Archives of the History of American Psychology

R. I. Watson Papers (1909-1980)

 

PAPERS: 1938-1980

VOLUME: 10.5 linear feet, [M3312 – M3370]

ACCESSION DATE/NO:

CLASSIFICATION NO:

ACCESS: Partial restriction

PROCESSED BY: Rhonda Rhinehart

DATE:

REVISED: 30 September 2005 by Tim Rogers

 

Biographical Note

 

It wasn’t until the 1960s that significant interest in the history of psychology as a specialized area of research began. During that decade, a number of individuals with training as psychologists and a keen interest in history banded together and helped to mark the creation of a new specialized discipline—they formed organizations, they created a journal, and they established bases for the production of research.

Many people were involved, but the major impetus came from a clinical psychologist with a passion for history, Robert I. Watson (1909—1980). He began with a call to arms, an American Psychologist article entitled “The History of Psychology: A Neglected Area.” Watson then mobilized a group of like-minded psychologists within APA into the History of Psychology Group, the eventual outcome being the creation of a new APA division in 1965. Watson was the first president of division 26. Also in 1965, John Popplestone and Marian White McPherson established the Archives of the History of American Psychology (AHAP) at the University of Akron, with Watson named to chair the Archive’s Board of Advisors. The first issue of the Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences was also published in 1965, edited by Watson. A few years later, as part of a reorganization of their graduate programs, the University of New Hampshire created the first doctoral program in the history of psychology, and named Watson its first director. Also under the co-leadership of Watson, a six-week summer institute on the campus of UNH was sponsored in 1968, which spawned Watson’s final creation, the Cheiron Society, an “International Society for the History of Behavioral and Social Sciences.” Within a decade, Watson was the prime mover in developing the history of psychology as a research specialty. Over the past 30 years, interest in psychology’s history has grown steadily.

--Courtesy of Wiley Publishers

 

Scope and Content

The R. I. Watson Papers are organized into the following record series: I. Biographical; II. Correspondence, Personal and Professional; III. Research Materials, Subjects, World Science, Time Periods, and Colleagues; IV. Professional Affiliations; V. Classes and Lectures; VI. Graduate Study Information; VII. Written Works.

 

The papers of Richard I. Watson consist largely of research materials concerning Watson’s own studies on the subjects of the history and teaching of psychology. Watson kept careful notes on various topics relating to research in psychology around the world, as well as research and publications produced by his colleagues. In addition to research materials, this collection contains notes and syllabi of courses and lectures given by Watson throughout his career, also including information written by colleagues. Watson belonged to, and participated in, many professional affiliations, including conferences and symposiums regarding the history of psychology. Notes, handbooks, brochures, and other information pertaining to these affiliations are included in this series. Of special note in this collection are materials from the History of Psychology Group, which Watson assembled, and materials from the Archives of the History of American Psychology, of which Watson was named chair of the Board of Advisors. Written works by Watson, both published articles and unpublished manuscripts, are also present in the collection.

 

Series Descriptions

Series I: Biographical File

This series consists entirely of information surrounding an autobiographical contribution made by Watson to the book compilation entitled, The Psychologists, published in 1972. Information includes correspondence to and from Watson concerning his participation in the project, as well as a typewritten manuscript of Watson’s autobiographical entry.

Series II: Correspondence

This correspondence consists of letters from former students and colleagues requesting professional or scholarly recommendations from Watson. This series is organized alphabetically by last name of the individual who is the requestor/subject of the letters/recommendations. Series restricted due to personal information. Also included in this series are Watson’s responses, evaluations, and written recommendations of individuals.

Series III. Research Materials

Included in this series are extensive notes, colleague publications, and other miscellaneous research materials collected by Watson, and organized by topic or name of colleague/author, country, and time period.

Series IV: Professional Affiliations

Materials throughout the 1950s, 60s, and 70s from the conferences and symposiums that Watson attended are included in this series, as well as notes and correspondence associated with his involvement in various societies, organizations, and universities.

