The Sigmund Freud Archives was incorporated forty-five years ago by the leading analysts of that period. The Archives developed under the leadership of Dr. Kurt R. Eissler who was the chief administrative officer until 1985. Dr. Harold P. Blum succeeded Dr. Eissler as Executive Director of The Sigmund Freud Archives. The other current officers of The Sigmund Freud Archives are: Drs. Alexander Grinstein, President; Bernard L. Pacella, Secretary/Treasurer; and Sidney S. Furst.

The goal of The Sigmund Freud Archives is to discover, collect, and preserve all the publications, letters, and other documents of Sigmund Freud and to maintain an archive of the Freud documentary materials. The Sigmund Freud Archives also facilitates research writing, publishing, and other activities relating to the work of Freud and the pioneers of psychoanalysis. The Collection encompasses Freud's letters, publications, Freud First Editions, personal documents, photographs, movies, etc.

Letters and papers of Anna Freud and many other renowned psychoanalysts are in separate collections, coordinated with The Sigmund Freud Collection. The Sigmund Freud Archives has a continuing contract with The Library of Congress, and the Freud Collection is protected and preserved at The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. The Freud Collection is now approximately ninety percent derestricted and is accessible to all scholars upon application to The Library of Congress.

The Sigmund Freud Archives are also responsible as co-trustee for the administration and development of the Freud Museum, London. The Freud Museum opened in July 1986 and contains a major collection of Freud's personal effects, including his extensive library, antiquities, and his study and consulting room. The Freud Museum displays the professional and working environment of Freud, and in addition to Museum Exhibits, sponsors relevant education, writing and research.

The Sigmund Freud Archives is a nonprofit organization which welcomes gifts and grants to further its scholarly activities and pursuits.

Cancellation of the Freud Exhibit, The Library of Congress

The Library of Congress had scheduled a major exhibition, examining Sigmund Freud's intellectual legacy. "Sigmund Freud: Conflict and Culture" was scheduled for exhibition at The Library of Congress in the Fall of 1996.

The Library of Congress postponed the Freud Exhibit, and the endangered Exhibit may be cancelled. It should be noted that the Freud Exhibit was designed directly through original documents, scientific papers, and personal correspondence without any deviation from historical accuracy. The Exhibit was to be an exposition and not a validation of Freudá ás ideas. From the inception of the Exhibit, a section called Contested Legacies included dissent and divergences from Freudá ás ideas beginning with Adler and Jung, and continuing until the present day. This presentation of dissent and resistance to Freud s ideas did not satisfy the small group of vociferous and polemical critics determined to halt the Exhibit. These critics could not be satisfied or pacified by efforts of conciliation and concessions by the independent Curator of the Exhibit, Professor Michael Roth. While funding was the manifest reason given for postponement, there are serious concerns that The Library of Congress had capitulated to pressure tactics and power politics.

Letters to The Library of Congress should affirm the irrefutable importance of Freud, not only to all psychotherapy, but to culture and the history of ideas. The assault on the Freud Exhibit is also an assault on libraries and universities and an infringement on all freedom of inquiry and expression. The Library of Congress should be urged to maintain the highest ideals of intellectual freedom and should not retreat from scholarly controversy of submit to censorship. Analysts should contact relatives or friends in the academic community to write to The Library of Congress concerning the great cultural value of the proposed Freud Exhibit and in defense of freedom of thought and expression.

Harold P. Blum, M.D.
Executive Director
The Sigmund Freud Archives, Inc.