About the records

Title	British Psychoanalytical Society & Institute of Psychoanalysis (S)
Date Range	c. 1910 - 2007 (majority 1919 - 1960)
Creator	British Psychoanalytical Society & Institute of Psychoanalysis
Extent	86 boxes + 26 volumes
Repository	Archives of the British Psychoanalytical Society
Abstract	Records of the British Psychoanalytical Society, Institute of Psychoanalysis and the London Clinic of Psychoanalysis.

Administrative Information

Administrative/biographical history

Please follow the link from the creator name (above).

Archival history/source of acquisition

The majority of items in this collection were transferred to the archives by officers of the British Psychoanalytical Society and staff of the Institute of Psychoanalysis at various dates, with some additional material probably donated by members and other individuals.

Much of the material prior to c1975 was catalogued using a different structure (old refs. G01 to G13) but the collection was recatalogued in 2007/8. The collection now includes letters which had been transferred to the archives' correspondence collection under the previous structure. Some items from personal collections, particularly the papers of John Rickman (ref. P03), Ernest Jones (ref. P04) and James & Alix Strachey (P17), had been added to the records of the Society and Institute but, as far as possible, these have been removed and catalogued with the original collections. The audio-visual material was also placed in a separate collection with similar material from personal collections but has been transferred to this collection.

Content and structure

Scope and Content

Records of the British Psychoanalytical Society, Institute of Psychoanalysis and London Clinic of Psychoanalysis, including minutes and administrative records, as well as papers related to the BMA Committee on psychoanalysis, the emigration of European analysts prior to and during the Second World War, the work of the London Clinic of Psychoanalysis during the Second World War, the Society's Controversial Discussions, the publication of psychoanalytic works and contributions to official investigations or committees on aspects of mental health.

Accruals

Further accruals to most series in this collection are expected.

System of arrangement

The collection is arranged into series as shown below, with further divisions within these sections:

S-A - Society & Institute minutes and related papers
S-B - Scientific matters
S-C - Publications
S-D - Training & membership
S-E - Members
S-F - London Clinic of Psychoanalysis
S-G - Legal and constitutional records
S-H - Financial records
S-J - Administrative records
S-K - Officers' records
S-L - Public relations, public lectures & events
S-M - External relations: other psychoanalytical organisations
S-N - External relations: non-psychoanalytical organisations
S-P - Audio-visual material

Conditions of access and use

Access conditions

Partially open for consultation by bona fide researchers, subject to prior arrangement with the archivist and the signing of a reader's undertaking form. Some material is closed to protect confidentiality or personal data; also, some material is currently available only to members of the Society.

Please note that any material from the Bulletin of the British Psychoanalytical Society is available only to members, students and guests of the Society.

Reproduction conditions

Photocopying is carried out at the discretion of the archivist and according to the archives’ photocopying policy, which is available on request. Copies of material still in copyright can be supplied for research use only. Written permission must be obtained from the archivist to publish or reproduce any material held in the archives. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearance from the copyright holder.

However, the papers in files P04-C-A-03 and S-M-04-03 may not be photocopied for copyright reasons.

Language(s) of materials

English, German, French, Spanish.

Finding aids

The collection catalogue is published online and a printed copy is available. Also, a database containing abstracts of some minute books exists but is not available online.

Allied materials

Related materials

References to specific related material in the archives' personal collections are included at the relevant level of description. However, the following collections of personal papers contain various material concerning the activities of the Society and Institute: John Bowlby (ref. P25); William Gillespie (ref. P16-D); Susan Sutherland Isaacs (ref. P19-D); Ernest Jones (ref. P04); Sylvia Payne (ref. P21-D); John Rickman (ref. P03-B-A-01); and James & Alix Strachey (ref. P17). Also, the photograph collection contains photographs of Society events and members (ref. PH).

Elsewhere, the archives of the International Psychoanalytical Association, based in London, contain records concerning the activities of the association and the development of psychoanalysis. Also, the Wellcome Library holds the papers of several members which include material related to Society activities, including John Bowlby (ref. PP/BOW), Siegmund Heinrich Foulkes (ref. PP/SHF) and Melanie Klein (ref. PP/KLE).

Publication note

Publications based on this collection include:

Pearl King & Riccardo Steiner (eds) (1991). The Freud-Klein Controversies 1941-45. London/New York: Routledge.
Riccardo Steiner (2000). ‘It is a New Kind Of Diaspora.’ Explorations in the Sociopolitical and Cultural Context of Psychoanalysis. London: Karnac Books.
Brenda Maddox (2006). Freud's Wizard. London: John Murray.

Notes

None.

Published by the Archives of the British Psychoanalytical Society,
With support from The Wellcome Trust
Listed by Allie Dillon
HTML edition
Updated 8 April 2008

The template for this finding aid is part of the Heritage Documentation Management System

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