Series V: Classes and Lectures

This series consists of information gathered by Watson for coursework taught, particularly the History of Psychology, of which there are more extensive materials. Also included in this series is information concerning the Ph.D. program in psychology from the University of New Hampshire. Materials from several lectures given by Watson on the various aspects of education and research in psychology are present in this series as well.

Series VI. Graduate Study Information

Coinciding with Watson’s interest in psychology education, this series includes materials relating specifically to graduate study in psychology, including sources for fellowships, grants, and program information. This series also includes a proposal written by Watson to the National Science Foundation outlining a graduate program of study in psychology.

Series VII. Written Works

Publications authored by colleagues and other researchers are included in Watson’s research materials (see Series III above). This series encompasses works authored by Watson, both published works and unpublished manuscripts dating from 1938 – 1969, as well as some undated material. Unpublished works include a complete manuscript of The Search for the Person: The History of Psychology; published works include manuscripts for The History of Psychology and the Behavioral Sciences: A Bibliographical Account arid The Great Psychologists from Aristotle to Freud.

 

Inventory

Series I. Biographical, 1970-1 972

 

Box 1 (M3312)

 

Watson autobiographical material – (M3312)

Correspondence about the Psychologists Book published in 1972 – (M3312)

Research materials and notes about writing an autobiography – (M3312)

Vita and Professional Activities – (M3312)

 

 

Series II. Correspondence, 1950-1974 (restricted)

 

Boxes 1-7 (M3312-M3318)

 

Personal (M3312)

Professional (M3312):

            Accreditation - (M3312)

            General Correspondence (1939-1965) – (M3313)

            General Correspondence (1966-1968) – (M3314)

            General Correspondence (1969-1972) – (M3315)

            General Correspondence (1973-1975) – (M3316)

            General Correspondence (1976-1980) – (M3317)

            Recommendations for Faculty Positions (Restricted) – (M3318)

            Student Recommendations/Records (Restricted) – (M3318)

 

Series III. Research Materials

 

Boxes 8-30 (M3319-M3340)

 

Subjects:

            Affective Potency Studies – (M3319)

            Animals – (M3319)

            Anthropology – (M3319, M3320)

            Anxiety – (M3320)

            Applied – (M3320)

            Associations – (M3320)

            Attention – (M3320)

            Attitude/Role – (M3320)

            Behavior Modification – (M3320)

            Bibliographies and References – (M3320)

            Categories of Personality – (M3321)

            Causality/Explanations – (M3321)

            Charts – (M3321)

            Child Psychology – (M3321)

            Clinical Psychology – (M3322)

            Cognitive Processes – (M3322)

            Committee on Human Development, USPHS Project #100 – (M3322)

            Computers – (M3322)

            Conflict – (M3322)

            Content Analysis – (M3322, M3323)

            Condorcet – (M3323)

            Consciousness – (M3323)

            Creativity – (M3323)

            Dialectics – (M3323)

            Dictionary of Scientific Biography – (M3323)

            Eclecticism – (M3324)

            Emotion – (M3324)

            Empiricism – (M3324)

            Environmentalism – (M3324)

            Existentialism – (M3324)

            Frustration/Aggression – (M3324)

            Functionalism – (M3325)

            Gerontology – (M3325, M3326, M3327)

            Gestalt Therapy – (M3327)

            Group Behavior – (M3327)

            History for the study of Personality – (M3327)

            History of Psychiatry – (M3327)

            History of Psychology – (M3327, M3328)

            History of Science – (M3328)

            Historical Theories – (M3328)

            Humanism – (M3328)

            Hypnosis – (M3329)

            Individuality/Idiography – (M3329)

            Induction/Deduction – (M3329)

            Instinct – (M3329)

            International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences – (M3329)

            Inventories and Tests – (M3329)

            Language – (M3329)

            Learning – (M3329)

            Medicine – (M3330)

            Mental Retardation – (M3330)

            Mind-body – (M3330)

            Modern Mental Deficiencies – (M3330)

            Modern Clinical Psychology – (M3330)

            Modern Science – (M3330)

            Modern Structural Psychology – (M3330)

