The Freud House at 20 Maresfield Gardens, London, has been converted into the Freud Museum, reproducing the home as it was when Freud resided there in 1939. Its opening was accompanied by formal ceremonies and the presence of distinguished participants and guests from around the world. A motorcycle squadron of police officers escorted Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra and her party to the ceremony.
Once assembled under a large tent in the beautiful garden outside Freud House, Master of Ceremonies Albert J. Solnit, Chairman of the International Campaign for the Freud Museum and a member of the Joint Committee of the museum, introduced Lord Goodman, Oxford University Provost, who reminded the guests that when the world went mad, it was Britain who offered a safe place to the great man of the century. He noted “this museum symbolizes our recognition of the man who produced the most important body of writing since Darwin.” Then Princess Alexandra unveiled the plaque, officially opening the Freud Museum.
The Ambassadors and special speakers greeted the opening of the museum with warmth and dedication, offering insight into the scientific and cultural importance of Freud's contributions. The comments of Lord Goodman and the Austrian and Israeli Ambassadors and the representative of the Embassy of the United States were a pleasant surprise to the many psychoanalysts in the audience. Israeli Ambassador Yehuda Avner described the occasion as a singularly Jewish one, noting that another famous Jewish dreamer, Theodore Herzl (the father of modern Zionism) had lived in Vienna at the same time as Freud and on the same street, but the two men had never met.
Robert Wolf, Chairman of both the Museum Committee and the Board of Directors of the New-Land Foundation, pointed out the importance of the museum as a center for the development of psychoanalysis and for stimulating scholarly research, as well as a repository of Freudiana. He briefly described the vital role which the New-Land Foundation and Muriel Gardner had played in finally bringing a Freud museum to fruition.
Other speakers, including Adam Limentani, Moses Laufer, Clifford Yorke, John Bowlby, Harold Leupold-Lowenthal and Harold Blum, a member of the Joint Committee, expressed their best wishes for the success of the museum.
In the evening, a panel discussion on “Psychoanalysis and Its Contribution to the Intellectural History of our Era” was presented at Camden Old Towne Hall on Haverstock Hill in Hampstead. Sir Claus Moser, Chairman of Covent Garden and Oxford Professor of Economics, served as moderator. Dr. Harold Blum gave an original presentation on Freud and Shakespeare, highlighting the transformation of literary criticism achieved by psychoanalytic insight. Dr. Peter Gay discussed the Freud Museum and its implications for the presentation of Freud and psychoanalysis to the educated public, indicating that the museum should not only portray the past but should also be relevant to ongoing psychoanalytic debate. Dr. Hanna Segal noted Freud's illumination of the understanding of art and the artist. Dr. Anthony Storr served as Discussant and stimulated lively comments and questions from the audience. Tributes were accorded to the founders of the museum: Anna Freud, Muriel Gardner and Kurt Eissler.
As a wholly-owned division of the Freud Archives, the museum will be jointly operated by the Sigmund Freud Archives, Inc., and the New-Land Foundation, as co-trustees. The Freud Museum is expected to have wide appeal to interested intellectuals and educated tourists, and it is estimated that some 25,000 to 30,000 people will visit the museum during its first year. Both attention and attendance may have been heightened by the excellent local coverage of the museum ceremonies on BBC and in the English press. There were posters advertising the Freud Museum with its address and directions to the museum placed throughout the subway system. A first-day cover philatelic commemorative was offered at the museum. Official application is underway for a British stamp honoring Freud and the Freud Museum.