Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Rogers, Carl R. (Carl Ransom) (1902-1987), Center for Studies of the Person (La Jolla, Calif.), and Kirschenbaum, Howard (1944-)
- Abstract:
- Professional papers of Carl R. Rogers, an American psychologist who was one of the founders of humanistic psychology, and materials associated with his work with the Center for the Studies of the Person.
- Extent:
- 45 Linear Feet (10 cartons; 52 document boxes, 2 oversize boxes, approximately 450 audiovisual items)
- Language:
- English .
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Carl R. Rogers Collection, HPA Mss 32, Department of Special Collections, University Libraries, University of California, Santa Barbara.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The Carl R. Rogers Collection contains select papers of Carl R. Rogers; records from his association with the Center for the Studies of the Person, a group he co-founded; and reprint articles from the Carl Rogers Memorial Library. There is an extensive audio collection of Rogers's and other CSP members' lectures and seminars. Although written materials by Rogers form only a small part of the Rogers Collection, they are significant in the insight about Rogers's early thoughts that they allow.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Carl Ransom Rogers (1902-1987) was a psychologist and psychotherapist who initiated what Abraham Maslow later called the "third force" of psychology, following the behaviorism of Pavlov (and later B. F. Skinner) and Freudian psychoanalysis. This "third force" of humanistic psychology has been so closely identified with Rogers that it is often called Rogerian, a term its namesake objected to. His innovation was to treat clients as if they were essentially healthy, and he felt that growth would occur when a non-judgmental, non-directive (later, "client-centered") therapist created a warm, accepting environment to nurture the client and allow self-knowledge and self-acceptance to occur. Rogers is considered by many to be the most influential psychologist after Freud.
Rogers was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in Oak Park and on a farm in the city's outskirts. His early life was a blend of staunch Christianity, a heavy emphasis on education, and a scientifically-oriented interest in farming. In college at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, he changed his major from agriculture to history with an intent to enter the ministry after an influential trip to China with the World Student Christian Federation, a trip which, ironically, also led Rogers to question mainstream Christianity. After graduation, he married Helen Elliott, following an engagement of nearly two years. The two moved to New York, where Rogers enrolled in the liberal, intellectually-focused Union Theological Seminary. After being introduced to work in clinical psychology here, however, he changed his career path once again and entered Columbia University's Teachers College.
While completing his Ph.D. at Columbia and for several years thereafter, Rogers worked at the Rochester Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (RSPCC) as a child psychologist. It was during this time that he wrote his first monograph, The Clinical Treatment of the Problem Child, a work that brought him enough notice to be offered a full professorship at Ohio State University. While at Ohio, Rogers published Counseling and Psychotherapy, the book that summarized his own clinical experience while providing the foundation for nondirective therapy, and established the first supervised counseling practicum within an academic psychology department. In addition, it was during this time that he became the first therapist to record sessions with clients and offer them for study. All of this early work led to an offer by the University of Chicago for Rogers to establish a counseling center there.
Rogers spent twelve years at the University of Chicago, during which he developed the counseling center, served as president of the American Psychologists Association, and published Client-Centered Therapy, wherein he solidified his particular approach to therapy while shifting farther away from the traditional patient-therapist dichotomy. In Rogers's approach, the therapist frees the client from whatever impediments are keeping him or her from normal psychological growth, rather than curing the client of a previously-diagnosed neurosis or psychosis.
From 1957 to 1963, Rogers held a joint appointment as professor in both psychology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin, with an initial idea to integrate research and training within psychology , psychiatry, and social work. He later referred to this period as "the most painful and anguished episode in my whole professional life." Rogers found the effort frustrating, and ultimately resigned from the psychology department. This period did, however, see the publication of On Becoming a Person, Rogers's popular breakthrough. But after seven years in Wisconsin, Rogers had grown disillusioned with university life, and at sixty-two he and Helen moved to Southern California to join staff of the Western Behavioral Studies Institute in La Jolla, which had been founded by Richard Farson, a former student of Rogers's at Wisconsin. The WBSI was a loosely-structured research and training organization under which staff members formed their own programs and generated their own revenues. In its success, however, the looseness eventually became formalized and rigid, a direction with which Rogers felt uncomfortable.
In 1968, along with several colleagues and literally overnight, Rogers left WBSI to form the Center for the Studies of the Person along the original lines of WBSI, but with a commitment to maintaining the democracy and informailty that they felt had been lost. Indeed, the CSP was dubbed a "nonorganization," run by a "non-director." Under the umbrella of the CSP, Rogers worked with "encounter groups" of individuals as well as larger organizations such as companies and schools. He published Carl Rogers on Encounter Groupsin 1970, and Carl Rogers on Personal Powerin 1977. Rogers spent the last several years of his life traveling extensively to promote his Person-Centered Approach in workshops as far-reaching as "The Central America Challenge," an international meeting of sixty-five leaders from seventeen countries (The Vienna Peace Project Workshop, Rust, Austria, 1 - 4 November 1985).
