Peter Blos PhD Papers, 1923 - 1997, bulk 1964 - 1990

Summary

Creator:
Blos, Peter
Abstract:
This collection contains the papers of Peter Blos, who was one of the central figures in child and adolescent analysis. The collection has 9 series: Correspondence (1966-1995), Lectures (1949-1995, n.d.), Manuscripts (1966-1995, n.d.), Marta Grone Correspondence (1957-1964, n.d.), Case Seminars (1957-1963, n.d.), Miscellaneous (1950-1993, n.d.), Reprints (1935-1991), Photographs, and Certificates (1934-1988).
Extent:
14 boxes 6.42 linear feet
Language:
English German Swedish

Background

Scope and content:

This collection consists of correspondence, professional writing, drafts, notes, photographs, and other personal and professional materials dating from 1923-1997. The materials are primarily in English, but also include letters, manuscripts, and notes in German and Swedish. The papers are divided into nine series: Correspondence (1966-1995), Lectures (1949-1995, n.d.), Manuscripts (1966-1995, n.d.), Marta Grone Correspondence (1957-1964, n.d.), Case Seminars (1957-1963, n.d.), Miscellaneous (1950-1993, n.d.), Reprints (1935-1991), Photographs (1990-1994), and Certificates (1934-1988). There are oversized materials in the following series: Manuscripts, Reprints, Certificates, and Miscellaneous. These materials are stored together in oversize boxes 12 (legal size) and 13 (oversize flat box).

Correspondence: This series is organized in the order in which it was received. It contains Blos’ professional (and some personal) correspondence. Materials relate to writings, translations, lectures, paper requests, and appointments.

Lectures: This series, arranged by lecture or discussion, contains an assortment of papers read by Blos at lectures and symposiums. It also contains Blos’ notes from lectures, colloquiums, symposiums, and discussions.

Manuscripts: This series, arranged by manuscript title, consists of published works by Peter Blos and others. Some of these include “Freud and the Father Complex,” “Son and Father,” and “The Place of the Adolescent Process in the Analysis of the Adult.” In addition to the finished copies, the collection includes a number of oversized drafts pasted together on yellow lined paper and marked with handwritten edits. They are all housed in oversize box 12 and box 13 (folders 1-5). The content of this series is mostly in English with some of the drafts and finished manuscripts in German.

Marta Grone Blos Correspondence: This series is arranged in chronological order, preserving the groupings by which they were organized at the time of donation. The groupings are titled: “Pa’s Disease (sjukdom),” “Pa’s Letters (brev),” and “Elsa/Pa’s Letters (brev).” The letters in this series are written in Swedish and contain private correspondence between Marta Blos, Peter Blos’ first wife, and her family.

Case Seminars: This series has been maintained in its original order. Some materials are restricted due to private health information. The restricted folders have been removed and are housed separately.

Reprints: This series is arranged chronologically and contains reprints of articles and papers from journals, magazines, and newspapers, including works by Peter Blos and other authors. Some materials are oversized and stored in flat box 13, folders 6-7.

Certificates: This series has been arranged chronologically and includes various certificates, awards, commendations, and memberships. Some materials in this series are oversized and stored in flat box 12, folder 8.

Miscellaneous: This series includes book reviews, notes, personal journals, and other miscellany. Some materials are oversized and stored in flat box 13 folders 9-10.

Photographs: This series includes a photo album of buildings from Vienna, professional photographs taken in 1990, and photographic negatives.

Biographical / historical:

Peter Blos (1904-1997) was one of the central figures in child and adolescent analysis. Born in 1904 in Karlsruhe, Germany, he studied education at the University of Heidelberg and then obtained a PhD in biology from the University of Vienna. While in Vienna, Blos made the acquaintance of Anna Freud, who requested his help in creating a school for children undergoing analysis. The project was supported and encouraged by Evan Rosenfeld and Dorothy Burlingham, a Tiffany heir and friend of Anna Freud’s, and August Aichhorn, an Austrian educator and psychoanalyst. Burlingham’s children attended the school, along with children of other individuals prominent in the psychoanalytic field. Blos recruited an old friend, Erik Homburger Erikson (later a leading figure in psychoanalysis) to join him. The Experimental School, as it was called, employed psychoanalytic principles and encouraged the children to think for themselves.

Blos immigrated to the United States in 1934 to escape the rise of Nazism. He originally settled in New Orleans to teach at a private school, but then left for New York to continue his psychoanalytic training. While in New York, Blos became involved in a major study on adolescence. Blos worked with people from different professions during this time, including anthropologist Margaret Mead, pediatrician Benjamin Spock, and psychoanalyst Erik Erikson. He published his first book, The Adolescent Personality, in 1941.

Over the course of his career, Blos taught at the Jewish Board of Guardians, the New York Psychoanalytic Society, and the Columbia Psychoanalytic Center. On Adolescence, published in 1961, is his fourth book and the one that gave him national and international recognition. Blos died in 1997 in his country home in Holderness, New Hampshire at the age of 93.

Acquisition information:
The Peter Blos Papers were donated by Mrs. Betsy Blos, the late widow to Peter Blos, in the year 2000. Approximately 350 books were donated along with the papers and have been cataloged and added to the library’s book collection.

Access and use

Restrictions:

Some materials in series V Case Seminars are restricted due to private health information. Restricted material has been removed and filed separately.

Terms of access:

Written permission must be obtained from the Oskar Diethelm Library and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Location of this collection:
DeWitt Wallace Institute of Psychiatry: History, Policy and the Arts
Weill Cornell Medical College
525 East 68th Street, Box 140
New York, NY 10065, United States
Link to repository site
Contact:
212-746-3728