Arnold Gesell Papers A Finding Aid to the Collection in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division, Library of Congress Washington, D.C. 2014 Revised 2014 June Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact Additional search options available at: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms010296 LC Online Catalog record: http://lccn.loc.gov/mm79022673 Prepared by David Gilham, William Gralka, Joseph Sullivan, and David Mathisen Revised and expanded by Lia Apodaca, Patrick Kerwin, and Kimberly Owens Collection Summary Title: Arnold Gesell Papers Span Dates: 1870-1971 Bulk Dates: (bulk 1910-1950) ID No.: MSS22673 Creator: Gesell, Arnold, 1880-1961 Extent: 90,000 items ; 259 containers plus 8 oversize ; 114 linear feet Language: Collection material in English, with some German Location: Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Summary: Psychologist and educator. Correspondence, memoranda, reports, published and unpublished writings, addresses, lectures, and film scripts, clinical and medical books, personnel records, contracts, biographical and genealogical material, abstracts, photographs, research data, and other papers pertaining chiefly to Gesell's work as director of the Yale Clinic of Child Development, his studies of the mental and physical development of infants and children, and his role in the debate on the developmental influences of environment and heredity. 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 Amatruda, Catherine Strunk, 1903- Ames, Louise Bates. Angell, James Rowland, 1869-1949--Correspondence. Angier, Roswell Parker, 1874-1946--Correspondence. Buhler, Charlotte Malachowski, 1893-1974--Correspondence. Bullis, Glenna E.--Correspondence. Carmichael, Leonard, 1898-1973--Correspondence. Castner, Burton Menaugh, 1898- Gesell, Arnold, 1880-1961. Gesell, Beatrice Chandler, 1878-1965--Correspondence. Gibbs, J. Willard (Josiah Willard), 1839-1903. Goddard, Henry Herbert, 1866-1957--Correspondence. Hall, G. Stanley (Granville Stanley), 1844-1924--Correspondence. Ilg, Frances L. (Frances Lillian), 1902-1981. Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865--Childhood and youth. Miles, Walter R. (Walter Richard), 1885-1978--Correspondence. Powers, Grover Francis, 1887-1968--Correspondence. Swift, Edgar James, 1860-1932--Correspondence. Terman, Lewis M. (Lewis Madison), 1877-1956--Correspondence. Thompson, Helen, 1897- Todd, T. Wingate (Thomas Wingate), 1885-1938--Correspondence. Turner, Frederick Jackson, 1861-1932--Correspondence. Yerkes, Robert Mearns, 1876-1956--Correspondence. Organizations Connecticut. Commission on Child Welfare. Gesell Institute of Child Development. Yale University. Clinic of Child Development. Subjects Child development. Clinical child psychology. German Americans--Cultural assimilation. Arnold Gesell Papers 2 Mental health facilities--Connecticut--New Haven. Motion pictures in education. Nature and nurture. Scientific apparatus and instruments. Places Germany--Emigration and immigration. United States--Emigration and immigration. Occupations Educators. Psychologists. Administrative Information Provenance The papers of Arnold Gesell, psychologist and educator, were given to the Library of Congress in 1964 by his son and daughter, Gerhard A. Gesell and Katherine Gesell Walden. Material received in 1964 was given by Theodore Beuhler. Additional gifts from Gerhard A. Gesell were received in 1975, 1978, 1983, 1984, and 1986. Processing History The papers of Arnold Gesell were arranged and described in 1965. Additions were made in 1968 and 1986. The finding aid was revised in 2008 and again in 2014. Additional Guides A brief note on the Gesell Papers appeared in the Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress, vol. 22, No. 4 (Oct. 1965), p. 329. Copyright Status Copyright in the unpublished writings of Arnold Gesell in these papers and in other collections of papers in the custody of the Library of Congress has been dedicated to the public, except that during her lifetime these rights are reserved to Katherine Gesell Walden. 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, Arnold Gesell Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Biographical Note Date Event 1880, June 21 Born Alma, Wisc. 1893-1896 Attended Alma High School, Alma, Wisc. 1896-1899 Attended Stevens Point Normal School, Stevens Point, Wisc. 1899-1901 Taught at Stevens Point High School, Stevens Point, Wisc. Arnold Gesell Papers 3 1901-1903 Attended University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisc.; B.Ph. degree 1903-1904 Principal, Chippewa Falls High School, Chippewa Falls, Wisc. 1904-1906 Attended Clark University, Worcester, Mass. 1908-1910 Professor of psychology, Los Angeles State Normal School, Los Angeles, Calif. 