| Description | Meeting Papers and correspondence for the British Psychological Society BPS Centenary Working Party (CWP), 1996.
22 January 1996-4 March 1995: Correspondence between Stephen White, Geoff Lindsay and Steve Newstead regarding the position of Chair of the Working Party for the Centenary. Stephen Newstead writes a memo on the 4 March 1996 following the latest meeting of the F&GP Finance and general purposes committee stating he has agreed to take up the position of chair. The memo also details the current members of the Working Party as Mike Burton, Margaret McAllister, Chris Cullen and Margaret Mitchell, with the office representatives being Stephen White and Sue Cavill.
14 March 1996: A letter from Stephen White to Caroline van den Brul regarding the idea of a television series.
26 March 1996: Memorandum from Sue Cavill to the Centenary Working Party, officially noting Stephen Newstead as the chair; that the Working Party should have a budget of £5,000 and the starting budget for activity set at £50,000 as an indicative figure.
27 March 1996: A letter from Stephen White to Andy Tattersall, regarding his idea about a British Association for the Advancement of Psychology Section Resource Centre.
13 April 1996: BPS Centenary Working Party Minutes and Papers. Issues discussed were strategy for the centenary year, budget and potential sponsorship; Ideas for publications; Communication with sub-systems; Logo design for the Centenary; Plans for conferences; the Presidency in the centenary year–that Stephen Newstead would ask permission from the Council for an additional honorary Vice President for 2001 to help with the workload, and that it be suggested to the Council who would make a good President in the centenary year, and the role of the Presidency in that year.
1 July 1996: BPS Centenary Working Party Minutes and Papers. Issues discussed were ideas for the publications including bound Presidential lectures and the History of the Society; Communications and consultations with the sub-systems regarding themes for the Centenary Year; Agreement that the centenary logo should feature Psyche, and the dates of BPS; The location of the BPS Annual Conference in 2001 was discussed, as well as subsidisation. Stephen Newstead reported back regarding the Council’s agreement with the Working Party’s proposal to look for a President and an honorary Vice President for the centenary year–criteria including being a good public speaker, good with the media; a reputable psychologist; high level social skills and familiarity with the society. A document from the Psychologist Policy Committee was received with ideas for the Centenary year, including the idea for a Delphi exercise. It was agreed Hannah Steinberg should contact Sandy Lovie about the history of the BPS Logo. Information regarding the possibility of a centenary tie was noted.
5-15 July 1996: Initial correspondence with Honor Clark, Curator 20th Century, at the National Portrait Gallery, about the potential of an exhibition. Following this, a letter to Dr Halla Belloff, 15 July 1996, inviting her to work as an 'external curator' on such a project.
15 Jul 1996: Follow up letter to earlier 1992 correspondence, to Dr Robert Bud at the Science Museum, regarding the possibility of an exhibition in the centenary year.
14 November 1996: BPS Centenary Working Party Minutes and Papers. Matters discussed include an update on the work between John Groeger and the Science Museum on the proposed exhibition, including budget. Report from Steve Newstead on the rejection of the book proposal for a History of the Society by the Books & Special Projects Group, but also noting the positive work of the Science Museum exhibition could help to support the proposal for the book. Feedback from the sub-systems including ideas from the History and Philosophy Sections. Noting the letter to John Walker about facilities at the Greenwich Millenium site. regarding Designs for a centenary logo noted and to be sent to the next Council meeting. Notes from the last Council meeting on the CWP’s proposed criteria for selecting a Centenary President. Correspondence and the proposal developed between Dr Halla Belloff and the National Portrait Gallery about the proposed display of photographs of psychologists was noted with thanks. It was noted that Precilla Choi would join the CWP as soon as Chris Cullen ceased to be a member of the SCC (Standing Conference Committee).
12 December 1996: Press cutting from Nature, vol 304, regarding the National Lottery funding medical research. |
| AdminHistory | The Psychological Society was founded on 24 October 1901 at University College London. Its aim was 'to advance scientific psychological research, and to further the co-operation of investigators in the various branches of Psychology.' It changed its name to 'The British Psychological Society' in 1906, to avoid confusion with another society.
In August 1991, ten years before the centenary of BPS in 2001, Stephen White [BPS Director of Information], initiated activity among BPS staff to support the celebration centenary.
A working party was founded in August 1991 following a meeting of Stephen White, Allan Sakne [BPS Business Manager], Amanda Briggs [BPS Conference and Events Manager] and David Bird [BPS Assistant Executive Secretary].
The working party was later to be established as a formal Sub-Committee under the Finance & General Purposes Committee [in 1996 - CHECK]
This file contains the first notes and correspondence of the Working Party formed in 1991. The activity of the working party appears to have largely dropped until it was picked up again in 1994-1995, when the first official minuted meeting of the working party was held 19 December 1995.
Varied ideas for centenary activity from the committee were generated from the start.
This was supplemented by a call out for ideas to the membership in the September 1995 issue of The Psychologist, ['News, p. 387, The Psychologist, Vol 8 No 9, September 1995, p387] |
| Copyright | Subject to the condition of the original, copies may be supplied for private research use only on receipt of a signed undertaking to comply with current copyright legislation. Permission to make any published use of material from the collection must be sought in advance from the Head of the History of Psychology Centre and Archives and, where appropriate, from the copyright owner. Where possible, assistance will be given in identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material |