Aleph Number:
Patrons must sign the Acknowledgement of Legal Responsibility and Privacy Rights form before using this collection.
Also, all or portions of this collection may be housed off-site in Duke University's Library Service Center. Consequently, there may be a 24-hour delay in obtaining these materials.
Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the University Archives to use this collection.
Collection is open for research.
Copyright for Official University records is held by Duke University; all other copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
[Identification of item], Office of Public Affairs and Government Relations Reference Collection, University Archives, Duke University.
The Office of Public Affairs and Government Relations Reference Collection was compiled by University Archives staff from a variety of sources.
Processed by Tom Harkins, April 2010
Encoded by Molly Bragg, July 2011
Accessions were merged into one collection, described in this finding aid.
Descriptive sources and standards used to create this inventory:
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.
Around January of 1922, Henry Belk, Class of 1923, was named director of the Trinity College News Service. Apparently Belk was the College's first staff member hired for a public relations position. For 1927/28, the Bulletin of the University lists Albert Alexander Wilkinson, Class of 1927, as Director of Publicity. In 1935, the news service became part of the Department of Public Relations and Alumni Affairs which was directed by Henry R. Dwire. Wilkinson managed the News Service until 1945. The Bureau of Public Information succeeded the News Service in 1947/48. In 1948, Charles E. Jordan was named Vice President in the Division of Public Relations; he served in that capacity until 1966. In 1956, Clarence Whitfield became director of the Bureau of Public Information reporting to Jordan. The office was responsible for the University's news, radio, and television publicity. Personnel included a news director, a radio-TV director, and several writers. The Office of Information Services succeeded the Bureau in 1963/64. A 1963 report by the Barton Gillet Company titled "Analysis and appraisal of communications, Duke University" probably played a role in the reorganization of the University's strategies in this area. Now (2010), the Office of Public Affairs and Government Relations coordinates and manages communications strategies with the university's many audiences. It includes the offices responsible for federal, state and local government relations, local community affairs, campus news and communications and audiovisual services: Office of News and Communication; University Photography; Federal Relations; Office of Community Affairs; Government Relations. The Duke Medicine Office of News and Communications handles this function for the Duke University Medical Center.
The collection includes newsletters, brochures, memoranda, clippings, statistics, reports, forms, printed matter, and other material concerning the University's public image and its management. The bulk dates are the 1960s to the 1990s. Among the items are blank reporting forms sent to faculty and staff to submit information for publicity; "Leads and Angles, Slants and Features: a handbook prepared for newspaper, magazine, and feature writers visiting Duke University," (April 1939); "Whom, Me?" a complication of national publicity following Professor A.C. Jordan's comments about Americans' poor grammar (1966); a series of publicity cards and statistics sheets, circa 1971, about the University and its various attractions including the Chapel, Gardens, Medical Center, and Art Museum; and "Duke Information Places Outside the Library Systems", a pamphlet apparently produced by the East Campus Library staff in 1980. Subjects include news staff assignments and facts and statistics about the University. In December of 1972, the News Service's director, Don Seaver, asked his staff to contribute items to a "Duke Facts" binder notebook. This binder included statistics, brief write-ups of the University and selected departments, class profiles, brochures, lists of several kinds, and other sorts of information. The binder was kept updated through the early 1980s. It is now stored in two file folders.
These are searchable subject entries for this collection. Performing a search on these subjects in the Duke University Libraries online catalog will bring up other related research materials.