Eric Berne Papers MSS.2013.18

Finding aid prepared by Kate Tasker
University of California, San Francisco
530 Parnassus Avenue
San Francisco, CA, 94143-0840
(415) 476-8112
http://www.library.ucsf.edu/collections/archives/contact
2014-03-10


Title: Eric Berne Papers
Identifier/Call Number: MSS.2013.18
Contributing Institution: University of California, San Francisco
Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 1.3 Linear feet (2 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1963-1970
Abstract: This collection includes audio recordings on 51 audiocassette tapes and 14 CDs. Recordings were created by the International Transactional Analysis Association (ITAA). Content relates to meetings of the San Francisco Social Psychiatry Seminars (SFSPS) and includes group therapy sessions, reports of conferences and presentations, and discussions of transactional analysis. The collection also includes seven introductory lectures on audiocassette on transactional analysis (Transactional Analysis 101) by Eric Berne. The recordings were copied to 14 CDs in 2006. Original recordings date from 1963-1970.
Creator: Berne, Eric L., Dr., (Eric Lennard Berne), 1910-1970
Creator: International Transactional Analysis Association

Preferred Citation

Eric Berne Papers, 1963-1970, MSS 2013-18. Archives and Special Collections, University of California, San Francisco

Biography

Eric L. Berne (1910-1970) was a practicing psychiatrist, lecturer and author. Best known for his development of the theory of Transactional Analysis, Berne published dozens of scholarly articles in the field of psychoanalysis and was the author of eight major books, including the bestseller Games People Play. He was a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, a Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a Corresponding Member of the Indian Psychiatric Society, and a member of the American Medical Association and the American Group Psychotherapy Association. He served as a consultant in psychiatry at Mt. Zion Hospital and at the McAuley Neuropsychiatric Institute (St. Mary’s Hospital) in San Francisco, and was an Associate Psychiatrist and Lecturer in Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center.
Berne organized the San Francisco Social Psychiatry Seminars (SFSPS) beginning in 1950-1951 as a way to share psychotherapy methods and theories among mental health professionals. The group incorporated as the International Transactional Analysis Association (ITAA) in 1964 and published The Transactional Analysis Bulletin. The ITAA currently has approximately 1,000 members worldwide.
Eric Lennard Bernstein was born May 10, 1910 in Montreal, Quebec, to parents David Hillel Bernstein, M.D., and Sara Gordon Bernstein. His father was a general practitioner and worked from an office in the family’s home on Sainte Famille Street. Sara Bernstein was a professional writer and editor. Both parents graduated from McGill University, which Berne later attended. He had one sister, Grace, born in 1915. Dr. Bernstein died in 1920 of tuberculosis when Berne was only 9 years old; his mother never remarried, and worked as a teacher and newspaper reporter to support the family.
Berne enrolled at McGill University to study English, and worked at the Royal Montreal Golf Club to help pay his tuition. Known as “Lennie” to his classmates, he earned scholarships in mathematics and psychology and wrote for the college literary magazine under fanciful nom de plumes such as Ramsbottom Horseley, Lennard Gandalac, Cynical St. Cyr, Peter Pinto, and Count Gandalac. He earned his B.A. in 1931 and continued at McGill to earn his M.D. and C.M. (Master of Surgery) degrees in 1935.
Berne came to the United States in 1935 for a one-year internship at Englewood Hospital in New Jersey, followed by a two-year residency program in psychiatry at the Psychiatric Clinic of Yale University School of Medicine. After completing his residency in 1938 he traveled to Syria, Lebanon, and Turkey to study psychiatric illnesses and mental hospital facilities in different parts of the world. This research continued throughout his professional life, and he published studies including “Psychiatry in Syria” (1939), “Some Oriental Mental Hospitals” (1949), “Difficulties of Comparative Psychiatry: The Fiji Islands” (1959), “The Cultural Problem: Psychopathology in Tahiti” (1960) and “A Psychiatric Census of the South Pacific” (1960).
In 1938-1939 Berne became an American citizen and shortened his name to Eric Berne. He began practicing psychiatry at the Wadsworth Sanitarium and at a private practice in Norwalk, Connecticut. He continued training at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute under Dr. Paul Federn, an Austrian psychoanalyst whose research in “ego psychology” influenced Berne’s development of Transactional Analysis. Berne married Ruth Harvey in 1942, with whom he had two children. The marriage ended in divorce in 1946.
In 1943 he enlisted in the U.S. Army Medical Corps as a 1st Lieutenant and was assigned to Baxter General Hospital in Spokane, WA and later to Fort Ord Regional Hospital near Monterey, CA. He advanced to the rank of Major before leaving the service in 1946. After World War II Berne settled in nearby Carmel-by-the-Sea, a small community of artists and free-thinkers. He began working on his first book, The Mind in Action, which was published by Simon and Schuster in 1947. Berne continued his formal training as a psychoanalyst at the San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute, under the tutelage of prominent psychologist Erik Erikson.
In 1947 Berne met Dorothy de Mass Way, a recently divorced young woman with three children, at one of the intellectual salons he hosted at his home in Carmel. They married on Christmas Eve, 1948. Berne and Dorothy had two sons, Eric Jr. and Terence. Berne continued to write and publish articles, spending hours in his separate study. He accepted an appointment as Assistant Psychiatrist at Mt. Zion Hospital in San Francisco while simultaneously serving as a Consultant to the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army. He also worked as Adjunct and Attending Psychiatrist at the Veterans Administration and Mental Hygiene Clinic in San Francisco in addition to his private practices in San Francisco and Carmel.
By 1950 his approach to psychotherapy and analysis had diverged from more traditional practices, and he terminated his study at the San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute. He began developing his own school of thought which eventually became Transactional Analysis. Berne viewed social interactions as basic exchanges, or “transactions” between people, who acted from one of three ego-states (Parent, Adult, or Child) in order to get what they want. Berne termed these common transactions “games” and analyzed them using frank and often humorous titles like “Why Does This Always Happen to Me” (WAHM) and “Let’s You and Him Fight” (LYAHF). By 1958 he had published three seminal articles outlining the theory of Transactional Analysis: “Intuition V: The Ego Image” (1957); “Ego States in Psychotherapy” (1957); and “Transactional Analysis: A New and Effective Method of Group Therapy” (1958).
Beginning in 1950-1951 Berne led evening seminars in Carmel to bring friends and followers together to discuss and test his new methods. In San Francisco he formalized this practice and organized the San Francisco Social Psychiatry Seminars (SFSPS), which incorporated in 1962 and began publishing the Transactional Analysis Bulletin with Berne as editor. Two years later the organization became the International Transactional Analysis Association (ITAA) to include practitioners from around the country and around the world.
In 1964 Berne published Games People Play to share his theories and methods with psychiatrists and other mental health professionals. It achieved spectacular success as a popular self-help book, selling over 2 million copies and spending 111 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Berne’s professional success took a toll on his personal life, and he divorced his second wife Dorothy in 1964. He continued writing and publishing articles and books, including Principles of Group Treatment (1966) and Sex in Human Loving (1970), based on a lecture he presented at the Jake Gimbel Sex Lecture Series at the Langley-Porter Psychiatric Clinic at the University of California, San Francisco. He married a third time in 1967, to Torre Peterson Rosenkranz, but divorced in 1970. Berne was completing the manuscript for his final book, What Do You Say After You Say Hello? when he was hospitalized with chest pains. Eric Berne died from a massive heart attack on July 15, 1970. He is buried in the El Carmelo Cemetery in Pacific Grove, California.

