Converted to EAD3 : Encoded Archival Description (EAD), Version 3 : Release: 1.1.1 : Release Date: 2019-12-16. Validating against latest version of schema.
Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm75051748
Collection material in English
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
The papers of A. A. Brill, psychiatrist, writer, lecturer, and translator of Sigmund Freud's major works in the United States, were given to the Library of Congress by his son, Edmund R. Brill, via the Sigmund Freud Archives. The Library received the first installment of the papers in 1967, with several additions given from 1968 to 1987. Further additions were received in 1997 from the estate of Edmund R. Brill and from Theodore and Lynn Reese. Supplemental material was purchased in 1999.
The papers of A. A. Brill were arranged and described in 1975, with various additions incorporated into the collection from 1978 to 1986. The collection was reprocessed in 2002 incorporating additional material received between 1987 and 1999.
Items have been transferred from the Manuscript Division to other custodial divisions of the Library. Original drawings and some photographs have been transferred to the Prints and Photographs Division. Sound recordings of lectures have been transferred to the Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division. Some books have been transferred to the Rare Book and Special Collections Division, others to the Anglo-American Acquisitions Division. All transfers are identified in these divisions as part of the A. A. Brill Papers.
Copyright in the unpublished writings of A. A. Brill in these papers and in other collections of papers in the custody of the Library of Congress has been dedicated to the public.
The papers of A. A. Brill are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, A. A. Brill Papers, Sigmund Freud Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of Abraham Arden Brill (1874-1948) span the years 1888-1994, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1900-1948. The collection documents Brill's significant role in the introduction and establishment of the psychoanalytic movement in the United States. The papers are organized in the following series: Family Papers, Correspondence File, Speeches and Writings File, Miscellany, Edmund R. Brill Papers, and Oversize.
The Family Papers contain Brill's letters and postcards to his family, estate and financial records, military records, and photographs. Many of the Brills's early family letters are in Esperanto. Also included are personal and professional papers of Brill's wife, Kittie Owen Brill, which contain letters exchanged with psychoanalyst Ernest Jones concerning Jones's representation of A. A. Brill in his
The Correspondence File represents many aspects of Brill's career and activities in the psychoanalytic movement. Having trained in psychiatry in New York, Brill worked in Europe in 1907-1908 with Eugen Bleuler and other early psychoanalysts and became interested in the psychoanalytic movement. After being introduced to Sigmund Freud in Vienna, Brill secured permission to translate Freud's works into English. He was the first person to practice psychoanalysis in the United States, founded the New York Psychoanalytic Society, and was an outspoken advocate of the movement. The correspondence documents his relations with pioneers in the field, professional organizations, and publishing houses. Significant among the correspondence are letters from psychoanalysts Eugen Bleuler and Ernest Jones, who introduced psychoanalysis in Canada and later practiced in Great Britain. Other correspondents include Alfred Adler, Anna Freud, Smith Ely Jelliffe, and Hendrik Willem Van Loon. Correspondence with publishers pertains to Brill's translations of Freud's works and his own writings. His frequent commentary on issues of the day for newspapers and other media are scattered throughout the correspondence and in interviews and comments in the Speeches and Writings File. The Macmillan Company file documents Brill's interest in the obscenity charges brought against Kathleen Winsor's novel
The Speeches and Writings File contains articles, book drafts, transcripts of discussions, interviews and comments, typed lectures, radio broadcast scripts, reviews, and translations. Significant items in the series include typescripts of two unpublished books by Brill: “On Melville's Billy Budd” and “Psychic Suicide,” an expanded version of an earlier article. No significant material pertaining to his published books is present. The articles span Brill's entire career and include printed copies that appeared in academic journals and the popular press. Reactions to talks on euthanasia and a psychoanalytical profile of Abraham Lincoln supplement the lecture file. In many cases typescripts of lectures in the file were later published as articles. Also included are typed and printed translations of articles and books by Sigmund Freud, most notably Brill's heavily annotated copy of Freud's
The Miscellany series contains material pertaining to several organizations in which Brill was active. Items relating to the New York Psychoanalytical Society include a draft of Brill's history of the organization and his copies of minutes for 1911-1925. The series also includes biographical material, certificates, clippings, printed matter, and programs and invitations.
The Edmund R. Brill Papers are chiefly composed of copies of A. A. Brill's correspondence and other items acquired by Brill's son Edmund from other institutions and individuals to supplement his father's papers. Some files also include copies of letters received by Brill. Correspondents represented include Theodore Dreiser, Sigmund Freud, Ernest Jones, Mabel Dodge Luhan, Karl Menninger, and Adolf Meyer. Also included are related items generated in the acquisition of this material and the administration of the collection and the elder Brill's literary rights.
The collection is arranged in six series:
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm75051748
Correspondence, estate and financial records, military records, photographs, certificates, school papers, and obituaries.
Arranged alphabetically by name of person or type of material and chronologically thereunder.
Letters received and copies of letters sent.
Arranged alphabetically by name of person or organization and chronologically thereunder.
Printed and typed copies of articles, unpublished books, discussions, interviews and comments, lectures, radio broadcasts, reviews, and translations, as well as annotated copies of writings by others.
Arranged alphabetically by format or title and chronologically thereunder.
Biographical material, certificates, clippings, organizational records, printed matter, programs, and invitations.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material or by topic and chronologically thereunder.
Correspondence, copies of letters by A. A. Brill and others, copyright permissions, notes, and other material pertaining to the administration of the papers of A. A. Brill.
Certificates and an interview proof.
Arranged and described according to the series, containers, and folders from which the items were removed.