Folder headings are the donor's; information in brackets has been added by the processor.

There is related material at the Schlesinger Library. See also Doris Fleischman Bernays Additional papers, 1915-1978 (86-M79).

CONTAINER LIST

• Carton 1: 1-42
• Box 2: 43-55

INVENTORY

• 1-35: Professional correspondence and writings
  • 1. [Letters to DFB re: her work at the New York Tribune, 1914-1932; includes "Philosophy and Menthol."]
  • 2. [Clippings of articles by DFB in NYT, etc., 1914-1916]
  • 3o. [Clippings of articles by DFB, 1914-1920]
  • 4. Detective--old [ts. and ms. of story, 1929, 1931]
  • 5. McCall's--servants [ts. of article, correspondence re: "Domestic Situations--Not Wanted," 1946]
  • 6. Servants--comments--McCall's [correspondence, 1945-1946]
  • 7. ["The Mother Who Lost Her No," children's story, ts., 1946]
  • 8. ["Pleasant Dreams, Dr. Gay," ts., 1947]
  • 9. "Heartless Melitia" [ts., evaluation, clippings, 1948, 1958]
  • 10. American Mercury [correspondence re: "Notes of a Retiring Feminist," 1948-1949, 1955; includes article.]
  • 11. Roads [ts. drafts of uncompleted science fiction book, 1950s]
  • 12-34: [Re: A Wife Is Many Women]
    • 12-14: Very early correspondence
      • 12. [1949-1954]
      • 13. [1955]
      • 14. [Publicity]
    • 15. Joyce Lubold [1955]
    • 16. Miscellaneous [1955-1956]
    • 17. Benn Hall [publicity arrangements, 1955]
    • 18v. Chronology of AWIMW [re: evolution, publication, publicity, 1956]
    • 19. Outlines [of untitled autobiography, n.d.; ts. Of chapters, n.d.]
    • 20-22o. Duplicates of clips and ads [1955-1957]
    • 23. Production order file
    • 24-34: Source material and notes
      • 24. Introduction (source material) [1948-1953]
      • 25. "The Magic Aye"--introduction (not used)
      • 26. Housewife (source notes)
      • 27. Housewife (not used)
      • 28. "Horse and Buggy" (not used)
      • 29. Money (not used)
      • 30. "Knife and Fork Judgments" (source material) [1949; includes ration books.]
      • 31. "Knife and Fork Judgments" (not used)
      • 32. Double (not used) [re: chapter on working with husband; notes, 1950-1957.]
      • 33. "Butterfly in Armor--Love" (not used)
      • 34. Servant problem--notes not used [1950-1969]
  • 35. Book reviews--recent [correspondence, ts. drafts of reviews, articles, 1968-1972]

• 36-38: Other correspondence
  • 36. Mary Beard/Bernays [1952-1953; includes article and speech by MB, 1947, 1950.]
  • 37. Horace Mann, class of 1909 [clippings, class list, correspondence re: reunion, 1951]
  • 38. [Re: dispute over Barnard College student living with male student, etc., 1968-1973]

• 39-41: Lucy Stone League
  • 39. Survey on name [correspondence re: changing name of LSL, 1950-1952; also general correspondence, history, bylaws, etc.]
  • 40. Equal pay luncheon, Nov. 20, 1951 [talk by Frieda Miller, program, correspondence]
  • 41. Equal pay [clippings, 1950]

• 42-45: Woman Pays Club
  • 42-43: Correspondence
    • 42. [1956-1962, n.d.; includes photograph and letters from Caroline Simon]
    • 43. [1968-1973, n.d.]
  • 44. [Membership lists, newsletters, bylaws, 1957-1970]
  • 45. [Clippings, 1959-1960]

• 46. Washington conference/Equal pay [news releases, program of National Equal Pay Conference, March 31, 1952]

• 47. WIC [Women in Communications (founded as Theta Sigma Phi): newsletters, correspondence, 1971-1973]

• 48. Headliner Award--Houston [speech, correspondence re: Theta Sigma Phi award, 1971-1972]

• 49. Music committees [correspondence re: Community Music Center of Boston, Chromatic Club of Boston, 1970-1973]

• 50. [Speech at Radcliffe Club re: career in public relations, n.d.; letters from Caroline Simon re: Schlesinger Library, 1969-1970; "Progression" (poems), 1977.]

• 51-55: Notes, correspondence re: DFB's research
  • 51. Equal pay activities [1951-1957, 1965]
  • 52. Household employment--data [1939-1946]
  • 53. Frustrated [notes re:] myths and preconceptions and nonsense [re: status of women]
  • 54-55. [Notes from readings, etc., n.d.]

Additional catalog entries

SEPARATION RECORD

The following items have been removed from the collection:

• Matrix, summer and fall 1971, summer 1972, winter 1972-1973; deposited in the Schlesinger Library book division, March 1986.
• Duplicate printed material re: DFB; deposited in the Schlesinger Library biography file, May 1986.
• Clippings, newsletters, and other printed material re: status of women, women in advertisements, equal pay for women, etc., ca. 1945-1972; deposited in the Schlesinger Library subject file, May 1986.
• Leather pouch for ration coupons; returned to Edward Bernays, May 1986.