60 Years of Psychology Archives and Million Dollar Match Challenge

Enlarge Image

Celebrating 60 years of preserving and sharing history
In 1965, the Archives of the History of American Psychology (AHAP) received its first official collection, consisting of just two boxes of papers from psychologists Harry and Leta Stetter Hollingworth. In the 60 years since, the Archives have grown from those two boxes to nearly 6,500 feet of multimedia archival collections. Through these materials, the Archives preserves and shares the stories of psychology and the diverse communities of researchers, scholars, educators, and practitioners whose groundbreaking work helps us better understand ourselves, our world, and each other. Join us as we reflect on our 60th Anniversary and plan for a secure and vibrant future.

Explore an expanded timeline of AHAP's history.

I was so pleased to have participated in the academic activities that were part of this year's celebration of the 60 years of Archives of the History of American Psychology (AHAP). After attending the Wednesday, October 1, 2025, Archives 60th Anniversary Open House, the Executive Director of the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology, Cathy Faye, Ph.D., invited me to return for a full day of learning about the history of AHAP at the Saturday, November 8, 2025, Symposium: Reflecting on 60 Years of the Archives of the History of American Psychology. Following the symposium, a HUGE surprise announcement was made at the celebratory cocktail party: A one-million-dollar challenge grant!

Over six years ago, I learned about the National Museum of Psychology. When I finally visited on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, I learned that there was much more to the Drs. Nicholas and Dorothy Cummings Center for the History of Psychology than just the psychology museum. My main interest remains in the museum, which I explained in my blog post about my first visit:

I am so glad that I finally toured The National Museum of Psychology on Wednesday, March 20, 2024!!
. . . [when] I first learned about The National Museum of Psychology . . .
. . . I immediately said to myself that I must go to explore this museum . . . I had earned a double major as a college undergraduate in psychology and history, with my psychology major being what I considered my primary emphasis, so I was excited to know there was a nationally recognized museum focused on my area of my interest so close to home.

I really enjoyed all the times I have visited the Center, and I greatly appreciate the opportunity to learn more about its history on this 60th anniversary. I put this blog post together to congratulate the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology board members, staff, and supporters, not only for the progress made over the Center's history, but for the bright prospects for the future!

 

 

Wednesday, October 1, 2025 - Archives 60th Anniversary Open House

1st Floor
● Refreshments
● Artifact Spotlights (throughout museum)

2nd Floor
● Archival Demonstrations
● Guided Tours (every 30 minutes beginning at 4:15pm)

3rd Floor
● Guided Tours
(hourly beginning at 4:30pm)

4th Floor
● Institute Galleries
● Spotlight on Asylum Postcards

Wow! What an evening! I had an excellent night at The University of Akron, attending the "Archives 60th Anniversary Open House" at the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology and Institute for Human Science and Culture.

First, it was very impressive how there were museum staff and very knowledgeable volunteers at informational booths throughout The National Museum of Psychology (first floor) explaining rarely seen museum artifacts.

Then, a curator showed us the staff area of the Institute for Human Science and Culture's collections, and explained their work there. It was great how attendees were shown parts of the archives on the second floor that are not normally open to the public!

During and after the event, I was very fortunate to have graduate student Tyler Peveich talk with me about the history of the building, the City of Akron, and the Cummings Center's relationship to the university. See more details in the next section of this blog post.

Finally, Executive Director Cathy Faye, Ph.D., showed us one of the archives storage sections of the building, and explained how they are protected so that they will always be available for future researchers. At the end of the tour, Dr. Faye invited me to the "Symposium: Reflecting on 60 Years of the Archives of the History of American Psychology" on November 8, 2025.

On my own, I also visited the fourth floor art galleries.

We are very lucky to have the national psychology museum here in Akron, Ohio. I highly recommending everyone visit the National Museum of Psychology! Here are my photos from the evening:

I recommend viewing videos in full screen mode.
Please feel free to pause the video to look more closely at the artifacts, exhibits, and artwork in the slides!!

