Paving the Path to PR’s Future
Learning from the earliest days of our efforts to communicate to the most groundbreaking PR campaigns of our time.
The Museum houses documents pre-dating the official formation of the field, including primary research about the novel campaigns that arose in the early 20th century, shaping the public’s perception of the public relations profession. As the field of public relations continues to evolve and progress, the Museum is continuously collecting new artifacts, expanding and updating the collection while preserving fundamental movements. We proceed to write history while we pave the path to the future of PR.
PR History: A collection of intellectual property, documents, and oral histories
With over 5,000 artifacts, the Museum has the world’s largest collection of public relations memorabilia. With original documents from the founding fathers, including Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays, to artifacts dated throughout Harold Burson’s career, the Museum has over a century's worth of documents reflecting the development of public relations. With its wide selection, the collection has artifacts across multiple niches, focusing on Financial PR, Medical PR, and Military Communication, to mention a few. Thanks to primary research conducted by the museum, parts of the collection uncover the Hidden History of PR, highlighting the diverse past of the industry.
Why a PR museum?
Public trust has never been lower. We’re not only suspicious of our government and other institutions, but we don’t even trust each other.
In that environment, the integrity of our communication with the public has never been more important. We all need to raise our game.
The PR Museum grew from the happenstance gift of one PR practitioner’s memorabilia into the world’s only repository of the practice’s history. That, combined with an unmatched capability to mine that history for actionable content practitioners can use, has made it a center of learning.
Of course, what we do today is tomorrow’s history, from which future practitioners can learn. So we continue to expand our collection, documenting leaders and work at the pinnacle of the practice, including the most ground-breaking PR campaigns of our time.
The Museum of Public Relations is a 501(c)(3) educational institution chartered by the New York State Department of Education to serve the world's growing community of public relations students, educators, researchers, and practitioners.
Our Mission
Our mission is to bring PR history to life—exploring its successes and failures, its heroes, heroines, and villains to draw lessons from which practitioners can learn. And to help business leaders understand that, at its best, public relations is a responsible tool of commerce and a powerful force for social progress. We believe that public relations done well is communication for the public good.
With more than 5,000 artifacts, oral histories, letters, photos and film, the PRMuseum houses the world’s largest collection of public relations memorabilia, documenting the practice’s history across different practices, including Financial PR, Medical PR, and Military Communication.
Visitors can consult rare first edition books about PR, as well as original documents by industry pioneers from Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays to Arthur W. Page and Harold Burson. And thanks to primary research conducted by the museum, the collection reveals the PR’S “Hidden History,” highlighting the contributions of practitioners who were overlooked because of their color, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.
Visitors can also see how important social movements applied the underlying principles of public relations to change the course of history. Most importantly, they see how modern public relations evolved from press agentry to building beneficial relationships based on mutual understanding. They understand public relations as social science with a creative bent.
For Educators
Part of our mission is to contribute to the education of future generations of public relations practitioners. We have a long history of collaborating with college-level educators in public communication. Through museum tours, events, videos, and publications, the PRMuseum reaches more than 1,000 college-level students a year, putting current events in historical context, from diversity and inclusion to disinformation and antisemitism.
Dealing with today’s levels of technological change, media fragmentation, and political polarization requires a bedrock understanding of the practice’s evolution and enduring ethical principles.
Schedule a Visit
Unlike other museums, where exhibits are under glass and the original artifacts are kept under lock and key, each visit to the PRMuseum is tailored to the specific needs and interests of visitors. Rather than reading a description of past events pasted on a wall with a few illustrations, we open our archives to visitors and let them experience public relations as it was practiced by our field's founders from as far back as a century ago. Through hands-on exhibits of "ancient" media technologies, oral histories, and artifacts—some from the actual offices of early pioneers Ivy Lee, Edward Bernays, and Arthur Page—students learn firsthand the role PR has played in business, society, and culture.
Request a Virtual or In-Person Tour
Visit Online
The Museum's extensive digital archives include video interviews, important out-of-print books, classroom resources, and videos of Museum-sponsored events, including the first-ever events honoring the contributions to this field of African Americans, Latinos, Asians, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans, members of the LGBTQ community, and women. Explore the various social movements which were guided by the underlying principles and philosophies of public relations.
To allow time to tailor visits to your needs and interests, virtual and in-person tours are by appointment only, Monday through Friday, from 11 am to 5 pm.
If you’re reading this, you’re still at the museum’s front door. Follow the navigation bar at the top of this page to explore our collections. There’s no ticket booth, but donations are always appreciated.
You’ll be in good company. The PRMuseum is indebted to the following companies that support our work.
Founding Partner
Program Underwriters
Sustaining Sponsors
