Finding aid for the Saul Rosenzweig papers

Biography of Saul Rosenzweig

Saul Rosenzweig was born February 7, 1907 in Boston, Massachusetts. Rosenzweig received his Artium Baccalauretus degree in Philosophy Summa Cum Laude in 1929. From 1932 until 1934 Rosenzweig was associated with the Harvard Psychological Clinic. He earned his PhD in Clinical Psychology in 1932 from Harvard University. From 1934 to 1943 Rosenzweig was a member of the staff of the Worcester State Hospital. In addition to his work at the hospital he lectured at Clark University from 1938 until 1943. In 1943 Rosenzweig joined the staff of the Western State Psychiatric Institute in Pittsburgh as Chief Psychologist and a lecturer in psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. In 1949 Rosenzweig left Pittsburgh for Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri to become chief psychologist at the Child Guidance Clinic, and associate professor of psychology in the graduate school, as well as medical psychology at the psychiatry department of the Washington University Medical School. He was an advisory editor for the Journal of Consulting Psychology from 1959-1964 as well as for the Journal of Abnormal Psychology. Rosenzweig founded and was the first president of the International Society for Research on Aggression and was also on the editorial board of that organization's journal, Aggressive Behavior. He remained at Washington University, becoming Professor Emeritus in 1975. In 1972 Rosenzweig founded and became the managing director of the Foundation for Idiodynamics and the Creative Process. He retired in 1975, and died in 2004 at the age of 97.

Scope and Content

The Saul Rosenzweig papers document Rosenzweig's career through correspondence, research notes, reprints, memoranda, and manuscript drafts. A large portion of the collection contains correspondence dating from 1929 to 2002. The collection also includes many materials relating to Rosenzweig's Idiodynamic approach to the study of the lives of creative individuals such as Sigmund Freud, Herman Mellville, William and Henry James, and Nathanial Hawthorne. A significant portion of the material relates to Rosenzweig's research on the life and work of Sigmund Freud. The collection also contains materials relating to the Foundation for Idiodynamics and the Creative Process, including documents relating to its establishment as well as correspondence regarding the Foundation's awards, grants, and fellowships. Drafts of Rosenzweig's writings on idiodynamics, psychoanalysis, and psychoarchaeology are also included. Other materials represented in the collection include autobiographical materials and some collected correspondence with notable figures in the history of psychology purchased by Rosenzweig.

Statement of Arrangement

Restrictions on Use

The researcher assumes full responsibility for observing all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply.

Restrictions on Access

Series 2 includes materials related to fellowship applications and awards. These materials are restricted.

Several microfilms of documents from Austria have been restricted.

A small number of photographs have been placed in the Center for the History of Psychology's Still Images collection.

A storyboard layout design by Rosenzweig titled "Interpretation of symbols cf. Inman's 'Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism'" and a "Guide to Panorama of Psychopathology" have been relocated to the Center for the History of Psychology's collection of oversized materials, Map Case 1, Drawer 3A.

One VHS videotape on vasectomy has been relocated to the Center's Moving Image collection.

Subject Headings

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects:

Persons:

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Preferred Citation

Cite as: [identification of item], [folder number, box number], Archives of the History of American Psychology, The Drs. Nicholas and Dorothy Cummings Center for the History of Psychology - The University of Akron

Acquisition Information

The Saul Rosenzweig papers were donated to the Archives of the History of American Psychology in 2007 by Jim Clancy and Randy Larsen of Washington University in St. Louis. A second accession, which makes up the sixth series in the collection, was donated by the Foundation for Idiodynamics in 2010.

Processing Information

The first five series of the papers were processed by Mark Bloom in November 2007. The sixth series was processed by Cathy Faye in September 2010.