 

 

Dissecting an Intersection: Built by Brick, Made with Akron
Exhibit researched, written, and curated by Tyler Peveich

I highly recommend talking to Tyler Peveich if you ever have the opportunity. I was fortunate to learn from him about the Cummings Center and Akron when I spoke with him at the open house and during the symposium. Later, I joined him and other graduate students at the evening cocktail party. I have embedded here his online exhibit that he explained to me is hosted for your enjoyment on the Microsoft Cloud using its Sway technology:

 

 

Saturday, November 8, 2025 - Symposium: Reflecting on 60 Years of the Archives of the History of American Psychology

I am glad I was able to capture this video of part of Dr. Cathy Faye's welcome message. She did a great job of setting the stage as we began the day-long symposium:

I invite you to view the following three items, and then see my notes and photos, which follow:

• I was live posting on Bluesky social, so click here (the link will open in new browser window) to see my photos and live observations. I always make all my social media posts public, so they can be viewed by anyone interested.

  “Symposium: Reflecting on 60 Years of the Archives of the #History of American #Psychology” at the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology www.uakron.edu/chp/events/ See my #psych blog posts to learn more about this #Akron #museum sosassociates.com/blog-tags/ps... @downtownakron.bsky.social
  
  [image or embed]

  — Stuart O. Smith, Jr. - sosAssociates.com (@sosjr.bsky.social) Nov 8, 2025 at 9:50 AM

• Please click on the following image to open the 28-page program book (PDF file) that the Center created for the symposium. In addition to the agenda and speaker bios for the symposium, it provides information about the Center's staff, board, and history. I recommending reading it before looking at my notes/photos, since it identifies the topic and presenters from the day:

  
  Open symposium program book PDF file (13.3 MB) in new browser window.

• I also recommend watching in the coming weeks the official Cummings Center for the History of Psychology @CCHPUA YouTube Channel for video(s) from the Saturday, November 8, 2025, psychology archives symposium. During the event, I was told that content from the day will be shared there. Visiting the Center's YouTube channel in the future has the additional benefit of letting you learn more about events that they will have in the coming years.

  
  Open Cummings Center for the History of Psychology YouTube Channel in new browser window.

The following are some of my notes and photos from the day:

• During Dr. Ludy T. Benjamin, Jr.'s fascinating talk, he mentioned the "Psychological Round Table." When it started, the Psychological Round Table was a secret society for young men (in their 30s) who were the the field of psychology -- "Over 40 is intellectually over the hill." It offered the opportunity for these men to learn to share ideas in an open environment. I would like to learn more about this group's history. During Dr. Benjamin's talk, I found (and shared on Bluesky) the following article: The cult of experiment: The Psychological Round Table, 1936-1941.

  While writing this blog post, I saw a Wikipedia article stating that Dr. Benjamin ". . . published articles and book chapters on the Psychological Round Table (a somewhat secret organization of experimental psychologists begun in 1936)." Dr. Benjamin ended his talk highly recommending the papers and books found in the archives here at the Cummings Center at the University of Akron.

• In the early years of the Center, staff members developed their own archive system. Now, the Center hires trained archivists.

• I embedded Tyler Peveich's project in the blog post (above), but I wanted to add here that it was interesting to learn from him and Dr. Jennifer L. Bazar how Roadway Express donated the current building, and how the GAP Foundation and other donations made the Center possible.

• Dr. John Huss's talk had some interesting examples of how humans' perceptions of the world do not match what is real.

• I was not familiar with the work of Henry H. Goddard, so it was interesting to learn about him from both Dr. Leila Zenderland's and later Dr. Michael L. Wehmeyer's presentations. I am including the following from Wikipedia, not to reflect the entirety of what was presented at the symposium, but as a starting point for learning about Henry H. Goddard:

  Henry Herbert Goddard (August 14, 1866 – June 18, 1957) was an American psychologist, eugenicist, and segregationist during the early 20th century. He is known especially for his 1912 work The Kallikak Family: A Study in the Heredity of Feeble-Mindedness,[2] which he himself came to regard as flawed for its ahistoric depiction of the titular family, and for translating the Binet-Simon Intelligence Test into English in 1908 and distributing an estimated 22,000 copies of the translated test across the United States. He also introduced the term "moron" for clinical use.[2]
  
  He was the main advocate for the use of intelligence testing in societal institutions including hospitals, schools, the legal system and the military. He helped develop the new topic of clinical psychology, in 1911 helped to write the first U.S. law requiring that blind, deaf and intellectually disabled children be provided special education within public school systems,[citation needed] and in 1914 became the first American psychologist to testify in court that subnormal intelligence should limit the criminal responsibility of defendants.

