| AdminHistory | The primary function of the Society's History of Psychology Centre (HoPC) was 'to preserve the history of the Society and the heritage of UK psychology for future generations'. Though HoPC was formally created in 2002, the origins of the Society's desire to preserve this heritage and history can be traced back almost half a century earlier, to 1956, when John C. Kenna became the first Honorary Archivist. Since those early days, and thanks to Kenna, who held the post for 23 years, and to the only two other Honorary Archivists - Sandy Lovie (1979-1998) and Graham Richards (1998-2002), the Society's archive collections have grown steadily, in size, scope and significance.
The archives were at first held at the University of Liverpool, but moved to Staffordshire University in 1998, where the Centre for History of Psychology was established. They were on the road again in 2002, when space was allocated in the basement of the Society's new London office in John Street and HoPC was created. Graham Richards was appointed Director and took up the post in September 2002. HoPC was tasked with achieving three broad objectives:
to provide an academic research and resource centre in the history of psychology
to promote the teaching of and research in the history of psychology
to organise lecture series, workshops and conferences.
From 2002 to 2006, under Graham Richards' directorship, HoPC hosted seminars at John Street, developed the archives with some important acquisitions, created a centre that could be visited by academics and researchers, began an oral history project interviewing eminent psychologists interviewing nearly 150 people up until 2017 [See AUD/002]. It also set about cataloguing the collections, made possible by the appointment in July 2003 of Mike Maskill as the Society's first professional archivist (until December 2016). By 2006 major parts of the collection - about three quarters of all the material held at the time - had been sorted, arranged and catalogued.
In early 2006 HoPC lost its home. The Society had decided that it needed to look for premises in London that better suited its own needs for meeting rooms and that could offer disabled access. John Street was sold, and the archive collections were moved into long-term storage and became for the most part inaccessible to researchers. In the meantime new premises had been found in Tabernacle Street, but the Society's Board of Trustees decided not to make space available for the archives; new arrangements would have to be made. Graham Richards was also due to retire in mid-2006, so would not be available to see through any new plan for HoPC and its collections. Peter Dillon Hooper took over part time management of the History of Psychology Centre from 2006 until December 2017.
The Society had come to the conclusion that the best way to safeguard the future of the collections and the activities of HoPC was in partnership with other institutions. It was also decided that responsibility for the Society's library should come under HoPC's wing. The result was that HoPC has formal collaborative arrangements with:
Wellcome Library
Science Museum
Wellcome Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL
Senate House Library, University of London.
British Library
While HoPC maintained an office in Tabernacle Street, the major parts of the archives were loaned to the Wellcome Library, Euston Road, London.
A collaboration with the Science Museum resulted in a five-year sponsorship of the BPS Curator of Psychology at the Museum. Phil Loring was appointed in July 2009. Apart from ensuring the visibility of psychology in the Museum generally, he organised a series of public outreach events at the Dana Centre and a major psychology exhibition during the sponsorship term. In 2014 Mind Maps: Stories of Psychology exhibition was held at the Science Museum
The history of psychology seminar series that began at John Street had been interrupted when HoPC moved out from John Street, but was revived in January 2007 in partnership with the Wellcome Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL. An annual programme of 10-12 seminars were held at the Wellcome Centre until 2010. The Seminar series and an annual Stories of Psychology Seminar were subsequently first at Wellcome in 2011 and then at Senate House where the Society's library collections were housed.
11 October 2011 Stories of Psychology: Archives, Histories and What They Tell Us
16 October 2012 Stories of Psychology Archives, Histories and What They Tell Us
15 October 2013 Stories of Psychology Psychology and the Arts'
From 2015 an annual postgraduate research resources day was held also at Senate House.
Other projects included a standalone History of Psychology Centre Website, the Origins [of Psychology] website launched April 2012, monographs publications series including British Educational Psychology: The First Hundred Years (2013) and Clinical Psychology in Britain: Historical Perspectives (2015). |