Archives & Special Collections, Health Sciences Library

Marvin K. Opler Papers

OPLER, MARVIN K. (Marvin Kaufmann), 1914-1981. Marvin Kaufmann Opler papers, 1915-1979. 9 cubic feet (27 document boxes) #M-0143

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE: Marvin Kaufmann Opler was born in Buffalo, on June 13, 1914, the son of Arthur and Fanny Opler. He attended the University of Buffalo from 1931 to 1934, then transferred to the University of Michigan, graduating with an A.B. degree in social studies in 1935. He earned a Ph.D. in anthropology from Columbia University in 1938, studying under Ralph Linton. His dissertation concerned the acculturation of the Ute and Paiute Indians in Colorado and Utah. He also conducted anthropological fieldwork among Eastern Apache tribes such as the Mescalero Indians in New Mexico, as well as Eskimo and Northwest Coast Indians in Oregon. After earning his doctorate, Opler taught sociology and anthropology at Reed College from 1938 to 1943.

Between 1943 and 1946, Opler served as a Community Analyst at the Tule Lake Japanese internment camp in Newell, California. Tule Lake eventually became the camp for “disloyal” and otherwise difficult Japanese-Americans. Opler was sensitive to the complex issues related to the Japanese internment. He wrote reports analyzing the relocation and segregation programs, as well as the issue of renunciation of loyalty to Japan. In 1946, he co-authored Impounded People, an often-critical assessment of the internment program, published by the War Relocation Agency itself. The book was reprinted by the University of Arizona Press in 1969.

In the years following the closing of the internment camps, Opler taught anthropology and sociology at Occidental College, Stanford University, , and Tulane University. This period of short-term teaching assignments ended in 1952, when Opler joined the Cornell University Medical College as one of several principal investigators in the Midtown Manhattan Mental Health Study.

The Midtown Study had been founded by Dr. Thomas A. C. Rennie, who assembled an interdisciplinary research team of psychiatrists, social workers, sociologists, and anthropologists to conduct a study of the prevalence of treated and untreated mental illness in Manhattan’s Upper East Side. When the Midtown Study’s first volume was published in 1962, the statistic that nearly 80% of the sample population showed some degree of mental illness made front-page news. Within the Midtown Study, Opler directed the Ethnic Family Operation, which investigated sociocultural factors relating to mental health. Opler’s work was intended to be the third volume of results but was never published.

In 1958, Opler left the Cornell University Medical College to join the University of Buffalo (later known as the State University of New York at Buffalo), where he remained for the rest of his professional career. He held the posts of Professor of Anthropology, Professor of Sociology, and Professor of Social Psychiatry (in the department of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine). Opler served as Chairman of the Department of Anthropology from 1969 to 1972. Among other projects, he conducted studies in suicide research, and he maintained his longstanding interest in Native American studies.

Opler was a prolific writer. He authored, co-authored, and edited ten books, including Culture, Psychiatry and Human Values (1956), Culture and Mental Health (1959), Mental Health in the Metropolis: The Midtown Manhattan Study (1962), and Culture and Social Psychiatry (1967). He also wrote over 200 articles, many book chapters, and numerous book reviews.

Opler was active in several professional organizations, including the American Anthropological Association, the American Sociological Association, and the International Association of Social Psychiatry. He was co-organizer of the First International Congress on Social Psychiatry held in London in 1964. He was an editor of the International Journal of Social Psychiatry from 1957 until his death in 1981. He held several visiting professorships and delivered lectures to diverse audiences.

Opler married Charlotte Fox on December 30, 1935. Their children were Ruth Opler Perry and Lewis Alan Opler. Opler died on January 3, 1981.

ORGANIZATION: Organized in six series: I. Native Americans; II. Tule Lake Internment Camp; III. Midtown Manhattan Mental Health Study; IV. First International Congress of Social Psychiatry; V. Other Papers; VI. Oversize.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE: The Opler Papers document Marvin Opler's long career as an anthropologist, sociologist, and educator concerned with the relationship between societies, cultures, and mental health issues. He was also an important figure in the development of the discipline of social psychiatry, a synthesis of psychiatry, the social sciences, and epidemiology. This collection is arranged into six series, and materials related to cultural studies of mental health are found within most series.