• When you look at the photos I share below and on Bluesky, please note the names of the books in the photos, which were referenced in the symposium.

• Dr. Cathy Faye ended the day with information on how some items at the Center are over 100 years old! She also talked about how archivists need to now find ways to save history in new ways, since technology keeps changing. Everything here is available to the public, and visiting researchers and scholars. She emphasized that the Center is focused on excellence.

I recommend viewing videos in full screen mode.
Please feel free to pause the video to look more closely at what is presented in the slides!!

 

 

Saturday, November 8, 2025 - Beautiful Lock 3!

Between the symposium and the evening celebration, I decided to use my time to enjoy the landscaping of Lock 3, where Akron's holiday displays and skating rink are located. If you search my past blog posts, you will see that I mention Lock 3 in 13 posts. I want to recommend you read last year's post to learn about the holiday lighting ceremony and the Welcome Santa Parade:

• Blog Date: December 29, 2024 - 2024 Holiday Lighting Ceremonies - University Circle, Lock 3 Akron, Downtown Cleveland, GE Nela Park
  See the section of the blog post about touring Akron's Summit ArtSpace and about the "Welcome Santa Parade & Grand Reopening Celebration For Lock 3"

I recommend viewing videos in full screen mode.

 

 

One-Million-Dollar Challenge!

When I was invited to attend the celebration cocktail party at Greystone Hall, all I could think about is how I have always enjoyed going there for Ohio Shakespeare Festival performances. I knew it would be an excellent party where I would have an opportunity to talk to the Center's supporters, but I was not prepared for the surprise announcement:

I recommend viewing videos in full screen mode.

The announcement created great excitement in the room, and took the already festive atmosphere to a higher level!

Here are the rest of my photos and videos from the celebration:

I recommend viewing videos in full screen mode.

 

During the cocktail party, I had a chance to talk to a nonprofit manager about how they should learn about how Cleveland GiveCamp provides FREE tech solutions to Akron and Cleveland area nonprofits. I talked to a Peg's Foundation staff member and learned about their new art gallery and the historic house they renovated for community use in Hudson, Ohio

 

 

Related Blog Posts

I always like to include in my blog posts a list of related posts that may be of interest to my readers:

• Blog Date: Friday, March 29, 2024 - My Day Exploring the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology

• Blog Date: October 7, 2024 - Disinformation Panel Discussion - Human Science Institute - Psychology Museum
  "This blog post is about the two of us [Stuart and Julie Smith] attending the October 2, 2024, panel of University of Akron professors discussing misinformation/disinformation, and then touring two sections of the Drs. Nicholas and Dorothy Cummings Center for the History of Psychology."

• Blog Date: December 29, 2024 - 2024 Holiday Lighting Ceremonies - University Circle, Lock 3 Akron, Downtown Cleveland, GE Nela Park
  See the section of the blog post about touring Akron's Summit ArtSpace and about the "Welcome Santa Parade & Grand Reopening Celebration For Lock 3"

You can find more related past blog posts under the following categories:

• "Akron" - If you are interested in other activities in the area near the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology, please take a look at these 29 past blog posts.

• "Museums" - There are 102 past blog posts going back to 2012, which is the first year I started writing blog posts.

• "History" - 15 past blog posts.

• "GiveCamp" - 14 past blog posts.

 

 

---

Open House October 1, 2025 . . .All are welcome and light refreshments will be offered throughout the evening.

November 8, 2025 . . . This free symposium . . . Light refreshments and lunch will be provided.

Disclosure: Both of the 60th anniversary daytime events I attended were open to the public at no cost, and included food and non-alcoholic beverages. As part of both of these FREE events, I received access to both the National Museum of Psychology, the Institute for Human Science, and art galleries, which normally have an adult admission price of $10. I also attended the invitation-only evening cocktail party at Greystone Hall, which included food and alcoholic drinks.

The invitation to all these events came as a result of my wife and co-blogger, Julie's, and my support of the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology with our sosAssociates.com blog posts about the museum, and promotional posts I have made on social media. I enjoyed my time at these 60th anniversary events, and wrote this blog post to share my experience attending them. I am very grateful to be able to be part of honoring the history of this great institution!