center for the history of psychology

Museum and reading rooms located in a library make this building a treasure house of valuable information. If you want to extend applications of your knowledge of psychology take time and and visit this place. Floor space could be larger for sure and displays are few in number when you consider the time that the discipline has been alive. I found that the personnel who work there through the recent years have been dedicated to the discipline of psychology. I do not know what will be done with the upper two floors but something needs to be done to expand the gallery space for showing artifacts from past years. I attend the many lectures given at various times in the school year. For me these lectures are the gold standard of a contribution to the community to say nothing of the academic community near by. The lectures represent a healthy look at what has happened to the discipline over the hears. Often there are scholars in the field who have time to review their publications or to introduce the audience to different aspects of the discipline. An historical perspective is important here. Often there are lectures about different issues in the psychology and there are foreign born scholars as well to give the lectures.Take time to speak with the personnel who work there. Questions following the lecture are relevant and worth expanding for further discussion. But that does not alway happen since time devoted to questions seems to be limited. This not all historical stuff either for there is space to expand your curiosity about the discipline by doing research at the library. This museum is tied in with the Smithsonian and local or regional libraries for obvious reasons. So it is not isolated from other libraries. There are opportunities for many practicing and retired psychologists to make contributions to the museum by donating their notebooks or equipment. Parking lot space for visitors is not plentiful but I was told that space does exist near by like across the street. Rest rooms are clean and available. Not large at this time to easily accommodate large crowds of two hundred visitors at once but the are plans to enlarge the building and renovate it. There are convenient places near by to spend time on campus. For me it was a place to reconsider the growth of the discipline through the century. Do not allow the small size of the building to deter you from wanting to visit it .The staff is most helpful and accommodating during lectures. The person at the front desk can inform you about the schedule. Speak wight eh director - Dr. David Baker - before leaving and say thanks for doing such a good job to develop and maintain the museum. Well worthy your time for if you are here just for attending the soap box derby or golf tournaments then you need to change your priorities. More of lasting value in the museum. Something central to American society is here. You will not be tempted to thinking that you can be done with a visit here in ten or fifteen minutes if you know what this museum is all about. In many ways people who declare a major in psychology should be required to spend time here each month before receiving a degree in the discipline. Road side shrine to discipline maybe if you look at it this way. Go see it! There is no restaurant or food court to distract your attention from the history of the discipline. For this reason it is worth revisiting a second time. Look at the collection of manuscripts and old books in the library. I would imagine that this place is a good internship training place for library people. If you want to know what is happening to the discipline you will meet contemporary minded psychology people there as well. Many of them are students. They are not afraid to discuss these aspects with you. An exchange of ideas can emerge to you make your visit worth while. So please take time to visit this place and learn what library science is doing now and has been at work doing in recent years for psychology. Preservation is a major part of our memory. Audio visual technology has done wonderful things to make the lectures so good! During the school year and summer sessions there are exhibits on various related topics like anthropology - central American artifacts related to native Americans from that part of the world. These special exhibits connect the discipline with other academic parts of the university.

We visited the Center for the History of Psychology on a Friday afternoon. Admission is free; however, donations are welcome. There are marked spots in the lot for visitors right beside the building so there was no aggravation trying to find a parking spot. When we first entered, the size of the museum area made me wonder if it was worth the drive; I was hoping we wouldn’t be done with the whole thing in ten minutes. I was very pleasantly surprised. The museum had a plethora of information regarding the history of psychology and had several unique items from some very well known psychologists. For example they have the original Bobo doll from Albert Bandura’s study of behavior in children. There are also other interesting artifacts like the shock generator from Miligram’s study on human behavior. The air crib was something I’ve never heard of before. It was used by parents to keep their infants in and was thought to be healthier for them. There is one on display here and I can see why it never really caught on. There are also letters from many notable individuals; the one in particular that caught my eye was from Albert Einstein. Don’t let the size of the museum fool you; it’s packed with loads of interesting information. Even if you are not interested in the study of psychology it is still neat to see some of the equipment used for various studies and how the subject has progressed throughout time. There are restrooms in the building and there are places to eat in the area. I definitely recommend a visit!