The first series consists of materials related to Opler’s anthropological interest in Native Americans, including correspondence, research notes, and reprints and writings. His early work mainly concerned the Ute Indians of Colorado. There are also reprints and research materials related to Opler’s brother, Morris Edward Opler, who was also a noted anthropologist. Opler would return to Native American issues throughout his career, and the sixth series, Other Papers, contains materials related to a course on Native Americans taught by Opler in the 1970s.

The second series consists of materials related to the Tule Lake Internment Camp for Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast. The records begin with a month-by-month chronological set of administrative records mostly created by Opler. On the original folders containing these documents, Opler listed their contents. These lists have been photocopied from their original acidic folders and placed at the beginnings of each month. However, the actual contents of the folders did not always agree with these listings. Some items described might be present in the later subseries of subject files, where documents about similar subjects were grouped together by the archivist. Both the administrative files and subject files document the struggles of daily camp life (such as education, food, housing, and work), the cultural life of the camp’s residents (including religion and theater), and the key issues of the entire internment program (such as segregation and renunciation of loyalty to Japan). These records also document “the November Incident,” a protest by Tule Lake residents that led to the camp’s takeover by the United States Army in November 1943.

The third series contains diverse materials related to the Midtown Manhattan Mental Health Study, including administrative materials, correspondence, maps, questionnaires, research materials, and writings. Of particular interest in the writings is the most complete draft of Opler’s unpublished work on the ethnic dynamics of the Upper East Side, which was intended to be the third volume of the Midtown Study. The research materials he gathered also document the local history of Yorkville during the early 1950s.

The fourth series consists of documents related to the First International Congress of Social Psychiatry, which was held in London in August 1964. This series reflects Opler’s devotion to social psychiatry as a discipline, and include records documenting the conference’s financing and panel assembly. Opler also carried on a spirited correspondence with conference co-organizer Joshua Bierer, an important figure in British psychiatry.

The fifth series, Other Papers, consists of various materials mostly dating from Opler’s later career as a Professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, and includes administrative records, as well as his research on suicide. A particularly useful document in this series is Opler’s curriculum vitae from 1979, which provides the fullest available bibliography of his writings. Many of his articles and book reviews are also present in this series, although their contents are not comprehensive.

The sixth and final series, Oversize, consists of items from other series too large to be stored within document boxes. These items include newspaper reports about the Midtown Study, as well as charts of some of Opler’s Midtown Study data.

ACCESS: Because the folders designated "restricted" include Confidential Health Information (CHI) as defined by Columbia University policies governing data security and privacy, access is allowed only under the terms of Archives and Special Collections’ Access Policy to Records Containing Confidential Health Information.

PRESERVATION: Clippings and fragile materials will be photocopied onto acid-free paper.

PROVENANCE: The Opler Papers were donated to Archives and Special Collections by Dr. Lewis Opler, Marvin Opler’s son, in 2001. (Accession #2001.11.27)

RELATED COLLECTIONS: Numerous archival collections document the Japanese internment camps, including major holdings at the National Archives and at Stanford University. The Leo Srole Papers contain significant holdings related to the Midtown Manhattan Mental Health Study and are located at the Archives of Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York.

SUBJECTS:

Opler, Marvin K. (Marvin Kaufmann) 1914-1981. Acculturation. Community Psychiatry. Indians of North America – Colorado. International Congress of Social Psychiatry. (1st: 1964: London, England) Japanese Americans – Evacuation and Relocation 1942-1945. Manhattan (New York, N.Y.) Mental health – New York (State) – Manhattan (New York) Midtown Manhattan Study. Psychiatric epidemiology. Psychiatry, transcultural. Psychology, social. Social psychiatry. Social psychiatry – Congresses. Social psychiatry – New York (State) – Manhattan (New York) Ute Indians. Yorkville (New York, N.Y.)

