Books and journals in our libraries, valuable as these publications are, contain only a part of the history of psychoanalysis. The private papers of psychoanalysts which contain correspondence with colleagues, notes, unpublished works, clippings, and photographs are of considerable value as primary source material. Personal interviews which have been recorded and transcribed are very helpful in adding feelings and details, especially about what took place that was not put into a letter or publication. Fortunately, efforts have been made for years to collect and preserve the history of psychoanalysis. The location and availability of these resources for research are described in what follows.
The most extensive holdings in the history of psychoanalysis are at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., where 150,000 manuscript items have been collected. The Sigmund Freud Collection was begun in 1951 and now includes 50,000 items. In addition to the major contribution made through the Sigmund Freud Archives, led by K. R. Eissler, other donors, and the Library itself, have added directly to the Collection. In 1970 Anna Freud gave the Library her father's correspondence. The Library is destined to receive more later from Anna Freud's home in London. The Library also has the papers of Karl Abraham, Alfred Adler, Siegfried Bernfeld, Marie Bonaparte, Berta Bornstein, A. A. Brill, Paul Federn, Anna Freud, Harry Freud, Maxwell Gitelson, Otto Isakower, Smith Ely Jelliffe, Rudolf Loewenstein, David Rapaport, Philipp Sarasin and Edoardo Weiss. The Library has extensive holdings of books, pamphlets, serials, photographs, tapes of interviews, motion pictures, and a portion of Freud's personal library. Some collections are open and others are restricted. A knowledge of German, French or Italian may be a necessity to research some papers. Persons seeking access to the manuscript collections should write to the Chief, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540.
At the National Archives in Washington is the extensive correspondence of William A. White, twice President of the American Psychoanalytic Association and founding Editor of the Psychoanalytic Review. White's papers are not restricted. The National Library of Medicine does not actively seek to collect the history of psychoanalysis. The American Psychiatric Association in Washington has the history of the joint sessions of the Psychiatric and Psychoanalytic Associations and other overlapping organizational history in its archives. In addition there are approximately 20 tapes of interviews with psychoanalysts.
The Columbia University Health Sciences Library in New York has 800 titles from Sigmund Freud's library in Vienna. Freud's annotations appear in the margins of some of the books. The Oral History Research Office at Columbia University's Butler Library has transcripts of interviews by Bluma Swerdloff of Michael Balint, Edward Glover, Heinz Hartmann, Willi Hoffer, Abram Kardiner, Rudolph Loewenstein, Margaret Mahler, Sandor Rado, Joseph Sandler, Raymond de Saussure and Rene Spitz. These transcripts have to be read in the Library.
The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center's Department of Psychiatry has the Oskar Diethelm Historical Library and Historical Reference Collection which contain many books and journals in the psychoanalytic field. The Section on History has been the depository of several organizational collections, including the American Academy of Psychoanalysis.
The Archives of the Brill Library of the New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute contains the Leonard Blumgart, Philip Lehrman, Theodor Reik and Fritz Wittels collections, and correspondence with Sigmund Freud and Anna Freud. There is an oral history collection which includes an interview with Edith Jacobson.
In Boston the Countway Library of Medicine has the papers of Grete Bibring, Isador Coriat, L. E. Emerson, Wilhelm Reich, James J. Putnam, and the C. G. Jung oral history archive. The Edith Jackson papers are at the Radcliffe Institute. The Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute has the Ives Hendrick and Miriam C. Putnam papers. The Archives in the Goddard Library of Clark University in Worcester has the G. Stanley Hall papers and scrap-books on Sigmund Freud's visit in 1909.
The Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis has the papers of Franz Alexander, Therese Benedek, Thomas French and Helen McLean. They are not available for research at present. The Institute has some of the “Why War?” letters exchanged between Freud and Einstein. (The Library of Congress also has part of the Freud/Einstein correspondence.) The Institute's Gitelson Film Library has “Portraits in Psychoanalysis” referred to in its catalog as a living history series of videotaped interviews. There are 21 interviews currently in the series. They are Bartemeier, Benedek, Deutsch, Eissler, Ekstein, Engel, Gill, Greenacre, Grinker, Jacobson, Kaufman, Levitt, Loewenstein, McLean, Moellenhoff, Rangell, Ross, Shapiro, Spiegel, Spitz and Sterba. Some of these interviews were
made by Frank Parcells of Detroit. Arrangements to view these videotapes should be made with Glenn Miller, the Institute's librarian.
In Los Angeles the UCLA Archive has the Ernst Simmel Nachlass from Germany, 1929-1933, including material on Schloss Tegel, the first psychoanalytic sanitarium. The Freud/Simmel correspondence is at the Los Angeles Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. Albert Kandelin has made oral history interviews of David Brunswick, Frances Deri, Hannah Fenichel, Lawrence Friedman, Ralph Greenson, Ernest Lewy, Margaret Munk and others. The library of the Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute has the papers of Sheldon Selesnik including his research for the book The History of Psychiatry.
The papers of Karl and William Menninger are in the archives of the Menninger Foundation. The Bertram Lewin papers are at the Pittsburgh Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. It is not possible to make a complete list of what historical papers and tape-recordings are at each society and institute in this overview. There are also collections overseas. The Ernest Jones papers at the British Institute in London contains considerable correspondence with psychoanalysts in the United States. In addition to records of the International Psycho-Analytical Association in London there are older records of the IPA which have been transfered to the Library of Congress.
The Central Office Archives contains the history of the American Psychoanalytic Association. Historical research requests are directed to the Administrative Director who consults with the Chairman of the Committee on History and Archives. Senior colleagues should prepare in advance for the placement of their collected papers. Archivists prefer that all the papers of an individual remain together in one permanent location. The papers are processed and a register is prepared. The instructions of the donor govern access to the papers.
Arcangelo R. T. D'Amore, Chairman
Committee on History and Archives