Scope and Content Note
The papers of Louise Bates Ames (1908-1996) span the period 1915-1989, with the bulk of the material dating from 1950 to 1975. The collection consists primarily of correspondence and manuscript material relating to Ames's career as a child psychologist, cofounder and codirector of the Gesell Institute of Child Development, and author of numerous books and articles on child behavior and child development. Included in the collection are family correspondence, correspondence with friends and professional associates, a sampling of letters related to the syndicated newspaper column Parents Ask, and manuscripts and related correspondence for several of Ames's books and articles. The collection is organized in six original series and five additions. The original series include Family Correspondence , Special Correspondence , General Correspondence , "Parents Ask" Newspaper Column , Writings , and Miscellany . The additions are dated according to the year of their arrangement and contain material organized in the same schema as the original part.
Ames's career as a child psychologist began in 1933 when she joined the staff of the Yale Clinic of Child Development as research secretary and personal assistant to the director, Arnold Gesell, with whom she worked until 1948. She received her doctorate in psychology from Yale University in 1936; was curator of the Yale Films of Child Development, 1944-1950; and participated in the development of articles, books, and research projects in the field of child psychology. Material in the collection which relates to this period may be found in the following series: Family Correspondence , especially letters to Annie E. Bates; Special Correspondence , in particular correspondence with James T. Culbertson, Paul H. Elicker, Guy S. Métraux, and Ruth W. Métraux; Writings File , "Guide to the Yale Films of Child Development" by Louise Bates Ames; and Miscellany containing a diary, 1928-1937, and annual reports, 1939-1949.
After Gesell's retirement, the clinic separated from Yale University, and in 1950, Ames and her associate, Frances Lillian Ilg, founded the Gesell Institute of Child Development. The institute's name changed to the Gesell Institute of Human Development in 1978. The Gesell Institute is a private, nonprofit corporation for clinical research in the field of child psychology. Ames was Director of Research at the Institute until 1968 when she became codirector. In conjunction with her study of children's behavior at successive age intervals, Ames became one of the pioneers of rorschach psychological testing. References to this and other aspects of her work may be found in the Family and Special Correspondence series, in particular, the letters of Annie E. Bates, Joan Ames Chase, Len Lye, Guy S. Métraux, Ruth W. Métraux, and Evelyn Goodenough Pitcher. More detailed information about rorschach testing may be found in Ames's numerous books and articles, bibliographies of which are in Miscellany .
As the work of the Gesell Institute became increasingly recognized, requests for lectures, television appearances, and articles began to increase as well. This aspect of Ames's career is well documented in her papers. In the Special Correspondence series are files relating to her two television series, Child Behavior and The Gesell Institute Reports: Your Child and You. In 1951, Ames and Ilg began their syndicated newspaper column, Child Behavior, which in 1962 became known as Parents Ask. A sampling of unedited letters from the column for the period 1954-1964 is included in the collection as well as two sets of the edited and published columns covering the years 1967-1968. Research files of Robert M. Zingg on "wolf-children" are included in the 1977 addition .
Ames corresponded with numerous friends, colleagues, and associates, many of whom were prominent in their fields. Among those whose letters are contained in the Special Correspondence series are Fitzhugh Dodson, Arnold Gesell, Gerhard Alden Gesell, Len Lye, Margaret Mead, Daniel P. Moynihan, Vance Packard, and Benjamin Spock. Also in the Special Correspondence series are files concerning Ames's work with the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and the White House Conference on Children and Youth in 1970-1971.
Among the papers are drafts, readers' proofs, and publishers' correspondence for seven of Ames's books: Child Care and Development(1970), Don't Push Your Pre-Schooler (1973), Infant and Child in the Culture of Today (revised edition 1974), Is Your Child in the Wrong Grade? (1967), Mosaic Patterns of American Children (1962), School Readiness (1964), and Stop School Failure (1972). In addition, there is correspondence relating to several book reviews and a draft essay for inclusion in the book Summerhill: For and Against, published in 1970 by Hart Publishing Company.