Day 21: Our last day in Akron!

Wow, time flies!  Tuesday was our last day at the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology.  We enjoyed lunch with the staff and our students shared what they learned.  Our students also posted their blog posts for you to enjoy!  Be sure to check them out to see the cool stuff they found in the archives.

Our group with the Center staff!

Our group with the Center staff!

Although it was time to go, we couldn’t leave without perusing some of the rare books in the cabinets that have surrounded us while we worked these last two weeks.

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The tiny book that Dov and Jenn are holding is oldest book in the collection — from 1533!  And the book that Alissa W is holding is a copy of a book by Wilhelm Wundt that belonged to William James!!! (Check out a blog post about it here.)

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The Center also has a second edition print of the Origin of Species by Darwin!

And then, it really was time to go!  Some students had to get to the airport!  Others had to do one last “only-in-Akron” activity (you are correct if you guessed that it was cruising by LeBron James’ house) before packing up for the drive back to Greenville.  All in all, a successful May X!

That’s all for this installment of Psychology in the Archives.  But until next time, you can get your history of psych fix by visiting the CHP blog: https://centerhistorypsychology.wordpress.com/

Day 20: Finalizing FUSE and blog posts — and learning about copyright!

We spent our last full day at the center finalizing our FUSE documents.  This included finishing up the narrative documents that the students have been working on and learning about the details of copyright law.  Lizette was our guide to the ins and outs of what we can and cannot post and how to find out who holds a copyright and how to request permissions.

Lizette and the group surrounded by acid-free boxes.  We will be preserved forever!

Lizette and the group surrounded by acid-free boxes. We will be preserved forever!

For photographs, the copyright belongs to the photographer. This means we have to figure out who the photographer is so that we can request permission to post the photo.  This is an easy task if the photo is stamped with this information on the back….but involves some detective work when it isn’t.  Reading all of those Nancy Drew books in my childhood is going to come in handy!

We ended the day with dinner at a Mexican restaurant — our last dinner as a group before people start heading home on Tuesday afternoon.  Somehow no pictures were taken?  We have become lax as the trip ends.  It certainly wasn’t the margaritas.

(Disclaimer: That was a joke.  Obviously if margaritas were involved pictures *would* have been taken.)

Day 7: Cummings Center for the History of Psychology

The day we have all been waiting for arrived on Tuesday!  We had our first full day at the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology.  We started out with a tour of the museum where we nerded out over all of the cool things on display.  Milgram’s Shock Box!  Bandura’s Bobo Doll!  Tichener’s regalia (which he taught his classes in – can you imagine?!)  Harlow’s wire mother monkey heads!  Skinner’s air crib!  It was hard to know where to look.

Original uniforms and prison door from the Stanford Prison Experiment

Original uniforms and prison door from the Stanford Prison Experiment

Then we had a behind the scenes tour and saw where we will be working and learned about the renovations that will begin right after we leave.

Safety first!

Safety first! (Actually, hard hats were not necessary. But they made Alissa and Dov look very official.)

Best of all, we found the boxes that we will be working with!

Hey!  No peeking, Addie!

Hey! No peeking, Addie!

After lunch,we hauled the boxes out of the basement…

Riding the freight elevator

Riding the freight elevator

…and started to broadly categorize the types of items in each box.  So far we have found several reprints, manuscript drafts, some slides, several awards, and lots of correspondence.  It was hard to resist getting sidetracked by reading every page!  (That will come later).

Wow!  Dov and Alyssa found manuscript on TEACCH in Japanese!

Wow! Dov and Alyssa found a manuscript on TEACCH in Japanese!

What will tomorrow bring??

Day 6: Dr. Elizabeth Loftus

After settling into our new digs at the University of Akron on Sunday night, we hit the ground running on our first full day in town. We spent most of the day researching and writing content for our project on Dr. Eric Schopler. In the evening, we attended the Ludy T. Benjamin Distinguished Lecture in the History of Psychology, presented this year by Dr. Elizabeth Loftus. In her talk, Dr. Loftus shared how personal and professional life events shaped the trajectory of her research.

Our students with renowned researcher, Dr. Elizabeth Loftus

Our students with renowned researcher, Dr. Elizabeth Loftus

We were also lucky enough to snag this picture with Dr. Ludy T. Benjamin, a historian of psychology who has written over 20 books on the subject (and who the lecture series is named after).  He also is a close friend of our very own Dr. Charles Brewer!

Dr. Ludy Benjamin poses with our group.

Dr. Ludy Benjamin poses with our group.

Day 3: Furman’s Magnificent Library Staff

This morning we met with Christy Allen, Furman’s digital librarian to learn about FUSE, the online platform we’ll be using to showcase Dr. Eric Schopler’s collection. After lunch we visited Furman’s Special Collections where Julia Cowart, the Special Collections librarian and university archivist, showed us some of Furman’s archival treasures, including this original diploma issued by Furman in 1857.

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Eager to begin our road trip tomorrow!

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Day 2: Visit to the Asheville TEACCH Center

Before we journey to the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology to begin our work on the collection of Dr. Eric Schopler (founder of the TEACCH autism method), we’ve been spending a few days learning about autism, the TEACCH method, and the importance of studying the history of psychology. We had the privilege yesterday of visiting the Asheville TEACCH Center where Autism Specialist Jonathan Blalock gave us an overview of the TEACCH approach.

Dinner at the Laughing Seed in Asheville, NC

Dinner at the Laughing Seed in Asheville, NC