A. A. Brill

A Register of His Papers in the Sigmund Freud Collection in the Library of Congress

Prepared by Grover Batts, Carolyn L. Craig, John D. Knowlton, and David Mathisen

Revised and expanded by Michael Spangler

Manuscript Division, Library of Congress

Washington, D.C.

2002

Contact information: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mss/address.html

Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Manuscript Division, 2008

Finding aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms008098

Table of Contents

Collection Summary

Selected Search Terms

Personal Names

Organizations

Subjects

Locations

Related Names

Occupations

Administrative Information

Provenance:

Processing History:

Transfers:

Copyright Status:

Preferred Citation:

Biographical Note

Scope and Content Note

Organization of the Papers

Description of Series

Container List

Collection Summary

Selected Search Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein.

Administrative Information

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Copyright in the unpublished writings of A. A. Brill in these papers and in other collections of papers in the custody of the Library of Congress has been dedicated to the public.

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.

Biographical Note

Scope and Content Note

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 Life and Work of Sigmund Freud. Notable in the series is a photograph album pertaining to the Boxer Rebellion compiled by Kittie Brill's brother Clarence Owen. Material pertaining to Brill's son, Edmund R. Brill, is in the Edmund R. Brill Papers series.

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 Forever Amber in 1946. Typed copies of Brill's replies often appear on the verso of the original letters he received.

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 Das Unbehagen in der Kultur.

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.

Organization of the Papers

The collection is arranged in six series:

• Family Papers, 1888-1967
• Correspondence File, 1908-1957
• Speeches and Writings File, 1895-1965
• Miscellany, 1895-1974
• Edmund R. Brill Papers, 1908-1994
• Oversize, 1893-1941

Description of Series

Container List