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Inventory of the William McDougall Papers, 1892 - 1982

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Descriptive Summary

Title
William McDougall Papers, 1892 - 1982.
Creator
McDougall, William, 1871-1938.
Extent
9.5 Linear Feet,
10000 Items
Repository
University Archives, Duke University
Abstract
William McDougall (1871-1938), an early twentieth century psychologist, taught at Duke University from 1927 to 1938. McDougall espoused a hormic theory of psychology, emphasizing genetics and instinct over nurture. McDougall was also a strong proponent of parapsychology. The William McDougall Papers, 1892-1982, includes correspondence, writing, research, teaching materials, clippings, notebooks, photographs, diaries, drawings, and tributes. Most of the materials date from the time of McDougall's tenure at Duke University. Major subjects include Lamarckian experiments conducted by McDougall, the McDougall family (and sons Kenneth and Angus in particular), the study of parapsychology, the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University, the Psychology Department at Duke University, and anthropological studies in Borneo and the Torres Strait.
Language
English.
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Administrative Information

Access Restrictions
Patrons must sign the Acknowledgement of Legal Responsibility and Privacy Rights form before using this collection.
No restrictions.
Use Restrictions
Copyright for Official University records is held by Duke University; all other copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], William McDougall Papers, University Archives, Duke University.
Provenance
The William McDougall Papers was received by the University Archives as a gift in 1949 (A48-589), 1950 (A48-789), 1956 (A48-2339), 1967 (A67-80, A67-326), 1979 (A79-32), 1980 (A80-61, A80-80), 1985 (A85-76), 1986 (A86-31), 1990 (A90-53), and 1991 (A91-122).
Processing Information
Processed by Valerie Gillispie
Completed August 20, 2004
Encoded by Valerie Gillispie, September 2, 2004
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.
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Biographical Note

William McDougall, a noted psychologist, was born in Lancashire, England, in 1871. He was educated at the University of Manchester (1886-1890); St. John's College, Cambridge (M.B., 1894), St. Thomas Hospital in London; and at Oxford (M.A., 1908). He also studied at Gottingen and received the D.Sc. from the University of Manchester in 1919.

In about 1898, McDougall participated in an anthropological expedition to Borneo and the Torres Strait. Unsatisfied with anthropology, he turned back to psychology and taught at University College, London, from 1900 to 1904. From 1904 to 1920, McDougall served as a Wilde reader in mental philosophy at Oxford University. During World War I, he also served as a major in the Royal Army Medical Corps. In 1920 he became a professor of psychology at Harvard. In 1927, he came to Duke University as a professor and chair of the new Department of Psychology, a position he held until his death in 1938. McDougall was also one of the organizers of the British Psychological Society; he was for a time president of the British Society for Psychical Research; and in 1912 became a Fellow of the Royal Society of London.

McDougall was perhaps best known as a vigorous opponent of behaviorism and materialism in psychology. He strongly believed that nature, not nurture, was responsible for a person's psychological composition. Through empirical, scientific study, McDougall attempted to demonstrate that his "hormic theory of psychology," which emphasized instinct, was superior to the prevailing behaviorist theory of psychology at the time. For many years, he conducted experiments on rats to determine if training could be inherited from one generation to the next. Although his prolific writings and speeches were often controversial and unpopular, McDougall was considered one of the most prominent psychologists of his time.

He also showed a strong interest in extrasensory perception and parapsychological phenomena from his time at Oxford onward. Like his opinions on behaviorism, his advocation of parapsychology was also criticized. McDougall was instrumental in bringing J.B. Rhine to Duke University, and helping to establish the well-known Parapsychology Laboratory at the school.

In 1899, McDougall married Anne Amelia Hickmore of Brighton, England. They had five children: Leslie (Mrs. Paul Brown); Duncan Shimwell (who died while serving in the R.A.F.); Angus Dougal (who died in 1978); Kenneth Dougal (who was killed in France in World War II); and Janet Aline (who died in childhood). William McDougall died on November 28, 1938, and his widow in 1964.

