Scope and Content Note
The papers of Maxwell Gitelson (1902-1965) span the years 1918-1965, with the bulk of material dating from 1930 to 1965. The collection includes appointment books, a diary, correspondence, memoranda, minutes, reports, programs, constitutions and bylaws, financial records, writings, notes and notebooks, biographical material, photographs, and printed matter chiefly relating to Gitelson's involvement in psychoanalytic organizations including the American Psychoanalytic Association and the International Psycho-Analytical Association. The papers are organized into in five series: Appointment Books and Diary, Correspondence, Subject File, Writings, Organizational File, and Restricted.
The Organizational File series comprises the bulk of the collection and documents Gitelson's leadership in the institutional development of psychoanalysis. Records relating to the American Psychoanalytic Association form the largest part of the series and reflect Gitelson's long association with the organization including his twenty-year membership on the executive council from 1945 to 1965 and his presidency in 1955-1956. Many of the files relate specifically to Gitelson's role in the development of psychoanalytic training and professional standards under the association's auspices. Also included in the series are records from Gitelson's involvement in the International Psycho-Analytical Association. A large portion of these files concerns the standing of affiliate American, Canadian, European, and South American societies in the international organization. Other psychoanalytic organizations featured in the series include the Center for Advanced Psychoanalytic Studies, Chicago's Institute for Psychoanalysis, the Chicago Psychoanalytic Society, the Psychoanalytic Assistance Fund, and the Sigmund Freud Archives. Also represented are files from Gitelson's participation in psychiatric and medical organizations such as the American Medical Association, the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, and the Chicago-based Institute for Juvenile Research.
In addition to the Organizational File, the collection includes Gitelson's appointment books for the years 1941-1964 and an adolescent diary from 1918. The Correspondence series includes Gitelson's early correspondence from the 1920s and 1930s while a college and medical student in New York and during the early years of his medical practice in Chicago. The bulk of Gitelson's correspondence dates from 1946 to 1965 and reflects his prominence in the field of psychoanalysis. Among Gitelson's correspondents are Franz Alexander, Saul David Alinsky, William G. Barrett, Bruno Bettelheim, Princess Marie Bonaparte, Charles Brenner, K. R. Eissler, Anna Freud, André Godin, Ralph R. Greenson, Roy R. Grinker, Heinz Hartmann, Ives Hendrick, Willi Hoffer, Ernest Jones, Pearl King, Robert P. Knight, Heinz Kohut, Lawrence S. Kubie, Karl A. Menninger, Samuel Ritvo, Marshall D. Schechter, René A. Spitz, Louis Steinberg, Elizabeth Rosenberg Zetzel, and Gregory Zilboorg, among many other psychiatrists and psychoanalysts.
The Subject File contains teaching and research files, biographical material, college and medical school notes, and photographs largely from the 1920s. Included in the series is a record of Gitelson's psychoanalytic training at the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis and patient interviews and reports largely stemming from his work with the Division of Criminology in the Illinois Department of Public Welfare, with the Institute for Juvenile Research, and as a training analyst. The Writings series contains drafts and reprints of some of Gitelson's articles, book reviews, lectures, papers, and speeches.