Papers processed and finding aid written by Bob Vietrogoski, June 2003.

MARVIN KAUFMANN OPLER, 1914-1981 Papers, 1915-1979

BOX AND FOLDER LISTING

Box Folder Contents

SERIES I: NATIVE AMERICANS

Consolidated Utes 1 1 Printed matter, 1935-37 2 Reports by Opler, n.d. Correspondence 3 Buck, Antonio and Frances, 1936-38 4 Huscher, Harold, 1938-40 5 Parsons, Elsie Clews, 1938, 1940 6 General, A-Z, unidentified, 1937-41, 1967, n.d. 7 Courses re: Native Americans, 1937, 1948, 1959, n.d. OV Maps, n.d. (Oversize) 8 Miscellaneous, 1934-37, n.d. Opler, Morris Edward 9 Correspondence, 1937 10 Notes re: Jicarilla, n.d. 11-12 Reprints, 1935-47, 1960 13-15 Printed matter, 1915-24, 1931, 1938-40

2 1-2 Printed matter, 1941-74, n.d. Research materials 3-10 Myths and stories, n.d. 11-14 Notes on literature, n.d. (1-4 of 6 folders)

3 1-2 Notes on literature, n.d. (5-6 of 6 folders) 3 Peyote, 1923-48, n.d. 4 Sociology of Native Nutrition, 1938 Writings 5 Book reviews, 1940-41, 1949, 1951 6 Children’s story: “With Bow and Arrow,” ca. 1951 7 Dissertation: “Southern Ute of Colorado,” 1940 8 “The Influence of Plains Culture in Southern Ute Society,” n.d. “Plains and Pueblo Influences in Mescalero Culture” 9 Correspondence, 1966-68, n.d. 10-12 Drafts, 1932, ca. 1967

4 1 Reprints, 1938-43 “Ute and Paiute Indians on the Great Basin Southern Rim” 2 Correspondence, 1967-69, n.d. 3 Drafts, ca. 1967-69

SERIES II: TULE LAKE INTERNMENT CAMP

Administrative records 4 4-13 January 1944 – June 1944

5 1-13 July 1944 – February 1945

6 1-12 March 1945 – August 1945

7 1-10 September 1945 – March 1946 Postwar records 11 Correspondence, 1946-47, 1958, n.d. 12 Japanese psychiatry and psychotherapy, ca. 1949-1960 13-14 Printed matter, 1947-52, 1966, 1976, n.d.

Writings 8 1 “Americans of Japanese Ancestry: Relocation and Acculturation,” n.d. 2 Articles, 1950 3 Book review, 1947 Impounded People (Opler, et. al.) 4 Correspondence, 1966-69 5 Introduction, n.d. 6 Lectures and lecture notes, 1946, n.d. Records re: individuals 7 Case summaries, n.d. 8 Correspondence, 1943-44 Diaries and personal accounts 9 “Average Nisei girl,” 1944-46 10 Kurihara, Joe, 1945 11 Obayashi, Fukuzo, 1943-44, n.d. 12 General, 1943-44, n.d. 13 Lists, n.d. 14 Legal cases, 1949, n.d. 15 Psychiatric records, 1943-44, n.d. [Restricted] Reports and publications, War Relocation Agency 16 Community Analysis Notes, 1944-45 17-18 Community Analysis Reports, 1942-46

9 1-3 Field Reports, 1943 4 Project Analysis Reports, 1943 5 Project Analysis Series, 1943-45 6-10 Publications, general, 1942-45, n.d. 11 Summary of the History of Tule Lake, 1945 Subject files 12 Community Analysis conference, 1944 13 Community Analysis Office, 1943-44, n.d. Correspondence 14 Coverly, Harvey, 1943 15 General, 1943-44, n.d. 16 Demographics, 1943-45, n.d. 17 Education, 1943-44, n.d. 18 Financial records, 1944

