Scope and Content Note
The records of the American Psychological Association (APA) span the years 1917-1986, with the bulk of the records concentrated in the period 1940-1980. The records consist of correspondence, memoranda, reports, minutes of meetings, agenda, ballots, financial records, drafts of books, articles, and lectures, testimonies, printed and near printed matter, and miscellaneous material. The collection is organized into eight series representing the structure and function of the organization, including Council of Representatives , Board of Directors , Administration , Boards and Committees , Divisions , Journals and Publications , and Affiliated Organizations , as well as a Miscellany file. The records are replete with gaps. A lack of consistency in the retirement of APA records may have contributed to the absence of material regarding certain periods or subjects. Many divisions and committees did not retire their records to the Library of Congress, preferring the Akron University Psychological Archives in Akron, Ohio. The records of the APA held by that institution should be consulted where gaps exist here.
The governing bodies of the APA – the Council of Representatives and Board of Directors – are represented in these records by separate series dating between the end of World War II and the beginning of the 1980s. Consisting largely of correspondence, memoranda, reports, and meeting data, these series treat business and organizational issues and relate to the professional direction of the association.
More extensive in scope and chronology is the Administration file. Until 1955, much of the material in the records of the APA was maintained in the office files of the executive secretary of the association. Dating primarily from the 1930s, the Executive Officers File in the Administration series reflects the managerial decisions of the organization's chief officers and documents its main activities. Featured in the personal records of various executives – from Donald Gildersleeve Paterson and Willard Clifford Olson in the 1930s and 1940s to Arthur H. Brayfield and Kenneth B. Little in the 1960s and 1970s – are the concerns and issues that defined their tenure as leaders. Themes of significance include APA-government relations, psychological testing, forensic information, loyalty investigations, the behavioral sciences, scientific exchanges, science and education, and the Peace Corps. Other important issues include legislation on aging, television projects, legal testimony, White House conferences, international cooperation, and ongoing publication efforts.
Also in the Administration series are Departmental Offices Files relating to the principal subdivisions in the association, including the Educational Affairs Office, Professional Affairs Office, Programs and Planning Office, Scientific Affairs Office, and Women's Program. In subject matter, they document the thrust of the APA's post-1950s operations from the minutia of daily activities to the practical applications of its programs and policies. As an example, within the files of the Professional Affairs Office are studies concerning abortion, contraception, population issues, and social attitudes, all under the term "family planning."
The Boards and Committees series offers further documentation of APA's outreach in developing and promoting psychology as a profession and field of study. Principal groups represented are boards relating to professional affairs, scientific affairs, social and ethical responsibility, education and training, and publication. Featured as well are the files of temporary bodies or continuing committees such as boards on ethical standards in psychological research, on psychology in governmental and public affairs, on revision of test standards, and on the APA's association with the guilds of related disciplines.
Topics highlighted in the Boards and Committees series reflect the core concerns of the organization, especially after 1960. Prominent are women's issues, equal opportunity for minorities, drug use, attitudes concerning sexual orientation, Vietnam War veterans, post-doctoral education, sex-role stereotyping, and social justice. Particularly extensive are files relating to the ethical treatment of human subjects during research. Also significant are testing and training questions and problems. Health issues are prominent throughout the collection, from licensing considerations and insurance matters to community health centers and the relationship between psychology and psychiatry.
The remaining files of the APA consist of a large Divisions series, followed by Journals and Publications , Affiliated Organizations , and a small Miscellany . Eclectic and incomplete, the Divisions series is organized by number of division, but the numbering is inconsistent and not all divisions are represented in the records. The files for Divisions 12, 14, and 17 ("Clinical," "Industrial" and "Counseling Psychology") are the most complete.
The records in the Journals and Publications series are also fragmentary, with the stronger portion beginning in the 1970s. Included are editorial and administrative matter related to books, abstracts, monographs, and journals published by the organization.
The Affiliated Organizations series consists of files relating to the American Association for Applied Psychology, the Conference of State Psychological Associations, and the Virginia Psychological Association, which beginning in the 1940s affiliated with the APA.
Among the prominent or frequent correspondents in the collection are George Albee, Arthur H. Brayfield, Arthur Centor, Isador Chein, Kenneth Bancroft Clark, Dorothy Clendenen, John Gordon Darley, Nicholas Hobbs, Erasmus Leonard Hoch, John McVee Hunt, Thelma Hunt, Kenneth B. Little, Joseph B. Margolin, Wilbert James McKeachie, John H. McMillan, Willard Clifford Olson, Fillmore H. Sanford, Leona Elizabeth Tyler, Dael Lee Wolfle, Robert Mearns Yerkes, and Joan S. Zaro.