Scope and Content Note
The papers of Charles Brenner (1913-2008) span the years 1935-2008, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1950-2006. Writings, lectures, correspondence, reports, printed matter, digital files, and other papers document Brenner's career as a psychoanalyst. In a major contribution to the modern conflict theory, Brenner concluded that mental functioning is motivated by the pleasure-unpleasure principle, not separate systems. Furthermore, conflict and compromise formations encompass all of normal mental functioning, not just pathological mental functioning. The papers are in English. The collection is arranged alphabetically by type of material, topic, or person and therein chronologically or alphabetically.
The majority of the papers is comprised of Brenner's lectures and topical files focusing on different aspects of psychoanalytic theory. Folders chronicle Brenner's work in progress from research to drafts to published or unpublished works. Topics featured are the structure of the mind, the modern conflict theory, conflict and compromise formation, transference and countertransference, anxiety, masochism, mental functioning and development, and the drive theory. The papers also document Brenner's mentorship of other colleagues; his involvement with psychoanalytic organizations, particularly as an instructor and training and supervising analyst at the New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute; and his project with Arnold Rothstein to demonstrate the validity of conflict and compromise formation. Also included are Brenner's drafts of his memoir that was not published until the year after his death in 2009. There is little documentation of Brenner's early career as a neurologist before entering psychiatry and no documentation of his early or family life.
Digital files in this collection were created from 1993 to 2006 and consist chiefly of word processing files received on fifty-six floppy disks and one zip disk. A list of the digital files, arranged by topic or person and digital ID, was compiled by Library of Congress staff. The digital files are comprised of the works of Brenner and his wife, Erma Brenner, and many of the digital files are not duplicated in the analog portion of the collection. Erma Brenner's digital files consist of drafts of a play, a fictionalized memoir, correspondence, lectures, and other writings. Brenner's digital files include drafts of published and unpublished papers, books, and essays. Also included are Brenner's correspondence, lectures and discussions, documents related to the conflict and compromise formation project with Rothstein, and other writings.