10 1 Housing, 1943-44 2 Kibei, 1943-44, n.d. 3 Labor relations, 1942-44, n.d. 4 Language, 1943, n.d. 5, OV Maps, ca. 1942-45 (See also Oversize) 6 Medical care and therapeutics, 1943-44, n.d. 7 Mess halls and food, 1942-44, n.d. Minutes 8-11 Community Council, 1942-43, n.d. 12 Cooperative, Board of Directors, 1942-44 13-14 Coordinating Committee, 1944 15 Dai-Hyo Sha Kai, 1943 16-17 Divisional Heads, 1944 18-19 Planning Board November 1942 – January 1943

11 1-2 February 1943 – August 1943 3 Miscellaneous memoranda and notes, 1942-45, n.d. 4 Morale, 1943, n.d. November Incident 5 Correspondence and miscellaneous, 1943 6-7 Reports, 1943 8-9 Testimony, 1943 10 Testimony refutations, 1943 11 Poetry, 1944-45, n.d. 12 Police and stockade, 1944, n.d. Printed matter 13-15, OV Articles and clippings, 1942-46, n.d (See also Oversize) 16 Index of Japanese Organizations, 1944 17 Tulean Dispatch, 1943 Recreation 18 Engeikai, 1945 19 Judo and Kendo, 1944-45

12 1 Utai-Kai, 1944 2 General, 1943-45, n.d. Religion 3 Seicho-no-iye, 1943-45, n.d. 4 Tule Lake Union Church history, n.d. 5 General, 1943-44, n.d. 6-7 Renunciation, 1944-46, n.d. 8-14 Segregation, 1943-1944, n.d. 15 Spanish Consul visits, 1943-44

SERIES III: MIDTOWN MANHATTAN MENTAL HEALTH STUDY

Bibliographies and notes 13 1 Cornell Program in Social Psychiatry, 1960 2 General, ca. 1951-60 3 Correspondence, general, 1956-62, n.d. 4-6 Correspondence re: reprints, 1955-57 7 Correspondence with publishers, 1955 Individuals 8 Diethelm, Oskar, 1956-59, n.d. 9 Kirkpatrick, Price, report re: mental health ratings, n.d. 10 Langner, Thomas, 1957-59 11 Leacock, Eleanor, “Outline-Summary of Epidemiological Data on Mental Illness relating to ‘Urbanism’”, ca. 1954 Leighton, Alexander H. 12 Correspondence, 1956-62 13 Stirling County Project conference, 1954 14-15 McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1959-62, 1969 16 Michael, Stanley, report re: mental health ratings, 1957 Rennie, Thomas A.C. 17-19 General correspondence and memoranda, 1953-56, n.d.

14 1 Paper: “The Psychosocial Position,” 1957 2 Photograph by Dr. Peter Ostwald, ca. 1950-56 3 Sanua, Victor, 1958, 1963, n.d. 4 Seda Bonilla, Eduardo (Edwin), 1953-56, n.d. 5 Srole, Leo, 1962, 1970-71, n.d. 6 Lectures for Cornell staff, 1952-58 7 Milbank Memorial Fund conference, 1952 8-9 Minutes and memoranda, 1952-58 10 Miscellaneous, ca. 1952-58, 1971 11 Monthly reports, 1952-56 12-13 Personnel records, 1952-58 14 Presentation re: Epidemiological studies of mental illness, 1957 15 Presentation re: group psychotherapy, 1957 16 Press releases, 1962 Press reports and reviews 17, OV General, 1962 (See also Oversize) 18 Hollinshead, August, 1961, 1963 19 Progress reports, 1952-57 20 Project letters, ca. 1952-56 21 Project statements and proposals, 1951-57, n.d.

Questionnaires 15 1 Anthropological Summary Form, 1955 2 Anthropological Summary Form Field Manual, 1955 3 Community Health Survey questionnaires, ca. 1955-56 4 Drafts of ethnic questionnaires, ca. 1953-55 5 Memoranda re: questionnaires, 1953-55 6 Miscellaneous, ca. 1952-56 7 Other Cornell questionnaires, n.d. 8 Other Midtown Study questionnaires, ca. 1953-56 9 Report re: intensive individual and family studies, 1957 Research materials Ethnic Groups Czechs and Slovaks 10 Clippings, 1952-55, n.d. 11 Field reports, 1952, 1954 12 Interviews, 1948, 1952 13-15 Library materials, ca. 1950-54, n.d. 16 Report by Opler, 1952, n.d.

