Doris Fleischman

Doris Fleischman
Born Doris Elsa Fleischman
July 18, 1891
Died July 10, 1980 (aged 88)

Doris Elsa Fleischman Bernays (July 18, 1891 – July 10, 1980), was an American public relations executive and feminist activist.[1] Fleischman was a member of the Lucy Stone League, a group which encouraged women to keep their names after marriage. She was the first married woman to be issued a United States passport in her maiden name, Doris Fleischman, in 1925.[2]

Life and career

Fleischman attended Hunter Normal School before graduating from Horace Mann School in 1909. She graduated with a bachelor's degree from Barnard College in 1913.

Fleischman wrote for the New York Tribune women's page before being promoted to assistant Sunday editor, where she was the first woman to report on a boxing match. In 1919, she was hired as a writer by Edward L. Bernays. They married in 1922. Fleischman continued to use her maiden name, which was very unusual at the time.[3]

She and her husband continued to work together after her marriage. Among her accomplishments were securing press coverage for the NAACP convention in Atlanta and an internal client publication, Contact, which explained the nature and value of public relations to clients.[2] Fleischman also wrote about women's issues for national publications.

Starting with her essay “Notes of a Retiring Feminist,” published in the American Mercury in 1949, she began to use her married name Doris Fleischman Bernays professionally.[4] In 1955, she published her memoir, A Wife Is Many Women, under her married name.[5] The Association for Women in Communications gave her their highest honor, a National Headliner Award, in 1972.[6][7]

Fleischman died of a stroke in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Cook, Joan (July 12, 1980). Doris Fleischman Bernays Dead; Pioneer Public Relations Counsel. New York Times
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Richter, Amy C. (1971). Doris Elsa Fleischman Bernays. In James, Edward T.; James, Janet Wilson; Boyer, Paul S., eds. Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary, Volume 5. Harvard University Press, ISBN 9780674014886
  3. ↑ Staff report (August 5, 1939). Doris Fleischman, Feminist, in Southland on Vacation Visit. Los Angeles Times
  4. ↑ Henry, Susan (1998). Dissonant Notes of a Retiring Feminist: Doris E. Fleischman's Later Years. Journal of Public Relations Research, Volume 10, Issue 1, 1998 doi: 10.1207/s1532754xjprr1001_01
  5. ↑ Bernays, Doris Fleischman (1955). A Wife Is Many Women. Crown, LOCCN 55-10170
  6. ↑ Headliner Award Recipients
  7. ↑ Staff report (July 12, 1980). Doris Fleischman Bernays, public relations pioneer, 88. Boston Globe

External links