            Motivation and Will – (M3331)

            Naturalism/Superstition – (M3331)

            Nineteenth Century (19th century) – (M3331)

            Operationalism – (M3331)

            Paradigm – (M3331)

            Perception and Sensation – (M3332)

            Personality Assessment – (M3332)

            Personality and Culture – (M3332)

            Personality Theory – (M3333)

            Phenomenology – (M3333)

            Philosophy of Science – (M3333, M3334)

            Philosophy and Psychology – (M3334)

            Phrenology – (M3334)

            Physiology – (M3334)

            Piaget’s Method – (M3334)

            Pragmatism – (M3334)

            Primitive Man – (M3334)

            Private Papers – (M3334)

            Professional Information – (M3334)

            Projective Measures Research – (M3335)

            Psychiatry – (M3335)

            Psychoanalysis – (M3335)

            Psychology and History – (M3335, M3336)

            Psychology of Literature – (M3336)

            Psychology of Science – (M3336)

            Psychological Theories – (M3337)

            Psychometric Testing – (M3337)

            Purism and Utilitarianism – (M3337)

            Rationalism and Irrationalism – (M3337)

            Realism – (M3337)

            Reference Materials – (M3337)

            Research Abstracts – (M3338)

            Religion and Science – (M3338)

            Scientific Method – (M3338)

            Self Concept – (M3338)

            Sex – (M3338)

            Social Relations Science – (M3339)

            Social Science – (M3339)

            Sociology – (M3339)

            Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test – (M3340)

            Structuralism – (M3340)

            Unity of Science Movement – (M3340)

            Vitalism and Mechanism – (M3340)

            Zeitgeist – (M3340)

 

Boxes 31-32 (M3341-M3342)

 

            World Science:

 

                        Africa Psychology – (M3341)

                        Australia Psychology – (M3341)

                        Canadian Psychology – (M3341)

                        Central America Psychology – (M3341)

                        China Psychology – (M3341)

                        European Psychology – (M3341)

                        Greek Psychology – (M3341)

                        India Psychology – (M3342)

                        Japan Psychology – (M3342)

                        Mexico Psychology – (M3342)

                        Middle East Psychology – (M3342)

                        Soviet Psychology – (M3342) 

                        United States Psychology – (M3342)

 

Boxes 33-34 (M3343-M3344)

           

            Time Period:

                        Enlightenment – (M3343)

                        Middle Ages – (M3343)

                        Middle Age Sciences – (M3343)

                        Reformation – (M3343)

                        13th Century – (M3343)

                        14th Century – (M3343)

                        15th Century – (M3343)

                        16th Century – (M3343)

                        17th Century – (M3344)

                        18th Century – (M3344)

                        19th Century – (M3344)

                        20th Century – (M3344)

 

Boxes 35-48 (M3345-M3358)

           

            Colleagues [* indicates collections held at AHAP]:

                        Agrippa, Cornelius – (M3345)

                        Al-Farbi – (M3345)

                        Angell,J.R. – (M3345) 

                        Angyal, A. – (M3345)

                        Aquinas – (M3345)

                        Arnold of Villanova – (M3345)

                        Bacon – (M3345)

                        Baumnn, Judith – (M3345)

                        Berkeley – (M3345)

                        Bergson – (M3345)

                        Bichat – (M3345)

                        Binet – (M3346)

                        Blight, James – (M3346)

                        Blumenthal, Arthur L. – (M3346)

                        Boas, Franz – (M3346)

                        Bonnet, Charles – (M3346)

                        Brentano, Franz – (M3346)

                     * Brozek, Josef – (M3346)

                        Budde, Douglas – (M3346)

                        Buhler, Charlotte – (M3346)

                        Burton, Robert – (M3346)

                        Buytendijk, Frederick – (M3346)

                        Canabis, Pierre – (M3346)

                        Cardan, Jerome – (M3346)

                        Cardno, J. A. – (M3346, M3347)

* Carr, Harvey A. – (M3347)

                        Cattell, James K. – (M3347)