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Collection Overview

The William McDougall Papers date from 1892 to 1982, and contain McDougall's own papers as well as those of his family and other researchers. The collection is organized into three series. The first series, Professional, includes correspondence, writing, research, teaching materials, clippings, and tributes. Most of the materials date from the late 1920s to the late 1930s, the time of McDougall's tenure at Duke University. Of particular note is his correspondence with other scholars in the fields of psychology and the social sciences. A card file which indexes these correspondents is available with the collection. McDougall's notes from his Lamarckian experiments on rats can also be found here, as can photograph albums from his anthropological travels in the late 1890s. The Family series contains correspondence, notebooks, photographs, clippings, writings, research and education materials, diaries, drawings, and other materials. Many materials belonging to two of McDougall's sons, Kenneth and Angus, are filed here. The third series, Other Researchers, contains writings and correspondence written by other researchers about McDougall or about McDougall's influence on psychology. These materials were not directly related to or owned by McDougall; most were generated after his death.
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Subject Headings

These and related materials may be accessed under the following subject headings in the Duke University Libraries online catalog.
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Related Material

Department of Psychology Records
Duke University Archives

Parapsychology Laboratory Records
Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Special Collections Department, Duke University

List of Series in Collection
Professional, 1892-1978
Family, 1901-1978
Other Researchers, 1919-1982
Oversize Materials
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Detailed Description of the Collection

Professional, 1892-1978

The Professional series includes correspondence, writing, research, teaching materials, clippings, and tributes. Most of the materials date from the late 1920s to the late 1930s, the time of McDougall's tenure at Duke University. The correspondence is arranged chronologically, and includes correspondence with a number of important psychologists and social sciences researchers. A card file of correspondents and subjects has been made, and is available at the Duke University Archives.
Also in the collection are many articles written by McDougall. Many are handwritten or typescript, and may be drafts of later articles. These are arranged according to title, and are followed by a number of unidentified articles and manuscripts. Also included are bibliographies of McDougall's work.
The research materials contains a number of notebooks kept by McDougall as he conducted Lamarckian experiments on rats at Duke University. Two photograph albums date from McDougall's early anthropological work with southeast Asian and Pacific island peoples. The Sarawak album in particular offers a unique glimpse at early 20th century life on several Pacific islands.
The teaching materials are mainly from the 1930s and relate to Duke University. The clippings and tribute materials provide information on McDougall's influence on his contemporaries, as well as his legacy.
Box 1

Correspondence
   Folder 1
1920-1930
   Folder 2
July 1931-October 1933
   Folder 3
November 1933-December 1933
   Folder 4
January 1934-September 1934
   Folder 5
October 1934-November 15, 1934
   Folder 6
November 16, 1934-December 1934
   Folder 7
January 1935-September 1935
   Folder 8
October 1935-December 1935
Box 2
   Folder 9
January 1936-May 1936
   Folder 10
July 1936-October 1936
   Folder 11
November 1936-December 1936
   Folder 12
January 1937
   Folder 13
February 1937-March 1937
   Folder 14
August 1937-November 1937
   Folder 15
December 1937-January 1938
   Folder 16
February 1938-June 1938
   Folder 17
July 1938-November 1938, undated
Box 3

Writings
   Folder 18
"Anthropology and History" (typescript)
   Folder 19
"The British in the Far East" (typescript)

