Marion Harper Papers
name: label: Creator
content: Harper, Marion, 1916-1989 (advertising executive)
label: Names
content: Interpublic.
label: Names
content: McCann Erickson
topic: label: Topic
content: Marketing
label: Topic
content: advertising
label: Topic
content: Advertising executives
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection donated by Ellen Harper Bridges,1990.
creator: label: Creator
content: Harper, Marion, 1916-1989 (advertising executive)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Marion Harper Papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: Notes, clippings, published and unpublished manuscripts on business and marketing; but primarily personal materials.
bioghist: label: Biographical/Historical note
content: Marion Harper, Jr. (1916-1989) won distinction as founder of Interpublic, at one time the worlds' largest advertising agency conglomerate, and as a recognized innovator in the use of research in the preparation of effective
advertising.  His meteoric career terminated soon after his removal as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Interpublic in 1968.  Harper devoted his remaining twenty years to other interests.

Harper was born in Oklahoma City on May 14, 1916.  He attended Philips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and Yale University, where he majored in psychology and graduated tenth in the class of 1938.  After college, he decided to follow the example of his father, an advertising executive with General Foods.  His assignment to the McCann Erickson mailroom was the first step in an executive training program at the agency.

Known in the industry as the "boy wonder," Harper advanced in nine years from the mailroom to president of McCann Erickson, then the sixth largest advertising agency in America.  In the succeeding ten years, his success in attracting new business and in acquiring smaller agencies made McCann Erickson second only to J. Walter Thompson in billings.

Harper saw an expanding role for advertising agencies using global communications and facilities to market "world brands." To achieve this he pioneered important structural changes.  One was the agency holding company, The Interpublic Group, which circumvented the prevailing ethic that agencies should not represent competing accounts.  Another was the elimination of a
taboo which forbade agencies from raising capital by selling their common stock to the public. By the time Harper was deposed as chair in 1968, Interpublic had become a model for Saatchi & Saatchi and other advertising agencies to expand worldwide.

Harper's reputation as a "boy wonder" rested on more than his skill in acquiring new accounts and agencies.  He was a voracious reader of scientific materials related to human motivation.  At McCann Erickson he was noted for employing people without regard to race, creed or gender a rarity in advertising agencies of that era.  He wrote and talked about the scientific application of semantics in the management of businesses and preparation of more effective advertising.

In 1942, he was named manager of copy research and in 1947, assistant to the president of the agency. The following year, at the age of 32, he was named president of the agency. In 1958, Harpers was named Chairman of the company, which changed its name to Interpublic three years later.  By 1967, bankers had become concerned about declining Interpublic profits and on November 7, the six directors turned his power over to Robert Healy, a McCann Erickson
executive recalled from semi retirement.  On February 2, 1968, Marion Harper resigned.

Except for two brief and unsuccessful efforts to form new partnerships in advertising, Harper remained in seclusion in Oklahoma City.  During those years, he returned to his voracious reading and his interest in semantics and human potential.  Much of his effort during the last 10 years of his life was devoted to writing a manuscript advising "the well functioning" mature woman on ways to "reach her possibilities." Harper died on October 25, 1989.

Harper was the author of Getting Results from Advertising.  He served as chair of the American Association of Advertising Agencies and the Advertising Research Foundation.  He received the Parlin Award of the American Marketing Association Hall for contributions to the advancement of marketing, and was elected to the Market Research Council's Hall of Fame in the 1980s.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 27 Cubic feet (51 boxes)
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1920-1995, undated
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0394
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Papers
label: Type
content: Notes
label: Type
content: Family papers
label: Type
content: Essays
label: Type
content: Correspondence
label: Type
content: Clippings
label: Type
content: Awards
label: Type
content: Personal papers
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Collection is arranged in five series:

Series 1, Personal Papers, 1926-1964, undated

Series 2, Correspondence, 1920-1989, undated

Series 3, Professional Materials, 1925-1988, undated

Series 4, Research Notes and Unpublished Manuscripts, 1947-1995, undated

Series 5, On Reaching for What You Can Become, 1982-1988, undated
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Processed by Kevin Devries, intern, 2019; Mimi L. Minnick, archivist, 1991; and Vanessa Broussard-Simmons, supervisory archivist, 20129.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Papers
label: Genre/Form
content: Notes
label: Genre/Form
content: Family papers
label: Genre/Form
content: Essays
label: Genre/Form
content: Correspondence -- 1930-1950
label: Genre/Form
content: Clippings
label: Genre/Form
content: Awards
label: Genre/Form
content: Personal papers -- 20th century
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection primarily documents Harper's personal life, rather than his advertising career.  It includes documents from Harper's years at boarding school and college and from the twenty years in Oklahoma City after his           resignation from Interpublic. Only an occasional item illuminates the advertising agency years.  

During the earliest years of his retirement, Harper was interested in finding a new niche on the business world, and the notes and manuscripts on business and marketing reflect his efforts to form new advertising agency partnerships. Unpublished manuscripts, proposals, clippings and reading notes in this period are largely concerned with scientific management theory and how semantics and marketing procedures can be used to help managers better achieve their objectives.

The remainder of the collection reflects Harpers' interest in developing a book or syndicated newspaper series advising the "mature, achieving woman" on how to achieve her full potential.  Several complete versions of the manuscript, some in longhand, are supplemented by notes, corrections, comments, reading notes, clippings and other materials.

The material is arranged into five series. Series one is personal papers dating from 1924-1964. Series two consists of correspondence dating from 1920-1989. Professional materials dating from 1940-1986 are contained in series three. Series four is research notes and unpublished manuscripts dating from 1924-1990. The unpublished manuscript On Reaching for What You Can Become dating from 1984-1989 is in series five.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History

AC421 Barton Cummings Papers, 1938-1991, undated