                        Cattell, Raymond B. – (M3347)

                        Charcot, Jean Martin – (M3347)

                        Charles, Darwin – (M3348)

                        Condillac – (M3348)

                        d’Alembert, Jean – (M3348)

                        Davis, Robert C. – (M3348)

                        Descartes – (M3347, M3349)

                        Dewey, John – (M3349)                     

                        Dilthey, Wilhelm – (M3349)

                        Durkheim, Emily – (M3349)

                        Edwards, Jonathan – (M3349)

                        Ehrenfels, C. V. – (M3349)

                     * Eysenck, H. J. – (M3349)

                        Fechner – (M3349)

Ferrier, David – (M3349)

Fontenelle – (M3349)

Fourier, Charles – (M3349)

Franklin, Benjamin – (M3349)

Froebel, Friedrich – (M3349)

Galileo – (M3350)

Gall, Francis – (M3350)

Galton, Francis – (M3350)

Goethe – (M3350)

Goldstein, Kurt – (M3350)

Guilford, J. P. – (M3350)

Haeckel – (M3350)

Hall, Clarke – (M3350)

Hall, Marshall – (M3350)

* Hall, Stanley G. – (M3350)

Haller, von Albrecht – (M3350)

Hartmann, von Edward – (M3350)

Hartmann, Nicolai – (M3350)

Harvey, William – (M3350)

Helvetas – (M3350)

Helmont – (M3351)

Hobbes – (M3351)

Holt, E. B. – (M3351)

Holton, Gerald  – (M3351)

Huarte – (M3351)

Hume – (M3351)

Husserl, E. – (M3351)

James, William – (M3351)

Janet, Pierre – (M3351)

Jasper – (M3351)

Jaynes, Julian – (M3352)

Johnson, Samuel – (M3352)

Jones, W. T. – (M3352)

Judd, Charles H. – (M3352)

Kant, Immanuel – (M3352)

Kelly, G. A. – (M3352)

* Koffka, Kurt – (M3352)

Kohier, Wolfgang – (M3352)

Kornilov, K. N. – (M3352)

Kretschmer – (M3352)

Kulpe, Oswald – (M3352)

La, Roche – (M3352)

Lavoiser, Antoine Lament – (M3352)

Lecky, Prescott – (M3352)

Leibniz, G. W. – (M3352, M3353)

Lersch, Phillip – (M3353)

Le Senne, Rene – (M3353)

Lewes – (M3353)

* Lewin, Kurt – (M3353)

Lipps, Theodore – (M3353)

Locke, John – (M3353)

Lotze, Herman – (M3353)

                        Luria, A. R. – (M3354)

                        Machiavelli – (M3354)

                        Mandeville, de Bernard – (M3354)

                        Marx, Carl – (M3354)

                        Mason, Evelyn P. – (M3354)

                        McCosh, John – (M3354)

                        McDougall, William – (M3354)

Mettrie, Julien La – (M3354)

Meumann, Ernst – (M3354)

Miller, Neal E. – (M3354)

Montaigne, de Michel – (M3354)

* Murphy, G. – (M3354)

Murray, Henry A. – (M3355)

Newton – (M3355)

Pascal, Blaise – (M3355)

Patterson, Douglas G. – (M3355)

* Pavlov, Ivan – (M3355)

Povacelsus – (M3355)

* Popplestone, John A. – (M3355)

Ranschburg, P. – (M3355)

* Riegel, Klaus F. – (M3355)

Rogers, Carl – (M3355)

Rollo, May – (M3355)

Rush, Benjamin – (M3355)

Sahkow, David – (M3355)

Schiller Friedrich – (M3355)

Schopenhauer – (M3355)

Shaftesbury – (M3356)

Shakespeare, William – (M3356)

Simon, Theodore, L. – (M3356)

Skinner, B. F. – (M3356)

Spearman – (M3356)

Spencer, Herbert – (M3356)

Spinoza – (M3356)

Spranger, Edwards – (M3356)

Spurzheim, Johann Christoph – (M3356)

Stahl,G.E. – (M3356)

