Ernst Kris Papers A Finding Aid to the Collection in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division, Library of Congress Washington, D.C. 2003 Revised 2010 April Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact Additional search options available at: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms006003 LC Online Catalog record: http://lccn.loc.gov/mm2001084824 Prepared by Michael Spangler Collection Summary Title: Ernst Kris Papers Span Dates: 1893-1999 Bulk Dates: (bulk 1940-1956) ID No.: MSS84824 Creator: Kris, Ernst, 1900-1957 Extent: 7,000 items ; 23 containers plus 1 oversize ; 9.2 linear feet Language: Collection material in English and German Location: Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Summary: Psychoanalyst, educator, and art historian. Correspondence, writings, lecture notes, newspaper clippings, biographical material, and printed matter chiefly documenting Kris's academic career in psychoanalysis after his immigration to the United States in 1940. Selected Search Terms The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein. People Abrams, Mark, 1906- --Correspondence. Bernfeld, Siegfried, 1892-1953--Correspondence. Bing, Gertrud--Correspondence. Bonaparte, Marie, Princess, 1882-1962--Correspondence. Cassirer Bernfeld, Suzanne--Correspondence. Deutsch, Felix, 1884-1964--Correspondence. Deutsch, Helene, 1884- --Correspondence. Eissler, K. R. (Kurt Robert), 1908-1999--Correspondence. Eissler, Ruth Selke, 1906- --Correspondence. Fenichel, Otto--Correspondence. Ficke, Gladys--Correspondence. Fliess, Wilhelm, 1858-1928. Freud, Anna, 1895-1982--Correspondence. Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939. Glover, Edward, 1888-1972--Correspondence. Gombrich, E. H. (Ernst Hans), 1909-2001--Correspondence. Greenacre, Phyllis--Correspondence. Hartmann, Heinz, 1894-1970--Correspondence. Hoffer, Willi--Correspondence. Jones, Ernest, 1879-1958--Correspondence. Kris, Ernst, 1900-1957. Kubie, Lawrence S. (Lawrence Schlesinger), 1896-1973--Correspondence. Leites, Nathan, 1912-1987--Correspondence. Lorand, Sándor, 1892-1987--Correspondence. Mann, Thomas, 1875-1955--Correspondence. McLeod, Enid--Correspondence. Mead, Margaret, 1901-1978--Correspondence. Rapaport, David--Correspondence. Sachs, Hanns, 1881-1947--Correspondence. Salt, John Scarlett Alexander, 1905- --Correspondence. Saussure, Raymond de, 1894-1971--Correspondence. Senns, Milton J. E.--Correspondence. Speier, Hans--Correspondence. Spitz, René A. (René Arpad), 1887-1974--Correspondence. Ernst Kris Papers 2 Trilling, Lionel, 1905-1975--Correspondence. Wheeler-Bennett, John Wheeler, Sir, 1902-1975--Correspondence. Organizations Research Project on Totalitarian Communication. Subjects Adolescent psychology. Infant psychology. Propaganda, German. Psychoanalysis and the arts. Psychoanalysis. Radio in propaganda. World War, 1939-1945--Propaganda. Occupations Art historians. Educators. Psychoanalysts. Administrative Information Provenance The papers of Ernst Kris, psychoanalyst, educator, and art historian, were given to the Library of Congress by his children Anton O. Kris and Anna Kris Wolff in 2001. Processing History The papers of Ernst Kris were arranged and described in 2003. Transfers Two books have been transferred to the Library's Rare Book and Special Collections Division where they are identified as part of these papers. Copyright Status Copyright in the unpublished writings of Ernst Kris in these papers and in other collections in the custody of the Library of Congress is reserved. Consult a reference librarian in the Manuscript Division for further information. Access and Restrictions Restrictions apply governing the use, photoduplication, or publication of items in this collection. Consult a reference librarian in the Manuscript Division for information concerning these restrictions. Preferred Citation Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, Ernst Kris Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Biographical Note Date Event 1900, Apr. 26 Born, Vienna, Austria 1922 Ph.D., art history, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria Ernst Kris Papers 3 1922-1938 Associate curator, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria 1924 Entered analysis with Helene Deutsch 1927 Married Marianne Rie (died 1980) 1927-1938 Member, Institute of Psychoanalysis, Vienna, Austria 1929 Published Meister und Meisterwerke der Steinscheidekunst in der Italienischen Renaissance. Vienna: Anton Schroll & Co. 1930-1938 Member of faculty and training analyst, Institute of Psychoanalysis, Vienna, Austria 1932-1938 Joint editor, Imago, Zeitschrift für psychoanalytische Psychologie 1933 Published article on Austrian