Scope and Content Note
The papers of Smith Ely Jelliffe (1866-1945) span the years 1882-1977, with the bulk dating from 1885 to 1944. The papers are organized into the following series: Correspondence, Notes, Genealogical Material, Biographical Material, Scrapbooks, Miscellany, Memorabilia, Addition, and Oversize.
Jelliffe is often credited as one of the founders of American psychosomatic medicine. He was, however, more widely known for his translations of numerous European works in neurology, psychiatry, psychopathology, and psychotherapy, and the serials he owned and edited, Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, Psychoanalytic Review, and Nervous and Mental Disease Monograph.
The Correspondence series relates primarily to Jelliffe’s career and includes correspondents such as Eugen Bleuler, A. A. Brill, M. Eitingon, Havelock Ellis, Paul Federn, Otto Fenichel, Sándor Ferenczi, Sigmund Freud, G. Stanley Hall, Ernest Jones, C. G. Jung, Emil Kraepelin, René Laforgue, Nolan D. C. Lewis, Karl A. Menninger, Adolf Meyer, Sandor Rado, Otto Rank, Wilhelm Reich, Theodor Reik, Paul Schilder, Wilhelm Stekel, and William A. White. Also of interest is correspondence with botanists and letters received while in Germany in 1891. The letters and letterbooks are largely Jelliffe’s correspondence to and from his wife, Helena (“Lelie”) Dewey Leeming Jelliffe, daughter Helena Woodruff Jelliffe Goldschmidt, and sister Louise (“Lulu”) Jelliffe Long.
The Notes contain journals, notebooks, a study of Huntington’s chorea, lecture notes, and notes on articles concerning dementia praecox and other mental illnesses, all including many hand-drawn illustrations. Additional material related to the articles is found in the Miscellany series along with photographs, sketches by Jelliffe, and newspaper clippings.
The Genealogical Material and Biographical Material series contain notebooks of background information collected on various Jelliffe ancestors as well as autobiographical material on Jelliffe and correspondence from later years concerning genealogy. Photographs are also included in the Biographical Material.
The Scrapbooks and Memorabilia series consist of bound volumes containing correspondence, photographs, printed ephemera, newspaper clippings, and plant material. The scrapbooks relate to European trips. Also in Memorabilia are printed matter and diplomas.
The Addition contains a diary of Helena Dewey Leeming Jelliffe and a notebook of Jelliffe’s general observations. The general correspondence in the Addition was written mostly to and from family members including Jelliffe’s first wife, Helena Dewey Leeming Jelliffe; their daughters, Winifred Jelliffe Emerson, Helena Woodruff Jelliffe Goldschmidt, and Sylvia Canfield Jelliffe Stragnell; his sister Louise (“Lulu”) Jelliffe Long; brothers-in-law Thomas Lonsdale Leeming and Joseph Leeming; and second wife, Belinda (“Bee”) Jelliffe; as well as family friends. Included also is a scrapbook from a trip to Alaska in 1905 containing printed ephemera and plant material.