16 1 Report re: Czech-Slovak organizations (Gordon), 1954 Sample data 2 Correspondence with Louis Faron, 1955-56 [Restricted] 3 Individual cases, 1955-56 Germans 4 Clippings, 1953 5 Field reports, 1952-53 6 Library materials, 1944-54, n.d. 7 Report by Opler, n.d. 8 Report re: German national character, 1953 9, OV Sample data, 1957, n.d. (See also Oversize) Hungarians 10 Clippings, 1953-54 11 Interviews and field reports, 1953 12 Library materials, ca. 1950-54 13 Report by Opler, 1953 14 Report re: Yorkville Hungarian community (Blumstock), n.d. OV Sample data, n.d. (Oversize)

Irish 15 Clippings, 1952-54 16 Field reports, 1953-54 17-18 Interviews, 1955 [Restricted] 19 Library materials, 1951-54, n.d.

17 1 Media, 1953, n.d. 2 Report by Opler, 1952, n.d. 3, OV Sample data, 1957, n.d. (See also Oversize) Italians 4 Clippings, 1954, n.d. 5, OV Library materials, 1950-54, n.d. (See also Oversize) 6 Report by Opler, 1952, n.d. 7 Report re: nursing study, n.d. OV Sample data, n.d. (Oversize) 8 Negroes, library materials, n.d. Puerto Ricans 9 Correspondence, 1952-57 10 Library materials, 1952-56, n.d. 11 Media, n.d. 12-13 Report by Opler, 1953 14 Report re: acculturation of Puerto Rican migrants (Seda), n.d. 15 Report re: cultural changes of the Puerto Rican (Rubel), 1952 16 Report re: Puerto Rican family (Seda), n.d. Sample data 17, OV General, 1952-56, n.d. (See also Oversize) [Restricted] 18 Interviews, n.d. [Restricted]

Ethnic Groups in general 18 1 Aging, notes by Opler, n.d. 2 Immigration, 1951, n.d. Mental health and epidemiology 3 Hyde, Robert, 1943-52 4 Malzberg, Benjamin, 1940, n.d. 5 General, 1948-50, n.d. 6-7, OV Maps, ca. 1952-58 (See also Oversize) 8-14 Patient records, 1951-54, n.d. [Restricted] Yorkville 15 Bibliography of source materials, n.d. 16 Census data, 1942, 1950, n.d. 17 Clippings, 1953-54 18 Demographics, n.d. 19 Ethnic leaders, n.d. 20 Organizations and institutions, 1953, n.d.

Reports 19 1 Families of three ethnic groups (Loustalot), 1953 2 History of Yorkville (Reber), ca. 1953 3 Kips Bay and Yorkville (Loos), 1942 4 Private housing construction (Elliott), 1957 5 Schedules and outlines, 1955-57 Schizophrenia Study Correspondence 6 Singer, Jerome L., 1955 7 General, 1955, 1957 8, OV Data, ca. 1955-56 (See also Oversize) [Restricted] 9 Notes, ca. 1955-56 10 Patient records, ca. 1954-55 [Restricted] 11 Proposal, 1954 Writings 12 “Consistent Variations in Schizophrenias of Irish and Italian Patients,” ca. 1956 13 “Contrasting Patterns of Fantasy and Motility in Irish and Italian Schizophrenics,” 1956 “Cultural Differences in Mental Disorders” 14 Correspondence with Scientific American, 1956 15 Drafts, ca. 1956 16 “Ethnic Differences in Behavior and Psychopathology,” 1956 17 Fragments and drafts, ca. 1955-56 18-19 Staff meetings, 1952-56, n.d.

