Scope and Content Note
The papers of Berta Bornstein (1898-1971) span the years 1933-1971, with the bulk of the material dating from 1945 to 1970. The collection consists of correspondence, patient case files, drawings and stories by patients, teaching and training files, lecture notes, writings, annual bulletins, memoranda, minutes, reports, and other material relating to Bornstein's private practice as one of the first Freudian child psychoanalysts in the United States. The papers also document her affiliation with the New York Psychoanalytic Institute and the Institute of the Philadelphia Association for Psychoanalysis where she taught, trained, and supervised prospective analysts. The collection is arranged in seven series: General Correspondence , Case File , New York Psychoanalytic Institute , Institute of the Philadelphia Association for Psychoanalysis , Writings , Restricted , and Oversize .
The General Correspondence series is composed primarily of letters to and from colleagues and institutions in the field of psychoanalysis. Prominent correspondents include Edward Bibring and Grete L. Bibring, Peter Blos, Sylvia Brody, Dorthy T. Burlingham, K. R. Eissler and Ruth Selke Eissler, Otto Fenichel, Anna Freud, Muriel Gardiner, Elisabeth R. Geleerd, Marjorie Harley, Willi Hoffer, Anny Katan and Mauritz Katan, Robert P. Knight, Heinz Kohut, Ernst Kris and Marianne Kris, Lawrence S. Kubie, Rudolph Maurice Loewenstein, Margaret S. Mahler, Gerald H. J. Pearson, Samuel Ritvo, Milton J. E. Senn, Albert J. Solnit, René A. Spitz, Robert Waelder, and Annemarie P. Weil. Institutions include the American Orthopsychiatric Association, the Baltimore Psychoanalytic Institute, the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, the Group for Applied Freudian Psychology, the Institute of the Philadelphia Association for Psychoanalysis, the New York State Psychological Association, and the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute. Letters of a more personal nature may be found in the correspondence of Bornstein's two brothers, Joseph Bornstein and Bernard Weinard, and of her friends Sidney L. Green and Charlotte Honig and Edwin Honig, neighbors at her summer home in Vinalhaven, Maine.
The Case File , which is restricted, constitutes the largest series in the collection, amounting to over eight hundred individual psychiatric case files. Although Bornstein's practice did include some adult patients, it was for the most part devoted to child psychoanalysis. She was frequently asked by colleagues to perform consultations, and most of her patient files reflect consultations of from one to three visits. Most of these case files are small and consist primarily of clinical observations correlating to Bornstein's standard interview format. They also frequently contain psychological test results usually performed by a separate testing agency as well as additional clinical observations and diagnoses. A small percentage of her patients, however, were in long-term psychoanalysis. The files on these patients are frequently sizable. Bornstein also did consultative work for various local New York agencies such as the Community Service Society, Council Child Development Center, Jewish Board of Guardians, and Walden School.
The New York Psychoanalytic Institute series includes annual bulletins, memoranda, minutes of meetings, material on committees and faculty activities, and other institutional records. Bornstein served as a teacher and trainer of psychoanalysts and was particularly involved with the training program in the Child Analysis Division. The series contains lecture notes, evaluations of courses and students, seminar discussion cases, student training analysis, and patient case files from supervised clinical work.
For many years Bornstein commuted to Philadelphia to teach courses and train prospective psychoanalysts at the Institute of the Philadelphia Association for Psychoanalysis . Records constituting this series relate primarily to supervised clinical work.
The Writings series includes drafts of professional papers, discussions of papers by others, and notes on various psychoanalytic topics by Bornstein and others.