Fordham, Michael (1905-1995)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0120 PP/FOR
Held at	: Wellcome Library   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://wellcomelibrary.org/ ›
Full title	: Fordham, Michael (1905-1995)
Date(s)	: 1905-1997
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 21 boxes, 5 o/s folders
Name of creator(s)	: Fordham | Michael Scott Montague | 1905-1995 | analytical psychotherapist Fordham | Frieda | nee Hoyle | 1903-1988 | analytical psychotherapist
Detailed catalogue	: Click here to view repository detailed catalogue

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Michael Scott Montague Fordham: Born, 1905; Trinity College Cambridge, 1924; St Bartholomew's Hospital, 1927; Junior Medical Officer, Long Grove Mental Hospital Epsom, 1932; Fellowship in Child Psychiatry, London Child Guidance Clinic, 1934; Consultant post to help evacuee children in hostels in the Nottingham area, 1942; helped set up a proposed training centre for analytical psychology, 1942; Appointed consultant to the Child Guidance Clinic at the West End Hospital for Nervous Diseases, 1946; first editor of Journal of Analytical Psychology, 1955; Founder Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatry, 1971; died, 1995.

Frieda Fordham: Born Winefride Rothwell on 23 Feb 1903. She first pursued a career as a dancer, but in 1920 married Percy Campbell Hoyle, by whom she had two sons. Following the end of this marriage, she studied at the London School of Economics and trained as a psychiatric social worker. Working in that capacity at the London Child Guidance Clinic, she met Michael Fordham, whom she married in 1940. She later trained as an analytical psychotherapist. Her publications included the much reprinted (and translated into several languages) An Introduction to Jung's Psychology (Penguin, 1953), widely regarded as a classic text on this subject. She was also responsible for the famous opening words of the BBC radio programme 'Listen with Mother' - 'Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin'. After a decade of increasing ill-health, she died on 7 Jan 1988.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of noted Jungian analyst Michael Fordham, with some papers of his second wife, Frieda Fordham, formerly Hoyle, also an analytical psychotherapist. They include his correspondence with C. G. Jung over a period of several decades and files relating to his work as co-editor of of Jung's published Collected Works, material on the Society of Analytical Psychology (of which Michael Fordham was one of the founders), correspondence with colleagues,and files relating to the infant observation courses at the Tavistock Clinic with which Michael Fordham became involved in later life. There is also a good deal on the evolution of Michael Fordham's ideas, both in his own published and unpublished writings, and in the annotated research material. There is much less surviving material relating to Frieda Fordham's life and career, apart from a substantial amount of correspondence from the years immediately preceding their marriage (PP/FOR/A.3/2), and a few published and unpublished papers (PP/FOR/B.9).

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English, French, German, Italian

System of arrangement:

A. Personal and biographical material
B. Published and unpublished writing
C. C. G. Jung
C.1 Correspondence of MF and FF with C. G. and Emma Jung
C.2 Editing the Collected Works
C.3 'Jungiana'
D. Society of Analytical Psychology
D.1 SAP general
D.2 Child Analysis Training
E. Organisations, institutions, journals
F. Correspondence with colleagues
F.1 Individuals
F.2 Grouped correspondence
G. Infant Observation
H. Reference materials by others
J. Materials relating to Michael Fordham from friends and colleagues
Some apparent anomalies and inconsistencies of filing were corrected.

Conditions governing access:

Early unpublished drafts of MF's autobiography may only be consulted with permission of his Literary Executors. The following files are restricted: F.1/13 until 1 Jan 2081, all the files in G.2 for 100 years, G.3/1, 3. and 4 for 100 years. These may be made available following completion of an application to consult restructed materials. The following files are closed: D.2/9 until 1 Jan 2083, F.1/19/1 until 1 Jan 2074, F.2/4 until 1 Jan 2074, G.3/2 until 1 Jan 2075.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Photocopies/photographs/microfilm are supplied for private research only at the Archivist's discretion. Please note that material may be unsuitable for copying on conservation grounds, and that photographs cannot be photocopied in any circumstances. Readers are restricted to 100 photocopies in twelve months. Researchers who wish to publish material must seek copyright permission from the copyright owner.

Finding aids:

Archival Information

Archival history:

These papers were formerly in the possession of Michael Fordham's son, Max Fordham.

Immediate source of acquisition:

These papers were given to the Wellcome Library in July 2002 and April 2004 by Max Fordham and James Astor, MF's executors.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Copied from the Wellcome Library catalogue by Sarah Drewery.

Rules or conventions:
In compliance with ISAD (G): General International Standard Archival Description - 2nd Edition (1999); UNESCO Thesaurus, December 2001; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Jan 2009