Title: Joseph Jastrow Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1883-1942

Creator:

• Jastrow, Joseph, 1863-1944

Call Number: Mss 276

Quantity: 0.4 c.f. (1 archives box)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Papers of Joseph Jastrow, an experimental and developmental psychologist who is best known for his radio broadcasts and newspaper columns on pyschology for the lay person. After becoming the first professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin, Jastrow went on to join the New School for Social Research in New York and talk about psychology on NBC Radio. Papers include correspondence, primarily with his sister-in-law, Henrietta Szold; lectures; articles that include a psychological portrait of Adolf Hitler; and radio addresses from 1935-1936.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00276

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Joseph Jastrow, American experimental and developmental psychologist, was born January 30, 1863 in Warsaw, Poland, second son of Dr. Marcus and Bertha (Wolfsohn) Jastrow. His father was a rabbi who came to Philadelphia in 1869 to head the Rodeph Shalom congregation.

Jastrow finished his undergraduate work at the University of Pennsylvania in 1882 and received his MA there in 1885. That same year he accepted a fellowship in psychology from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore; he studied there under G. Stanley Hall and in 1886 received his doctorate, the first one given in psychology by Johns Hopkins.

While a student at Johns Hopkins, Jastrow roomed with the Benjamin Szold family. Rabbi Szold headed the Oheb Shalom Congregation and had been a close friend of Joseph's father, Marcus Jastrow, since the Jastrows had come to America. The Jastrow and Szold children had known each other all their lives. In 1888, Joseph Jastrow married Rachel Szold, Rabbi Szold's second daughter.

Also in 1888 Jastrow was appointed the first Professor of Experimental and Comparative Psychology at the University of Wisconsin. In Science Hall he set up the first psychological laboratory in the Midwest. He remained at the University of Wisconsin until 1927, one year after his wife's death, when the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents named him Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He then moved to New York, where he became associated with the New School for Social Research, 1927-1933.

Throughout his career, Jastrow was interested in presenting psychology to the layman. He was a popular lecturer; gave a series of broadcasts, 1935-1938, over NBC radio; and for a New York paper wrote a daily newspaper column, “Keeping Fit,” circa 1927-1933. In addition to his scholarly works, he wrote many popular books, especially later in his career. Some of his books are Fact and Fable in Psychology (1901), The Subconscious (1906), Character and Temperament (1915), and Getting More Out of Life (1940).

He died January 8, 1944 at the age of 79.

The Joseph Jastrow Papers, 1883-1942, consist of correspondence, articles, lectures, and radio addresses. The personal correspondence, 1883-1940, consists mostly of letters written by Joseph and Rachel to Henrietta Szold regarding family matters and letters from students about their activities and requests for recommendations. The other correspondence, 1940-1942, regards his proposed book, “The Nazi Mind,” an interpretation of Hitler's insanity.

There are a few articles on psychology and the University of Wisconsin; and the draft of “Hitler: Portraits,” a psychological study of Hitler.

The folder of lectures includes a few advertisements for his lectures and the draft of a lecture on the history of American psychology given at Johns Hopkins University.

The radio addresses are ones on popular psychology given over NBC radio in 1935-36.

Published Materials

• Levin, Alexandra Lee, “The Jastrows in Madison: A Chronicle of University Life, 1888-1900.” Wisconsin Magazine of History (Summer, 1963).
• Levin, Alexandra Lee, The Szolds of Lombard Street. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1960.

Manuscript Materials

• Hadassah-Rachel S. Jastrow Chapter Records, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Archives and Manuscripts Division, Madison.
• Joseph Jastrow Papers, Duke University Library, Manuscript Department, Durham, North Carolina.
• Joseph Jastrow biographical folder, University of Wisconsin Archives, Madison.
• Adele Szold Papers, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Archives and Manuscripts Division, Madison.
• Henrietta Szold Papers, Zionist Central Archives, Jerusalem, Israel.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Mrs. Keith Hutchison, New York, New York, Summer, 1944, and by Alexandra Lee Levin, Baltimore, Maryland, April 23, 1963. Accession Number: M63-71

Processing Information

Processed by Lindsay Nauen and Eleanor McKay, November 1, 1973.

	Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   1	Personal, 1883-1919, 1930, 1940
Box   1 Folder   2	Personal, undated
Box   1 Folder   3	“The Nazi Mind,” proposed book, 1940-1942
	Articles
Box   1 Folder   4	“Hitler: Portraits,” circa 1940
Box   1 Folder   5	Psychology, undated
Box   1 Folder   6	University of Wisconsin, 1915; undated
Box   1 Folder   7	Lectures, undated
Box   1 Folder   8	Radio Addresses, 1935-1936