Scope and Contents

The strength of the Robert Price Papers lies in the correspondence, newspaper clippings, posters, flyers, ephemera, lapel pins and buttons, and other paraphernalia from each of the political campaigns Price managed for John V. Lindsay: his initial run for Congress, as Representative from New York's 17th district in 1958, and reelections to the same seat in 1960, 1962, and 1964; and Lindsay's run for Mayor of New York City in 1965. (Price had effectively left politics for the business sphere by the time of Lindsay's bid for reelection in 1969, so he did not manage that campaign.) See Series I.

In 1964 Price engineered the sole victory of Nelson A. Rockefeller's otherwise unsuccessful bids for the presidency—the Republican nomination of the 1964 Oregon primary. The collection includes correspondence, newspaper clippings, flyers, ephemera, and other paraphernalia centered on Rockefeller's Oregon win, as well as his later service to Richard M. Nixon during Nixon's campaign for reelection in 1972. See Series II.

Robert Price's brief time as deputy mayor of New York City—from January to November, 1966—is represented by biographical press releases, some correspondence, and a few speeches. See Series III, which includes a wealth of campaign samples—e.g., ephemera, buttons, lapel pins, nail files, bumper stickers, and other paraphernalia—produced by public candidates other than John V. Lindsay or Nelson A. Rockefeller, from New York and elsewhere (see Box 4, Folders 2–17, and Box 8c). Of note is the program (with accompanying admission ticket) for the Democratic Party's 1962 fundraising gala at Madison Square Garden, where Marilyn Monroe infamously sang "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" to John F. Kennedy (see Box 4, Folder 13). Also in Series III is a portable, mechanical Shoup Voting Machine Corporation sample of the type of lever voting machine common at New York polling places before their replacement by electronic scanners (see Box 8d).

The collection provides spotty coverage of Robert Price's evolving professional career outside the political sphere, from his days as a law clerk serving Judge Archie Owen Dawson of United States District Court, Southern District of New York, to his law partnership with Theodore R. Kupferman, through his days with the Dreyfus Fund (investment firm) and Lazard Frères & Co. (investment bankers), and his own Price Capital Corporation and Price Communications Corporation. See Series IV.

Personal material--e.g., correspondence, tax and financial records, résumés, and newspaper compositions--of Robert Price and his wife, Margery, their daughter Eileen (Price) Farbman, and son, Steven Price, rounds out the collection. See Series V.