About The Archives
The ACNP owns a great trove of riches, not in its bank account, but in the manuscripts, photographs, recordings, and ephemera, in the ACNP History of Neuropsychopharmacology Archives. Here you can trace the history of ACNP's positions on issues such as animal welfare, inpatient funding, and placebo use in clinical trials. Here you can read the unpublished work and reflections of pioneers such as Frank Berger, Robert Domenjoz, Joel Elkes, Eva and Keith Killam, and Heinz Lehmann. Here you can see the faces of ACNP members and chart the organization's progress through the records of annual meetings and programs.
In 2008, the ACNP Archives found a new home at the Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library at UCLA, where historians Joel Braslow and Marcia Meldrum and archivist Russell Johnson have created new tools to make these treasures more accessible and valuable to ACNP members and other scholarly researchers. Please visit the new Archives website at http://www.acshn.info/, and discover an ACNP timeline, links to major papers in the history of neuropsychopharmacology, and individual finding aids to the ACNP's organizational Records and to the associated Collections, which currently include the CINP Collection compiled by Oakley Ray, and the Collected Papers of Frank Berger, Robert Domenjoz, Robert Kellner, Eva and Keith Killam, Heinz Lehmann, and Oakley Ray.
Even more exciting, visitors to the website are able to link directly to the digital archive, where materials of special interest - unpublished manuscripts or items of particular historical value - are posted as downloadable .pdf documents. These are readily searchable by name, date, and subject. This feature is provided through the California Digital Library. Researchers are able to read Heinz Lehmann's thoughts on the "young scientific discipline" of psychopharmacology, in an unpublished paper presented 40 years ago to the Canadian Medical Association, for example, or review ACNP drafts of guidelines for the FDA on the investigation of anxiolytic and antidepressive agents, written in 1972-74.
Another highlight of the website is the transcript of a 5.5-hour oral history conducted in 2008 with Barbara Fish, M.D., a founding member of ACNP and an early leader in the study of childhood schizophrenia and pharmacologic treatment of troubled children. The transcript can be downloaded; or site visitors may access a special digital version to read while listening to the audio file. Some of Dr. Fish's unpublished research documents are also posted to this section of the website.
Though we will continue to add to the on-line collection over time, not all of the ACNP Archives will be available on our website. ACNP members who want to do onsite research in these archival collections will be able to take advantage of the C.D. O'Malley Short-Term Research Fellowships, offered annually, which provide $1500-2000 to cover travel and other costs of doing research in the Special Collections at the UCLA Biomedical Library. These fellowships are competitive; however, we plan to reserve at least one Fellowship per year for ACNP researchers only.
The ACNP Archives is intended to be a growing collection. We welcome questions and suggestions from members, queries about donations of papers and memorabilia, and visits to the website and to the Archives at UCLA.
Why An Archive?
Some scientists believe that any information of value they have has already been published in the scientific literature. Others think that only the most distinguished scientists should have their papers preserved. Neither of these beliefs is true.
Often the scribble in the margin of a book, or notes on the back of a dinner napkin provide the invaluable link between inspiration and application. Letters, research notes, diaries, lab notebooks, and reports all may cast new light on important scientific developments. Even the most common scientific records and personal notes of every individual scientist contribute significantly to historical study. The more complete and historical those records are, the more complete and valuable is our picture of the whole body of research.
Scholars are interested not only in the outcome of research but in its evolution as well. The complex exchanges of correspondence, and frequent rewrites from the time a paper is submitted for publication to its final acceptance and publication serve to document the scientific process. The materials enable scientists to understand the scope of the problem, trace research through different group interactions, learn how the research was funded, how the investigation was linked to existing theory, and how it was applied. From such documentation, the public also gains an understanding of the process and the ultimate benefits of science.
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The Kinds of Materials to be Saved
Scientists and their families should be aware of the many types of materials historians need for scholarly research. Of prime interest are:
| Original Materials, Including: | Audiovisual Materials, career, social, or personal,such as: | Other Important Materials like: |
- correspondence
- lecture notes
- lab notebooks
- diaries
- research notes
- all correspondence relating to any aspect of your scientific life and career
| - photographs
- sketches
- videotapes
- tape recordings
- movie films
| - Newspaper articles and stories about the scientist and/or their research, clinical, professional, or personal activities
- Books and other secondary source publications from a psychopharmacologist's personal library
|
Frequently overlooked are personal records relating to family ties, religious views, and political affiliations. Scholars also gain important information from financial records of grant applications, as well as reviewer's comments on those applications and site visits.
The Archives has been established to ensure the safety and availability to scholars of these valuable documents.
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When To Decide
Wherever you are in your career: beginning, mid-way, retiring, or emeritus, now is the best time to make a decision about committing materials to the Archives. Call, write, fax, or e-mail the The International Archives to let us know of your decision. We will work with you to ensure that your files and records are transferred to the archives when you no longer need them. We will send you the appropriate forms and arrange for payment for shipping all materials. Your action will assure that your records will be available for scholarly study.
Call, write, fax, or e-mail us if you have questions. We are pleased to answer them and provide assistance in securing safe transfer of your material.
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For More Information
For further information, please contact the archives as follows:
Joel Braslow, Marcia Meldrum, and Russell Johnson
History and Special Collections, Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library, UCLA
CHS 12-077
Los Angeles CA 90095-1798
(310)-825-6940
jbraslow@ucla.edu
meldrum@history.ucla.edu
rjohnson@library.ucla.edu