Steinthal – (M3356)

Stern, William – (M3356)

Strong, Edward K. – (M3357)

Sully, James – (M3357)

Terman, Lewis Madison – (M3357)

Thorndike – (M3357)

* Toleman, E. C. – (M3357)

Vesalius – (M3357)

Vico – (M3357)

Vives – (M3357)

Voltaire – (M3357)

Vygotsky, L. S. – (M3357)

* Watson, John Broadus – (M3357)

Weber, Max – (M3357)

Wells, F. L. – (M3357)

* Wertheimer, Max – (M3357)

Weschler – (M3357)

Witmer, Lightner – (M3358)

Woodworth, Robert S. – (M3358)

Wundt, Wilhelm – (M3358)

 

Series IV: Professional Affiliations

Boxes 49-54 (M3359-M3364)

            American Psychological Association

                        Division Information – (M3359)

                        Division 26 – (M3359)

                        Education/Training – (M3359)

                        Financial Information – (M3359)

                        General Correspondence – (M3359)

                        International Relations in Psychology – (M3360)

                        Legislative Issues – (M3360)

                        Obituaries – (M3360)

                        Presentations/Exhibits – (M3360)

                        Reference Resources – (M3360)

            Archives of the History of American Psychology

                        Historical Information – (M3360)

                        Meetings/General Correspondence – (M3360)

                        Obtaining Materials – (M3360)

                        Reports – (M3360)

            Authors Guild – (M3361)

            CHEIRON, [Society for the History of the Behavioral and Social Sciences] – (M3361)

            Clinical Psychology Publishing Company – (M3361)

            Consultant Services – (M3361)

            German Conference, 1960 – (M3361)

            East Coast Psychological Associations – (M3361)

            Hebrew University of Jerusalem – (M3361)

            History of Psychology Group – (M3361)

            History of Science Society – (M3361)

            Illinois Psychological Association – (M3361)

            International Congress of Applied Psychology, 1968 – (M3361)

            International Congress of Historical Science, 1968 and 1977 – (M3362)

            International Congress of Psychology, 1963 – (M3362)

            ISHOBSS – 1969 Annual Meeting – (M3362)

            Medical Education Conferences 1953-54, Undated – (M3362)

            Montreal Symposium – (M3362)

            Newsletters – (M3363)

            Northwestern University – (M3363)

            SIMROE Foundation – (M3363)

            University of New Hampshire – (M3363)

 

Series V: Classes and Lectures

 

Boxes 55-56 (M3364-M3365)

 

            History of Psychology – (M3364)

            History of Science and Philosophy – (M3364)

            Paradigms – (M3364)

            Ph.D Program in Psychology, University of New Hampshire – (M3365)

            Psychological Theories – (M3365)

            Scientific Discovery – (M3365)

            Scientific Method – (M3365)

            Student Information (restricted) – (M3365)

            Value of Study – (M3365)

 

Series VI. Graduate Study Information

 

Box 57 (M3366)

           

            National Science Foundation – (M3366)

            Fellowships – (M3366)

            Grant Sources and Information – (M3366)

            Program Information – (M3366)

            Dissertation titles and Abstracts – (M3366)

 

Series VII. Written Works

 

Boxes 58-63 (M3367-M3372)

 

            R. I. Watson: “A Prescriptive Analysis of Descartes’ Psychological Views” – (M3368)

R. I. Watson: “Basic writings in the history of psychology” – (M3368)

            R. I. Watson:   Book Reviews  – (M3368)

            R. I. Watson: “The Clinical Method” – (M3369)

            R. I. Watson: “Eminent Contributors to Psychology,” – (M3369)

            R. I. Watson: “The Great Psychologists from Aristotle to Freud.” – (M3369)

            R. I. Watson: “The History of Psychology in the Behavioral Sciences” – (M3370)

            R. I. Watson:  Reprints (1938-1970) – (M3370)

            R. I. Watson:  Scholarly Papers – (M3370)

            R. I. Watson: “The Search for the Person: A History of Psychology.” – (M3371, M3372)