"The Conduct of Life" (handwritten)
   Folder 20
Pages 1-150
   Folder 21
Pages 151-300
   Folder 22
Pages 301-460
   Folder 23
Appendix
   Folder 24
Envelope with notes
   Folder 25
"Cutaneous Sensations" (reprint)
   Folder 26
"Duke University Institute for Child Study" (typescript)
   Folder 27
"The Energies of Men" (second revision), 1932
   Folder 28
"Family Allowances, Birth Control, and Eugenics" (handwritten and typescript)
   Folder 29
"Fourth Report on a Lamarckian Experiment" (reprint), January 1938
   Folder 30
Notes on "The Group Mind" (typescript)
   Folder 31
"Health and Continual Youth" (handwritten and typescript)
Box 4
   Folder 32
"Health and Continual Youth" (handwritten)
   Folder 33
"Health and Continual Youth" (handwritten)
   Folder 34
"How Sambo Was Trained" (typescript)
   Folder 35
"Japan or America--an open letter to H.I.M. the Emperor of Japan" (handwritten)
   Folder 36
"The 'Margery Mediumship'" (reprint), 1925
   Folder 37
"Mechanism and Purpose" (handwritten)
   Folder 38
"Mechanism, Purpose, and the New Freedom" (typescript)
   Folder 39
"Mechanism, Purpose, and the New Freedom" (reprint), 1934
   Folder 40
"Mental Evolution" (typescript)
   Folder 41
"Modern Materialism" (typescript)
   Folder 42
"Modern Materialism" (typescript)
   Folder 43
Notes to "Modern Materialism" (typescript)
   Folder 44
"The Nature of Emotion" (typescript)
   Folder 45
"The Nature of Emotion" (reprint), 1933
   Folder 46
"New Light on Laughter" (reprint)
   Folder 47
"A Note on Suggestion" (reprint), 1920
Box 5
   Folder 48
Notes on his terminal illness (handwritten and typescript), circa 1938
   Folder 49
"Of the Words Character and Personality" (handwritten and typescript)
   Folder 50
"Parapsychology" (handwritten)
   Folder 51
"Pareto as a Psychologist" (reprint), October 1935
   Folder 52
"Philosophy and the Social Sciences" (typescript)
   Folder 53
"The Philosophy of J.S. Haldane" (reprint), October 1936
   Folder 54
"Psychical Research as a University Study" (typescript)
   Folder 55
"Psychoanalysis and Social Psychology" (typescript)
   Folder 56
"Recent Tendencies of German Psychology" (handwritten)
   Folder 57
"Relations Between Dissociation and Depression" (typescript)
   Folder 58
"Religion and the Sciences of Life" (reprint), 1932
   Folder 59
"The 'Reverse Picture' in Telepathy" (typescript)
   Folder 60
"Review of Max Eastman's Enjoyment of Laughter" (typescript)
   Folder 61
"The Rival Schools of Psychology" (typescript)
   Folder 62
"The Role of Experiment in Psychology" (handwritten)
   Folder 63
"Scope and Method of Social Psychology" (handwritten)
   Folder 64
"Should All Taboos Be Abolished?" (typescript)
   Folder 65
"Some New Observations in Support of Thomas Young's Theory . . ." (reprint)
   Folder 66
"A Theory of Muscular Contraction" (reprint)
Box 6
   Folder 67-71
Unidentified manuscripts (5 folders)
   Folder 72-74
Notebooks (3 folders)
Box 7
   Folder 75
Bibliographies, 1939-1943
   Folder 76
Publisher Information, 1932, undated
   Folder 77
Reviews of McDougall's publications

Research

Duke University Experiments
These experiments were McDougall's Lamarckian research with rats.
   Folder 78
Volume I, September 1928-May 1930
   Folder 79
Volume II, December 1929-February 1932
   Folder 80
Volume III, February 1932-February 1933
   Folder 81
Volume IV, circa January 1934
   Folder 82
Volume V, circa November 1935
Box 8
   Folder 83
Unnumbered Volume, 1936
   Folder 84
Correspondence, 1937-1938
   Folder 85
F. Kenneth Girdlestone notebook on parapsychology, circa 1916

Notebooks
   Folder 86
circa 1924
   Folder 87
September 1927-September 1928
   Folder 88
Undated
   Folder 89
Notes on Paralysis in Fowls, undated
Photo Album, circa 1892-1900--Located in Oversized Materials, Box 15
This album contains pictures from McDougall's days at Oxford, as well as some of his research travels to Asia.
Photo Album, "Sarawak" , circa 1900--Located in Oversized Materials, Box 15
This album contains pictures from McDougall's travels to the Pacific Island of Sarawak. The photographs appear to be platinum prints of the islanders, their villages, and their work, warfare, and cultural events. The album is inscribed, "For W McDougall with complements from R Shelford and Charles Hove."

Teaching
   Folder 90
Class Notes and Syllabus for Social Psychology, undated

Psychology Department
The Psychology Department subseries refers to the Duke University Department of Psychology.
   Folder 91
1934-1935
   Folder 92
1935-1936
   Folder 93
Budget, 1932-1935
   Folder 94
Ph.D. Candidates, circa 1932-1933
Box 9
   Folder 95
Ph.D. Examinations, undated
   Folder 96
Ph.D. Preliminaries circa 1934
   Folder 97
Ph.D. Research Proposals, undated

Student Papers
   Folder 98
A-D
   Folder 99
E-F
   Folder 100
H-P
   Folder 101
P
   Folder 102
Unidentified notes, undated

Clippings
   Folder 103
About McDougall's career, 1925-1937
Box 10
   Folder 104-105
Collected by McDougall, circa 1930-1938
   Folder 106
Obituaries of McDougall, 1938
   Folder 107
Tributes to McDougall, 1938-1978

