Scholar Exhibits

The Edwin G. Boring and Hanns Sachs Collection

In his book A History of Psychology in Autobiography, Dr. Boring admits that in 1933, at the suggestion of his friends and family, he began psychoanalysis treatment with a former colleague of Freud, Hans Sachs. Boring remained in psychoanalysis for a year, doing 5 sessions a week, but he found it to be ineffective in alleviating his concerns. Boring had hoped to achieve a change in personality by the end of this experience and was disappointed to find that he still had his old mindset. Four years later, both Sachs and Boring wrote about the experience in the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. The two men agreed that the psychoanalysis was not successful. Coincidently, the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute bears Hanns Sach's name for its library and archives. While the bulk of Hanns Sach's papers did not get preserved and perished in the home of George Wilbur after his death, BPSI holds his legacy, two audio interviews with people who knew him well, his biographical materials, and his endowment entrusted to the library by Sach's lawyer and benefactor, David R. Pokross.