American Board of Forensic Psychiatry Records, 1974 - 1987

Summary

Creator:
American Board of Forensic Psychiatry
Abstract:
This collection contains records from the American Board of Forensic Psychiatry. The collection has no series and needs to be reprocessed.
Extent:
2 boxes .84 linear feet
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

The collection is comprised of the records of the Board emanating from the Office of the President, Dr. Maier I. Tuchler, beginning in 1976 and terminating in 1981. Dr. Tuchler shipped the records in six loose leaf notebooks and some isolated folders, which were largely in chronological order with the exception of the last notebook. The archivist maintained this original arrangement. The records consist of correspondence, some minutes of meetings, and lists of applicants for certification. The ABFP based some of its standards and forms on the American Board of Forensic Odontology and the American Board of Forensic Toxicology, and some of these records are included in the collection. All three of these forensic boards were organized in 1975 and 1976 and were sponsored by the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. Correspondence also relates to the Forensic Sciences Foundation. The collection has no series and needs to be reprocessed.

Biographical / historical:

The American Board of Forensic Psychiatry was formally organized in 1976. According to Maier I. Tuchler, M.D., former president, the prehistory of the development of the Board began in approximately 1968 when he was president of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. He called a select committee to determine the future of the AAFS, and the committee decided that the Academy needed a Forensic Sciences Foundation and a certification program for the forensic sciences. The Foundation was established with a small group of the officers of the current year of the AAFS. Three years later, when the Academy decided a foundation would be helpful in the training of forensic scientists, this group returned the Foundation to the Academy.

During this three year period, the group undertook research projects for the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. On the success of these programs, the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration awarded the Foundation five or six years of sustaining money under which certification programs could be developed in the forensic sciences. Since the 1970’s, the Board has developed its own executive offices and administrative staff apart from the Forensic Sciences Foundation and American Academy of Forensic Sciences. The Board recognizes the need to identify forensic scientists qualified to provide essential professional services for the nation’s judicial and executive branches of government. The Board provides a program to certify such specialists. In purpose, function, and organization, the ABFP is analogous to the certifying boards in various medical specialties and scientific fields.

The objects of the Board are to establish, enhance, and revise standards of qualification for those who practice forensic psychiatry and to certify as qualified Specialists those voluntary applicants who comply with the requirements of the Board. In this way, the Board aims to make available to the judicial system and other interested parties a practical and equitable system of identifying those who possess the requisite qualifications and competence and profess to be specialists in forensic psychiatry. Certification is based upon the candidate’s personal and professional record of education and training, experience, and achievement, as well as on the results of a formal examination.

Acquisition information:
The collection was donated in 1982 through the former president, Dr. Maier I. Tuchler, and constitutes all the records as of 1980, with some dated 1981. Dr. Jonas R. Rappeport, Secretary, donated a small amount of material to the Archives in 1979. This has been placed at the end of the collection.

Access and use

Restrictions:

There are no access restrictions on this material.

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