1909 Married Beatrice Chandler 1915 M.D., Yale University, New Haven, Conn. Appointed Professor of Child Hygiene, Yale Medical School, New Haven, Conn. 1911-1948 Founder and director of Yale Juvenile-Psycho Clinic, later the Yale Clinic of Child Development, New Haven, Conn. 1915-1919 School psychologist, Connecticut State Board of Education 1919-1921 Member, Connecticut Commission on Child Welfare 1922-1936 Director, American Psychological Association 1924 Gesell's first film, The Mental Growth of the Pre-School Child, made by Pathé 1925 Published Mental Growth of the Pre-School Child. New York: Macmillan 1928-1930 Established Photographic Research and Film Library, Yale Clinic of Child Development, New Haven, Conn. 1928-1940 Director, American Child Health Association 1928-1948 Attending pediatrician, New Haven Hospital, New Haven, Conn. 1930 Became a member of Board of Permanent Officers, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn. Initiated program to produce Yale Films of Child Development 1932-1948 Chairman, Department of Child Development, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. 1943 Published Infant and Child in the Culture of Today. New York, London: Harper and Bros. 1946 Published The Child from Five to Ten. New York, London: Harper and Bros. 1948 Retired as professor of child hygiene and director, Yale Clinic of Child Development, New Haven, Conn. 1948-1950 Research associate, Child Vision Research, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn. 1948-1952 Research associate, Harvard Pediatric Study 1950-1958 Research consultant, Gesell Institute of Child Development, New Haven, Conn. Arnold Gesell Papers 4 1952 President, American Academy of Cerebral Palsy 1956 Published Youth: The Years from Ten to Sixteen. New York: Harper 1961, May 29 Died, New Haven, Conn. Scope and Content Note The papers of Arnold Lucius Gesell (1880-1961) span the years 1870-1971, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1910-1950. The collection consists of correspondence, memoranda, reports, published and unpublished writings, addresses, lectures, and film scripts, clinical and medical books, personnel records, contracts, biographical and genealogical material, abstracts, photographs, research data, and other papers pertaining chiefly to Gesell's work as director of the Yale Clinic of Child Development, his studies of the mental and physical development of infants and children, and his role in the debate on the developmental influences of environment and heredity. The Gesell Papers are organized in fifteen series: Family Correspondence, General Correspondence, Subject File, Collected Papers File, Speech and Article File, Book File, Book Contribution File, Book Review File, Monograph File, Film Script File, Miscellany, Scrapbooks, Addition, Closed, and Oversize. Family papers and correspondence account for material dated prior to Gesell's birth in Alma, Wisconsin, and comprise the bulk of the papers dated between 1880 and 1900. Although these papers contain documentation of subjects other than those relating to Arnold Gesell, they serve primarily as a source of biographical data relating to Gesell's family life, his childhood and adolescence, student days at Alma High School, 1893-1896, and Stevens Point Normal School, 1896-1899, and his work as a teacher at the Stevens Point High School, 1899-1901. Further references to Gesell's life prior to 1900 may be found in the letters of Margaret Ashmure, M. M. Beddall, Lucius Miley, Laurence Pease, and Charles Sylvester. Information relating specifically to Gesell's University of Wisconsin days may be found in letters of James Livingston, Adolph Meyer, Michael O'Shea, Laurence Pease, Theron Pray, William Ruediger, Charles Sylvester, and Frederick Jackson Turner. References to his student days at Clark University are included in letters of William Burnham, Granville Stanley Hall, James Livingston, Tadasu Misawa, Edgar Swift, and Lewis Madison Terman. References to his work at the Los Angeles State Normal School occur in the letters of his wife, Beatrice Chandler Gesell. From 1911 to 1948, Gesell was director of the Yale Clinic of Child Development, where he conducted studies of the physical growth and mental development of infants and children. This phase of Gesell's career is the most thoroughly and extensively documented. References