Family, 1901-1978

The Family series contains correspondence, notebooks, photographs, clippings, writings, research and education materials, diaries, drawings, and other materials. The family kept notebooks in which observations on the children's development were recorded, and included in this series is a notebook for each child except for Kenneth. A significant number of family photographs are also included in this series, and have been sorted according to subject.
A major portion of the series is devoted to materials belonging to two of the McDougall children, Kenneth and Angus. Kenneth continued working on his father's Lamarckian experiments after William McDougall's death in 1938, and his research notebooks are included. Also included in his papers are his armed forces documents, correspondence with his mother during his service in World War II, and diaries kept in the late 1930s. In the Angus McDougall subseries, copies of drawings of Perkins Library, made in 1969, are included, along with correspondence and writings.
   Folder 108
Clippings, circa 1964-1966

Correspondence
   Folder 109
1920-1925
   Folder 110
1930-1944
   Folder 111
Condolence, 1938-1939
   Folder 112
Funeral Announcements and Programs, circa 1938-1978

Notebooks
   Folder 113
Angus McDougall, circa 1906-1914
Box 11
   Folder 114
Duncan McDougall, circa 1906-1917
   Folder 115
Janet McDougall, circa 1912-1914
   Folder 116
Leslie McDougall, circa 1901
   Folder 117
Pedigree (Genealogy), undated

Photographs
   Folder 118
William McDougall
   Folder 119
Anne (Mrs. William) McDougall
   Folder 120-121
Children of William and Anne McDougall
Box 12
   Folder 122
Other People
   Folder 123
Sculptures by Angus McDougall
   Folder 124
Wellwick House (McDougall home in England), 1961

Kenneth McDougall
   Folder 125
Armed Forces Materials, 1943-1944
   Folder 126
Biographical Profile, undated

Correspondence
   Folder 127
1939-1941
   Folder 128
1942
   Folder 129
1943
   Folder 130
1944
   Folder 131
Diary - Lunga Island, 1937
   Folder 132
Diary - Appalachian Trail, 1939

Education
   Folder 133
Diplomas and Certificates, 1942
   Folder 134
Invertebrates, 1938-1941, undated
Box 13
   Folder 135
Invertebrates, undated
   Folder 136
Surgery II Notebook, undated
   Folder 137
Zoology, 1939-1940
   Folder 138
Zoology, 1941-1942

Lamarckian Experiments notebooks--Located in Oversized Materials, Box 16
1938-1940
November 1940
Undated
   Folder 139
Research Notes, undated
   Folder 140
Writings, 1941, undated
   Folder 141
Writings - Poems, undated

Angus McDougall
   Folder 142
Correspondence, 1966-1967
   Folder 143
Drawings, 1969
   Folder 144
Writings - Published Poetry, 1971-1975
   Folder 145
Writings, undated

Other Researchers, 1919-1982

The Other Researchers series contains writings and correspondence written by other researchers about McDougall or about McDougall's influence on psychology. These materials were not directly related to or owned by McDougall; most were generated after his death. The series is arranged in alphabetical order by researcher name.
Box 14
   Folder 146
Bhupendra Chandra Kar: The Psychology of Prof. William McDougall with its Bearing on Education (dissertation), undated

Harold McCurdy

Correspondence
   Folder 147
Bevan, 1977
   Folder 148
Boden, 1972-1973
   Folder 149
Geinitz, 1981-1982
   Folder 150
Jones, 1977-1980
   Folder 151
Kastenbaum, 1967
   Folder 152
Krantz, 1967
   Folder 153
Leary, 1981
   Folder 154
Lubek, 1981
   Folder 155
McGraw-Hill, 1969-1975
   Folder 156
Newbold and related, 1978-1980
   Folder 157
Rhine, 1971
   Folder 158
Paper, 1971
   Folder 159
Lewis F. Richardson: Mathematical Psychology of War, 1919

Oversize Materials

Box 15
Photo Album, circa 1892-1900
Photo Album, "Sarawak" , circa 1900
Box 16

Lamarckian Experiments notebooks
1938-1940
November 1940
Undated
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Bibliography


Sally Jean Newbold, William McDougall, M.D., F.R.S., "A Psychologist in Changing Times", 1985.


Jane Gentry Smith, The mystery of the mind: a biography of William McDougall, 1985.