This entire issue of the Menninger Bulletin consists of short papers written by members of the Menninger Clinic staff about their hobbies. This experiment was carried out because it was felt that morale is improved by recreation and that some insight into this sphere might be useful at this time. Some tentative conclusions are drawn in the last paper written by Karl and Jeanetta Menninger. They point out that play serves the important purpose of providing an outlet for impulses which have to be restricted in work. The freedom to make choices is available to a greater extent in play. This freedom is only on the surface since unconscious factors also operate here, an aspect which will be developed in a later issue. The psychiatrist as a parental figure in society should sanction recreation and thus lighten the burden of guilt most people carry in regard to play.