New York Zoological Society. Public Affairs Division and predecessor units records

This collection consists mainly of the records of New York Zoological Society (NYZS)'s Department of Publications while headed by William Bridges (Editor and Curator of Publications, 1935-1966), and Eugene J. Walter (Curator of Publications from the end of the 1970s to the early 1990s). It also includes materials from various departments, divisions, and administrative staff involved in the provision of NYZS public relations and publicity services from the late 1920s to the early 2000s. In addition to the Publications Department under Bridges and Walter, these materials come from the Public Relations and Promotions Unit, 1978-1979, under Curator Joan Van Haasteren. Furthermore, the collection includes records from individual NYZS administrative offices and senior staff who were involved in NYZS's government affairs functions from the 1970s through the late 1990s, including the Office of General Director William G. Conway (1966-1999) and senior administrative staff member John McKew. The collection largely documents the administration, production, and management of NYZS's communications, marketing, publicity, public relations, and publications and media production work. It also documents, to a lesser degree, the Society's late-20th century government affairs efforts, particularly legislative campaigns relating to zoo admissions, wildlife management, and conservation from the early 1970s to the late 1990s.

The bulk of the collection consists of records of the former Department of Publication pertaining to press coverage of the Society. Records include clippings received from Burelle's Press Clippings Service, an external clippings service used by the Society from the 1940s to the 1980s. Clippings contained in these files reflect local, regional, national, and occasionally international press coverage for the New York Zoological Society over a 40 year period. Later clippings in the collection, dating from the 1970s to the 2000s, reflect materials that appear to have been collected by succeeding units with public affairs-related mandates, including the Publications and Public Relations Department and the Public Relations and Promotions Unit. Major topics include the Society and its facilities, local government affairs, wildlife and environmental research and conservation, international affairs, journalism, communications, visual arts, and celebrity news.

There is also a large run of NYZS press releases, the bulk of which dates from the 1940s to the early 2000s. Records contain the releases and associated production-related materials, such as correspondence, memoranda, press lists, production notes, vendor orders, notes, and related publications. These records document a range of Society programs, services, and activities. Notes and annotations are present on many of the draft press releases and provide complementary insight on editorial decisions.

Subject and event files also make up a fair portion of the records in this collection. These materials date from 1950 to 1982, and reflect the Society's efforts to increase awareness of and support for its mission, purpose, and programs through a range of advertising, promotional, publication, and marketing activities. The bulk of this material consists of production files relating to special events produced by, or in tandem with, the Society, particularly in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Documents include subject files, event production files, annual publicity and annual newspaper clippings files, correspondence and production files, and exhibit records. There are also correspondence files relating to external film, audio-visual media, and print requests that provide evidence of the range of external interest in Society programs, services, and activities. Finally, there are also materials relating to the Society's exhibit at the 1964 New York World's Fair.

The collection also includes legislative campaign files and associated materials dating from the late 1960s to the late 1990s that were produced by the Office of the General Director and senior administrative staff. These records relate to the Society's lobbying efforts on a number of key topics including policy development relating to zoo administration, particularly admissions, as well as wildlife management and conservation. The bulk of the materials consist of Admissions Bill legislative campaign chronology books (1973-1982), which relate to NYZS's continuing efforts to gain more control over admissions revenue. There are also records from several other legislative campaigns conducted by the Society, in particular in the areas of national zoo and aquarium regulations, wildlife importation regulations, and animal inspection services.

Finally, the collection includes general administrative and operational records created from the early 1960s to the 1980s relating to various departments, divisions, and individual Society staff members that performed public affairs functions during those years. The bulk of the records include correspondence files, minutes, and reports documenting publications, publicity, and photography activities at the Bronx Zoo, New York Aquarium, and New York Zoological Society during the 1970s. There are also several additional files relating specifically to the management of NYZS's photograph, film, and media collections.