Book of the Month: The Behavior of Organisms

-Contributed by Emily Gainer & Cathy Faye

June’s feature is unlike any of our previous Book of the Month selections.  It isn’t even housed with the books or in the library catalog.  Then why is it part of Book of the Month?

Because it is a book – just not in its final form.  It is B. F. Skinner’s galley proof pages of The Behavior of Organisms: An Experimental Analysis (copyright 1938).

The Behavior of Organisms, Skinner’s first book, was a landmark publication in the field of psychology. In this work, Skinner laid out his novel ideas about operant behavior and the study of behavior change. These ideas would eventually impact not only psychology, but also education, industry, animal training, and other fields of work.

Galley proof pages of B. F. Skinner’s The Behavior of Organisms: An Experimental Analysis, copyright 1938.

The proof pages are unbound, with extra space in the margins for notes and edits.

The proof pages were donated to the CHP by Marian Breland Bailey and Bob Bailey.  Marian and Keller Breland were students of Skinner’s at the University of Minnesota.

Before: When the pages arrived at the CHP, they were in need of conservation work due to mold, rust, and warping. They appeared to have been damaged by water.

Before: Because the pages had been curled and folded for many years, the conservator also treated the pages so that they lay flat.

After: Conservation work has been done on the pages to remove mold, dirt, and rust. The conservator created an acid-free, custom box for long-term preservation.

The CHP also houses a number of copies of the book in its published form.  Of special note on those other copies, copy three is inscribed “To Robert Kantor with gratitude and affection, Fred Skinner” (donated by J. R. Kantor), and copy 4 is one of 800 of the first printing (donated by Abram Amsel).

What do you want to be when you grow up?

-Contributed by Lizette Royer Barton.

While working in the Muzafer and Carolyn Sherif papers I came across the most amazing folder. In 1936 5^th graders in Wilmette, IL were asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Here are some of my favorite responses. (Click to enlarge images and then use your back button to return to the blog).

All right Ann! Aviation was pretty forward thinking for a young girl in 1936. She lost me a bit with the doll dismemberment though.

Honest work for honest pay. Plus he could snoop inside people’s homes and eat in his wagon. Oh boy!

Yikes Ed. Yikes.

Right on Eleanor. A career is a lot to think about when you’re ten years old.

I hope Flo made it to Sacramento!

And I hope Helen made it to Broadway! Or at the very least got to boss some kids around.

Maybe Jack met the perfect partner up in the Yukon.

I wonder if Judson ever got his race horse?

Happy trails Roberta!

Dear Earth Ruler – You. Are. Amazing. And I hope you were able to thread needles while sitting atop a flag pole!

Book of the Month: The Witchery of Sleep

- Contributed by Emily Gainer.

May’s book of the month is a fascinating turn-of-the-century book about an often perplexing topic: SLEEP.  In The Witchery of Sleep (1903), Willard Moyer claimed “the theme of Sleep is an exhaustive one” (from introduction).  The book addresses a number of topics relating to sleep, including the phenomena of sleep, sleeplessness, dreams, and the importance of the bed.

The book uses drawings and poetry to address the “enchanting subject” of sleep (p. 15).

One of the most interesting features of the book is the illustrations.  The book contains more than 30 illustrations of what Moyer refers to as “Sleeping Places”.  The drawings, which appear to be beds of the wealthy, encompass various countries and time periods.

The Witchery of Sleep contains 30 pages of illustrations of beds. This is an example of “the grand carved bed and embroidered canopy built for Francis I. About 1530” (illustration between pages 64-65).

There are less than 60 copies of this 1903 edition in WorldCat.  The CHP’s copy is especially unique, because it was signed and inscribed by the author in 1908.  The book was donated to the CHP by Ludy T. Benjamin, Jr.

The CHP’s copy contains the inscription: “To M. J. J. Abrams. with compliments and best wishes of yours for sleep. Willard Moyer, July ’08.”

As modern medicine will attest, sleep and rest is an important part of overall well-being and psychological health.  Even 110 years ago, the book advised, “the loss of a single night’s sleep shows its effects on the nervous system in the exhaustion, drowsiness, irritability, mental disturbance, and digestive derangements which ensue” (page 31).

The book includes poetry and sonnets about sleep, including children’s lullabies.

Questions for discussion: What is your favorite trick for falling asleep?  Do you notice a change in your mood when you don’t get a good night’s sleep?

The IQ Zoo: CHP’s First Online Exhibit

Emily Winters, an MLIS student at Kent State University, has been diligently working on creating the CHP’s first online exhibit. As a practicum student here at the CHP, she quickly became an expert on the exhibit’s focus–the IQ Zoo. Emily has now completed her practicum (and is nearing completion of her degree!) and we are happy to say that the exhibit will be launched this May.

-Contributed by Emily Winters.