sculptor, Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, “Ein geisteskranker Bildhauer” (“A Psychotic Sculptor of the Eighteenth Century”) 1937 Awarded Croix de Chevalier, Légion d'honneur (France) 1938 Emigrated from Austria to London, England 1938-1940 Lecturer and psychologist, Institute of Psycho-analysis, London, England 1939-1940 Senior research officer conducting analysis of German radio propaganda, British Broadcasting Corp. Monitoring Service 1940 Immigrated to the United States and settled in New York, N.Y. Visiting professor, New School for Social Research, New York, N.Y. 1941 Visiting professor, College of the City of New York, New York, N.Y. 1941-1944 Codirector, Research Project on Totalitarian Communication, New York, N.Y. 1943 Lecturer, New York Psychoanalytic Institute, New York, N.Y. 1944 Appointed managing editor, Psychoanalytic Study of the Child Published with Hans Speier, et al., German Radio Propaganda. London: Oxford University Press 1946 Became a naturalized citizen of the United States 1950 Organized longitudinal study of child development with Milton J. E. Senn, Child Study Center, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. 1952 Published Psychoanalytic Explorations in Art. New York: International Universities Press 1954 Edited with Princess Marie Bonaparte and Anna Freud Origins of Psychoanalysis: Letters to Wilhelm Fliess, Drafts and Notes, 1887-1902, introduction by Kris. New York: Basic Books, Inc. 1957, Feb. 27 Died, New York, N.Y. Ernst Kris Papers 4 1975 Posthumous publication of Selected Papers of Ernst Kris. New Haven: Yale University Press Scope and Content Note The papers of Walther Ernst Kris (1900-1957) span the years 1893-1999 with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1940-1956. The collection reflects Kris's activities as educator, psychoanalyst, and author of psychoanalytic theory and focuses primarily on the years following his move to New York in 1940 after emigrating from Austria. The papers include no patient case files except for one case history that is closed, and very little relates to his early career in art history in Vienna. The material is in English and German and is organized in the following series: Family Correspondence, General Correspondence, Speeches and Writings File, and Miscellany. The General Correspondence includes letters exchanged with professional colleagues, students, institutional organizations, and friends that document Kris's role in the organization of group research projects, academic work, research, and publications. Originally trained in art history, Kris developed an interest in psychoanalysis through his wife, Marianne Kris, a psychoanalyst and friend of Sigmund Freud. He served as a training analyst at the Institute of Psychoanalysis in Vienna and published works on psychoanalytic theory, the creative mind, and art by the insane. In 1938, Kris left Austria with Freud and other associates for London where he organized a program for the British Broadcasting Corporation to monitor and analyze Nazi propaganda broadcasts. After briefly working on a similar task at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Montreal, he settled permanently in New York City, where he served as codirector of the analogous Research Project on Totalitarian Communication. Correspondence with Mark A. Abrams, John Scarlett Alexander Salt, and others in the British Broadcasting files pertains to events in England and Kris's work in Montreal and New York during World War II and includes many personal war stories. Letters exchanged with Anna Freud and Princess Marie Bonaparte relate mostly to the publication of Sigmund Freud's letters to Wilhelm Fliess in The Origins of Psychoanalysis in 1954. Other widely dispersed members of the Viennese psychoanalytic community are also represented in the correspondence. Letters exchanged with art historian Ernst H. Gombrich, with whom Kris worked on several occasions, reflect his continuing interest in art and the creative process. Organization and planning of projects for the study of infant development and gifted adolescents are documented in the Arthur Davison Ficke Foundation file, and Kris's teaching career is related in files for the College of the City of New York and the New School for Social Research. Correspondents include Siegfried Bernfeld and Suzanne Cassirer Bernfeld, Gertrud Bing, Felix Deutsch and Helene Deutsch, K. R. Eissler and Ruth Selke Eissler, Otto Fenichel, Gladys Ficke, Edward Glover, Phyllis Greenacre, Heinz Hartmann, Willi Hoffer, Ernest Jones, Lawrence S. Kubie, Nathan Constantin Leites, Sándor Lorand, Thomas Mann (1875-1955), Enid McLeod, Margaret Mead (1901-1978), David Rapaport, Hanns Sachs, Raymond de Saussure, Milton