American Foundation for Mental Hygiene Records, 1953/1981

Summary

Creator:
American Foundation for Mental Hygiene
Abstract:
This collection contains records from the American Foundation for Mental Hygiene. The collection has no series and needs to be reprocessed.
Extent:
6 boxes 2.5 linear feet
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

The collection is comprised primarily of minutes of annual meetings and correspondence concerning several projects the Foundation was involved with during the latter period of its existence, from 1956 to 1981. Minutes cover the time period 1959-1981. Other material concerning annual meetings and occasional special meetings includes memos and correspondence. Discussions for projects centered around the possibility of an update of Albert Deutsch’s book, The Mentally Ill in America, originally published by the Foundation in 1946.

A major project which took about twenty-five years to complete was the writing and publication of a scholarly biography of Clifford Beers. In the mid-1950’s, Mrs. Ruth Farber was selected to write the book and initially began to conduct research based on the extensive Beers archives, but never produced a manuscript. William T. Beaty, secretary of the Foundation from the mid-1960’s until its dissolution in 1981, retrieved the archives from her home in Connecticut in 1964. Shortly after, Dr. Norman Dain of Rutgers University began research on the biography, which resulted, in 1980, in a book entitled Clifford W. Beers, Advocate for the Insane. A manuscript of this book, prepared prior to extensive cutting and other editorial work, is part of the collection. Critiques of the manuscript by Nina Ridenour and Stanley P. Davies, in addition to reviews of the published book, form part of this collection. Another publication project was a new edition of A Mind that Found Itself by Clifford Beers with a preface by William Beaty and an introduction by Robert Coles.

Interspersed throughout the collection is correspondence pertaining to the transfer of the Beers archives and artifacts from the Foundation to the Oskar Diethelm Library. The collection also includes papers concerning the dissolution of the Foundation in 1981. These take the form of correspondence, minutes, and legal documents. Major groupings of material include annual and special meetings, minutes, correspondence, and Norman Dain’s biography. Other material is interspersed throughout the collection. The collection has no series and needs to be reprocessed.

Biographical / historical:

The American Foundation for Mental Hygiene was founded on May 24, 1928 by Clifford W. Beers as a fundraising arm for the mental hygiene movement, of which he was a significant progenitor. Beers had spent several years in mental institutions in Connecticut and emerged with the determination to found an organization, worldwide in scope, dedicated to the amelioration of conditions in mental hospitals, the dissemination of information about the care and treatment of insanity, and the prevention of the disease itself. He founded the National Committee for Mental Hygiene in 1909, which was plagued for years by financial difficulties. In 1928, he launched the American Foundation for Mental Hygiene as a platform for raising funds. While it was intended to support the entire mental hygiene movement, the Foundation was closely allied with the National Committee for Mental Hygiene, sharing staff and management audit offices in NYC. Beers expected the Foundation to be a financial resource, providing stable reserves upon which the national, state, and local committees would draw. Funds were to come from endowments, bequests, and long-term gifts. However, funds were not as readily available as Beers had hoped.

The Foundation supported the First International Congress on Mental Hygiene, held in 1930. In the decade following its founding, Foundation funds were used for the publication of Albert Deutsch’s The Mentally Ill in America as well as Twenty-five Years After: Sidelights on the Mental Hygiene Movement and its Founder, and a twenty-fifth anniversary edition of A Mind that Found Itself. Income was derived from Beers’ autobiography and Deutsch’s book as well as interest payments. Though limited, the income arising from royalties from these books supported several endeavors in the years that followed. It supported the work of Dr. Norman Dain, Professor of History at Rutgers University, to write a biography of Clifford Beers. The Foundation also provided major support to the World Federation of Mental Health. It awarded grants to the journal, Mental Hygiene, and the Oskar Diethelm Library. The Foundation also served as guardian of Beers’ literary estate and of his archives which it eventually donated to the Oskar Diethelm Library. In addition, the Foundation presented an annual Clifford W. Beers Award to consumers of mental health services who made a major nationwide contribution aimed at helping those suffering from mental or emotional disorders.

The Foundation was dissolved in 1981 because the trustees and officers felt the time was appropriate for this action. Clifford Beers, Advocate for the Insane had been published in 1980, and a revised edition of A Mind that Found Itself was to be released later that year. At the time of dissolution, the National Mental Health Association (now called Mental Health America) accepted the assets and liabilities of the Foundation to establish a Clifford W. Beers Fund. The income of the Fund was used for the Clifford W. Beers Award and to commence the financing of a periodic Clifford W. Beers Lecture, the latter to be given by a distinguished person on a subject relevant to the field of mental health.

Acquisition information:
The records of the American Foundation for Mental Hygiene were donated in October 1982 by William T. Beaty II, secretary of the Foundation for many years.

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