For the past four months I have spent 150 hours creating “The IQ Zoo” an online exhibit for the Center of the History of Psychology (CHP).  During that time, I’ve learned more than I ever imagined about a company called Animal Behavior Enterprises (ABE) and the folks who worked there.  I’ve even used their techniques to train my cat Rocky to “sit up!”

The exhibit that I have compiled goes through a brief history of the ABE, but its focus is really on the IQ Zoo.  The Brelands (and later the Baileys) trained thousands of animals between 1947 and 1990.  These included everything from cockroaches to whales.

The IQ Zoo was a way for them to show the public the outcomes of their training methods, while bringing in an income.

Each of the exhibits in the IQ Zoo could be shipped anywhere in the world.  There were IQ Zoo exhibits at the New York World’s Fair, in Japan, and in Mexico to name a few.  The animals were always treated with care and respect.  The Brelands insisted that if there was a problem, they must be contacted prior to anything being done to their animals.

While you may not have heard of the Brelands or the Baileys, or ABE for that matter, you are probably somewhat familiar with the technique of training dogs with clicker devices. 

This was a training method that came directly from the Brelands and their company.  Keller Breland even wrote a dog training manual all about clicker training in 1963.

There are amazing papers, pictures, and artifacts that delve into great detail about ABE.  I feel like I have come to know some of the characters through my weeks of research and it is not without a twinge of sadness that I leave the CHP and the many unread stories of ABE.  However, this is where you can step in for me!  Go to the archives if you have a chance and browse the records online.  Read Marian’s very detailed memoir, written in a very thoughtful, detailed way that makes you feel like you are sitting with her listening to her stories.  Look at the inventions (and patents) of Grant Evans, Keller Breland and Bob Bailey.  Check out the large “Skinner boxes” that were the IQ Zoo exhibits.  I know you will find something amazing, just as I have.

Basements, Exhibits, and Digital Content

-Contributed by Allison Howell.

During her time as a practicum student at the CHP, Allison has been working on several projects, including preservation and digitization of a century-old scrapbook created by psychologist Edgar Doll at the Vineland Training School. You can read about the process here and here. She has now completed the project. Here, she describes the long-term care, storage, and use of the Doll scrapbook.

Now that the preservation process has been completed, you may have several questions concerning Edgar Doll’s scrapbook or preserved materials in general. Hopefully, your questions include the following:

• Where will the physical scrapbook go now?
• How will staff members find the scrapbook when they need it?
• Now that it is digitized, will the scrapbook ever see the light of day again?
• And–perhaps most importantly–how will researchers know the scrapbook is housed at CHP?

Where will the physical scrapbook go now?

Now that is has been digitized, the scrapbook will be placed in long-term storage. Archives, repositories, museums, and other such institutions generally have an area where they keep the portions of their collections that are not currently on display, and CHP is no exception.

The box containing Doll’s scrapbook is labeled with its collection name (“Geraldine and Edgar A. Doll Papers”), its location (“Oversized”), and its unique identifier (“OS145”). With all of this information present, staff members can easily locate the box and return it to its home-location after a researcher has finished with it.

How will staff members find the scrapbook when they need it?

Under the previous question, I noted that staff members can easily located desired boxes based on their informative labels. The bigger question is, then, how do staff members know what label they are looking for?

CHP has purchased CONTENTdm, a content management system that facilitates storage and management of a library’s digital collections. CONTENTdm allows CHP to enter information about its collections into a searchable database, which includes an item’s title, its description, its permanent location, its condition, and its format.

CONTENTdm helps CHP staff keep the collections organized, well-described, and findable. When the scrapbook metadata is made public, this will also help alert researchers that it is here at the Center for viewing. Eventually, much of the digitized scrapbook will go online for public viewing (with some restrictions due to privacy concerns).

Now that it is digitized, will the scrapbook ever see the light of day again?

As a general rule, boxes in a repository’s storage area are not opened unless a researcher has requested the material inside. However, there are exceptions to this, particularly if an item will be included in an exhibit in the CHP museum.

Interested in taking a look this amazing piece of history yourself? Its pages are always happy to have visitors! (Any research requests can be sent to ahap@uakron.edu.)

CHP and the History of Psychology in Latin American Countries

-Contributed by Rodrigo Miranda.

In today’s post, doctoral student Rodrigo Miranda shares some of his finds in the CHP collections, focusing on those relevant to an international history of psychology and psychology in Latin American countries.

Sometimes we hear that an Archive, the place where we find materials for historical research, is just a spot for old stuff, for materials that, after catalogued,  remain static housed neatly in boxes, for the most part unmoved and untouched.

However, things are not like this! The Center for the History of Psychology has several examples that show us that everyday life in a historical archive is a continuous “work in progress”.

One example is a project I have been working on to appraise materials for reintegration into manuscript collections.  These materials include unpublished written works, raw data, research files, ephemera, and mixed media such as photographs, films, and artifacts.  Restoring these materials to their original collections rather than keeping them as a separate collection allows for better public access and adds more context to the rich resources at CHP.

Boxes of materials waiting to be reintegrated into existing collections.