Writings 20 1 Articles re: Midtown Study, 1955-58 Mental Health in the Metropolis, Volume I 2 “Chapter V,” n.d. 3 “Chapter XI,” 1956 4 “Chapter XVI,” 1957 5 Chapter re: socioeconomic status, n.d. Mental Health in the Metropolis, Volume III 6 Outlines, n.d. 7 Introduction, ca. 1952-58 8-17 Chapters I – X, ca. 1952-58

21 1-5 Chapters XI – XV, ca. 1952-58 6 Appendices, ca. 1952-58 Other drafts 7 Introduction, n.d. 8 Chapter I, 1956, n.d. 9 Chapter II, n.d. 10 Chapter VI?, n.d. 11 Chapter X, n.d.

SERIES IV: FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF SOCIAL PSYCHIATRY

22 1-2 Abstracts and papers, 1963-64, n.d. Correspondence 3-4 Bierer, Joshua, 1960-64, n.d. 5 Wright, H.B., 1964-65 6-9 General, 1963-65 Financial records 10 Human Ecology Fund, 1961-64 11 General, 1963-64 12 Memoranda, 1963-65 13 Miscellaneous, 1963-64, n.d. 14 Printed Matter, 1963-64, 1969

SERIES V: OTHER PAPERS

23 1 Anthropology, miscellaneous materials, ca. 1933-52 2-4 Correspondence, general, 1958-71, 1979, n.d. 5 Curriculum vitae, 1979 6 Institute of Defense Analyses, 1966-67 7 Miscellaneous papers, ca. 1958-70 Printed matter 8 Clippings, ca. 1958-70 9 General, ca. 1958-70 Social Psychiatry Subject Files 10 Africa, n.d. 11 Alcoholism, ca. 1950s 12 Brazilian schizophrenia, 1952 13 China, ca. 1950s Ghana 14 Correspondence and reports, 1961-62, 1967 15 Printed matter, 1950-62 16 Writings, ca. 1961-62

24 1 Polish-American mental health interviews, n.d. State University of New York at Buffalo 2-3 Correspondence, administrative materials, 1957-58, 1968-72, n.d. Course re: North American Indian 4 General, ca. 1970s 5 Printed matter, ca. 1970s 6 Summaries of texts, ca. 1970s 7 Financial records, 1966-71 8 Printed matter, ca. 1969 9 Tests and syllabi, 1959-67, n.d. 10 Training grant in human behavior, 1963-65 Suicide research 11 Bibliographies and notes on literature, ca. 1963-66 12 Correspondence, 1964 13 Notes, ca. 1963-66

25 1-15 Patient records, 1965 [Restricted] 16-17 Printed matter, ca. 1963-68 18 Proposals, ca. 1963-66 19 Reports, 1965 20-23 Study data, ca. 1964-65 [Restricted]

26 1-2 Tests, ca. 1963-66 3 Teaching materials and notes, miscellaneous, ca. 1939-70, n.d. 4 University of Utah, correspondence, 1957-58 Writings and Presentations 5-8 Articles, 1943, 1956-79 9 Book reviews, 1949-71, n.d. Books 10 Culture and Mental Health, miscellaneous, 1958-60, 1971 11 Culture and Social Psychiatry, miscellaneous, 1967, 1969 12 Culture, Psychiatry, and Human Values, book reviews of, 1956-58

27 1-8 Presentations, 1953-1971, n.d. (8 folders) 9 Undated writings, n.d. 10 Unidentified writings and fragments, n.d.

SERIES VI: OVERSIZE [Location MC 2-15]

Native Americans, maps, n.d. Tule Lake Internment Camp, Subject files Maps, ca. 1942-45 Printed matter, articles and clippings, 1942-46, n.d Midtown Manhattan Mental Health Study Press reports and reviews, general, 1962 Research materials Ethnic Groups Germans, sample data, 1957, n.d. Hungarians, sample data, n.d. Irish, sample data, 1957, n.d. Italians Library materials, 1950-54, n.d. Sample data, n.d. Puerto Ricans, sample data, general, 1952-56, n.d. [Restricted] Maps, ca. 1952-58 Schizophrenia Study, data, ca. 1955-56 [Restricted]