Rogers died on Wednesday, February 4, 1987, of cardiac arrest following hospitalization for a broken hip, after having been a widower for nearly eight years.
Sources
DeCarvalho, Roy José. The Founders of Humanistic Psychology. New York: Praeger, 1991.
Kirschenbaum, Howard. "Carl Rogers." In Positive Regard: Carl Rogers and Other Notables He Influenced, ed. Melvin M. Suhd, 1-102. Palo Alto, California: Science and Behavior Books, 1995.
Kirschenbaum, Howard. On Becoming Carl Rogers. New York: Delacorte Press, 1979.
Missing Title Date Event 8 Jan 1902 Born in Chicago, Illinois1919 Enters agriculture program at University of Wisconsin-MadisonFeb - Aug 1922 Trip to the Far East22 Oct 1922 Becomes engaged to Helen Elliott23 Jun 1924 Receives BA in History from University of Wisconsin-Madison28 Aug 1924 Marries Helen Elliott1924 Enrolls in liberal Union Theological Seminary, New York CitySummer 1925 Serves as visiting pastor in Dorset, Vermont1926 Leaves Union for Columbia University Teachers College17 Mar 1926 David Elliott Rogers born1 Jun 1927 Recieves MA from Columbia University Teachers College1928 Joins Rochester Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (RSPCC) as child psychologist9 Oct 1928 Natalie Rogers born1929 Made director of the Child Study Department, RSPCC20 Mar 1931 Receives doctorate from Columbia University Teachers College1939 The Clinical Treatment of the Problem Childis published1940 Accepts position at Ohio State University as clinical psychologist and full professor11 Dec 1940 Client-centered therapy is "born" as Rogers addresses the University of Minnesota's psychological honors society1942 Counseling and Psychotherapyis published1945 Moves to the University of Chicago to start counseling center1946-1947 Serves as president of the American Psychological Association (APA)1951 Client-Centered Therapyis published1956 Receives the APA's first Distinguished Contribution Award1957 Accepts appointment at University of Wisconsin--Madison in psychiatry and psychology1961 On Becoming a Personis publishedJan 1964 Moves to La Jolla, California, to join staff of the Western Behavioral Studies Institute (WBSI)1968 With several WBSI colleagues, leaves to form the Center for the Studies of the Person (CSP)1968-1977 Works with "encounter groups," larger organizations1970 Carl Rogers on Encounter Groupsis published1977 Carl Rogers on Personal Power1977-1985 Travels extensively to promote his Person-Centered Approach in workshops29 March 1979 Helen Rogers dies30 Jan 1987 Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Congressman Jim Bates4 Feb 1987 Dies in La Jolla, California - Acquisition information:
-
The Carl R. Rogers Collection is comprised of Rogers's own papers, donated by him to the Humanistic Psychology Archives in 1986 and by his daughter Natalie after his death in 1987; and material related to Rogers and his associates donated by the Center for the Studies of the Person between 1993 and 1996.
Additional biographical materials have been donated by Howard Kirschenbaum in 2009. The materials include papers, interviews, films, and notes collected over a 35-year period.
- Processing information:
-
The collection has been arranged and described at the folder level. Folder dates within the container list were based on examination of the materials. Other folder-level information was taken from the original folder title, or, in the case of information enclosed in square brackets, supplied by the processor based on information found within the folder.
- Arrangement:
-
The collection is arranged by topic into 10 series:
- Series 1: China Trip
- Series 2: Biographical
- Series 3: Awards and Honors
- Series 4: Diaries
- Series 5: University of Chicago Counseling Center Discussion papers
- Series 6: Correspondence
- Series 7: Center for the Studies of the Person
- Series 8: Carl Rogers Memorial Library
- Series 9: Audiovisual materials
- Series 10: Howard Kirschenbaum biographical materials
- Physical location:
- Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
All materials in Series 4: Diaries are restricted from use.
Audiovisual materials must be reformatted for access. Please contact the Department of Special Research Collections in advance to request access.
- Terms of access:
-
Property rights to the collection and physical objects belong to the Regents of the University of California acting through the Department of Special Research Collections at the UCSB Library. All applicable literary rights, including copyright to the collection and physical objects, are protected under Chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code and are retained by the creator and the copyright owner, heir(s), or assigns.
All requests to reproduce, quote from, or otherwise reuse collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Department of Special Research Collections at UCSB at special@ucsb.edu. Consent is given on behalf of the Regents of the University of California acting through the Department of Special Research Collections at UCSB as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s), or assigns. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or their assigns for permission to publish where the UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Carl R. Rogers Collection, HPA Mss 32, Department of Special Collections, University Libraries, University of California, Santa Barbara.
- Location of this collection:
-
UC Santa Barbara LibrarySanta Barbara, CA 93106-9010, US
- Contact:
- (805) 893-3062