In assisting with this process, I have found material for psychologists and historians whose interests are tied to Latin-American countries, such as Argentina, Brazil, etc.

For instance, I found correspondence between David McClelland (USA) and Arrigo Angelini, who was professor of Psychology in the Universidade de Sao Paulo (Brazil). Another example: there is a rich report written by  social psychologist Otto Klineberg (Canada) discussing “The Role of Psychologist in International Affairs” and his relations with Anisio Teixeira, an important Brazilian educator.

The materials also include interesting newspaper clippings. One box of materials contains sources from David McClelland on Colombia and Brazil. Geographic, cultural and social aspects are mentioned on those sources. These clippings from the 1950s are intriguing texts because they show us an American standpoint on foreign countries.

Another example is found in a box of materials from Roger Russell. This is a document called “Appendices to Report of the La Napoule Planning Conference (July 23 – August 1, 1962)“. In this document we see an American perspective on the development of psychology in Latin-American countries (e.g., Argentina) at that time.

All of these important materials are in process and will be accessible within the year. CHP invites you to take a tour of its online collection here. Or come schedule an in-person visit!

Encapsulation Capers

-Contributed by Allison Howell.

In this CHP blog posting, practicum student Allison Howell provides a lesson in archival encapsulation and gives an inside look at preserving a century-old scrapbook. 

What’s the difference between preservation and conservation?

According to Standing Conference on Archives and Museums, or SCAM (which, ironically, is fact-based), preservation is an “action taken to prevent damage [from] occurring”. Conservation, on the other hand, “aims to prevent [the] continuation of damage that has already occurred by halting the process with minimal intervention” (http://www.archivesandmuseums.org.uk/scam/infosheet3.htm) In the case of Edgar A. Doll’s scrapbook, I performed preservation (i.e. stabilizing the scrapbook by encapsulating it), not conservation (i.e. repairing tears, rebinding the volume, etc.).

The first step in the preservation process is digitization. Although digitization does not do anything to prevent damage to the physical scrapbook, it provides CHP and its researchers with a record of how the scrapbook looksTODAY. This is especially helpful if a researcher requests the volume fifty years from now and finds that some of the photos have faded or have become damaged. If damage has occurred, the researcher will be able to access the digital records and see how the photos looked when they were digitized.

When digitizing the Doll scrapbook, I used two computers and two scanners to digitize each page as both a JPG and a TIFF. By splitting the digitization process, I was able to digitize the entire scrapbook fairly quickly. In order to keep the pages in their original sequence as I scanned, I wrote the page numbers down on post-it notes positioned in front of the scanners (see below).

During the digitization process, I kept the scrapbook pages in three separate piles. The pile on the far left contained the pages that had been fully digitized, the pile in the middle contained the pages that were still waiting to be digitized, and, finally, the page on the right was in the process of having all of the names present on either of its sides entered into an Excel spreadsheet for later reference.

Once the entire scrapbook was digitized, I used mylar to encapsulate each page. Encapsulation protects archival materials and is entirely reversible, unlike lamination. (Lamination is harmful for numerous reasons, but the biggest issues are that it 1) sticks to the archival material and does not allow for separation and 2) subjects the archival material to high heat during the lamination process. For those unfamiliar with archival processes, stickiness and heat are two things that should be avoided at all cost!)

Mylar comes on an enormous roll, which allows it to be cut to any size. It is perfectly clear, allowing for the archival material inside to be easily seen.

At CHP, mylar is cut to twice the width of the material. This way, only the top and bottom edges need closed. The right edge is a folded edge (see above) and the left remains open for air circulation and access. The folded edge needs pressed with a bone tool, which provides a crisp crease.

Once the mylar has been folded, the archival material (or scrapbook page, in this case) should be tucked into the fold as much as possible. This helps to prevent the page from sliding around inside its mylar housing.

After the archival material is secure in the fold, double-sided, archival-quality tape is used on both the upper and lower edge. As a general rule, the edge that remains un-taped (or open) should be one of the short edges. This allows for more stability of the archival material’s longer sides.

Once the tape is in place and the backing has been removed, both sides of the encapsulation packet should be pressed together to secure the seal.

In order to make the packet presentable and easier to store, the rough edges of the packet should be trimmed. Taped edges should be cut at least ½ inch from the outside of the tape edge. The open edge should be trimmed at least 1 inch from the archival material, and, of course, the folded edge should remain untouched.

At this point, the packet is complete and is stable enough to be handled.

Encapsulation projects involving numerous pages or sheets should be numbered to maintain their original order. Page numbers should always be marked on the outside of the mylar, never on the inside or the archival material itself.

In the case of the Doll scrapbook, 38 pages of photographs were encapsulated as well as the front and back covers, two loose images, and all of the blank scrapbook pages. Shown above are the first four pages in their encapsulation packets.

Now that the scrapbook has been discovered, digitized, and encapsulated, what happens next? Stay tuned!