Description
The Reider papers consist of correspondence, invoices, biographical information, materials covering general psychoanalysis,
research into chess, investigations of homosexuality and male homosexuality in ancient Greece, game theory, and the history
of religion. The materials in the collection span the years 1822-1989, with most of the older materials being photocopies
of books. This collection provides an oversight of work and research done by Reider during his lifetime.
Background
Norman Reider was born in Canton, Ohio in 1907 and passed away in San Francisco in 1989. He obtained both his B.A. and M.D.
degrees at Western Reserve University (now known as Case Western Reserve University) in Cleveland, Ohio. Reider married Louise
Cohen in 1927, who became a psychiatric social worker but ceased this work starting in 1946. Following an internship in New
York in 1933, Reider relocated to Topeka, Kansas during the years 1934-1939 to complete a residency at the Menninger Clinic.
After brief stays in Los Angeles (analytic training), Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri (Army Medical Corps service), and New York
again, he settled in San Francisco, where he remained from 1946-1989. During this time, he maintained a private practice and
became involved with the San Francisco Society and Institute for Psychoanalysis, where he was Chair of the Education Committee
for many years. He also served as Chief of Psychiatry and Senior Psychiatrist at Mount Zion Medical Center. In addition, he
wrote a number of scholarly articles, including “Chess, Oedipus, and the Mater Dolorosa”, “Medieval Oedipal Legends About
Judas”, and “The Unmarried Father”. Professional associations he was involved with include the American Psychoanalytic Association,
International Psychoanalytic Association, and the Northern California Medical Society. He also served on the board of the
ACLU of Northern California. Throughout the five decades in which he lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, Reider established
himself as a distinguished psychoanalyst.