Related Archival Materials

Related materials documenting Berne’s development of Transactional Analysis and his work with the International Transactional Analysis Association may be found in the following collections in this repository: MSS 82-0 (Eric L. Berne Papers, 1939-1970); MSS 89-12 (Eric L. Berne Papers, 1931-1970); MSS 2003-12 (Eric L. Berne Papers, 1933-1971); MSS 2005-08 (Eric L. Berne Papers, 1929-1970); and 2013-19 (Eric L. Berne Papers, 1904-2007).
See MSS 82-0 especially for audio recordings of San Francisco Social Psychiatry Seminars meetings.

Processing Information

The collection was processed by Kate Tasker in 2013-2014. Detailed processing and digitization for these materials were made possible by generous support from 17 TA Associations worldwide and many individual donors through the International Transactional Analysis Association.

Arrangement

Materials are organized in two series: Series I. International Transactional Analysis Association Tape Library and Series II: Eric Berne Transactional Analysis 101 Lectures. Recordings are arranged in numerical order. Tape numbers in Series I correspond to an ITAA tape library inventory.

Provenance

This collection was donated by Carol Solomon and the International Transactional Analysis Association (ITAA) in 2014.

Scope and Contents

This collection includes audio recordings on 51 audiocassette tapes and 14 CDs. Recordings were created by the International Transactional Analysis Association (ITAA). Content relates to meetings of the San Francisco Social Psychiatry Seminars (SFSPS) and includes group therapy sessions, reports of conferences and presentations, and discussions of transactional analysis. The collection also includes seven introductory lectures on audiocassette on transactional analysis (Transactional Analysis 101) by Eric Berne. The recordings were copied to 14 CDs in 2006. Original recordings date from 1963-1970.

Availability

Collection is open for research.
The UCSF Archives and Special Collections policy places access restrictions on material with privacy issues for a specific time period from the date of creation. Access to records that contain personal and confidential information about an individual or individuals is restricted for 75 years from date of creation or until the death of the individual mentioned in the records, whichever is longer. Medical records are restricted for 50 years after an individual’s date of death, if known. If the date of death is unknown, access is restricted for 100 years from the individual’s date of birth or 100 years from the date of record creation, whichever occurs first.
Some audio recordings have been restricted to protect personal identifiable information or Protected Health Information (PHI) in accordance with federal regulations and UCSF Archives and Special Collections privacy policies. Restrictions are noted at the item level. Please contact the Head of Archives and Special Collections for more information.
Playback of audiocassette tapes may not be possible due to the physical condition of tapes.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright has not been assigned to the Library & Center for Knowledge Management. All requests for permission to publish or quote from material must be submitted in writing to the UCSF Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Library & Center for Knowledge Management as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Psychotherapy
San Francisco Social Psychiatry Seminars
Transactional analysis

Box 1

International Transactional Analysis Association Tape Library, Series I.  1965-1970

Scope and Contents

Contains 44 audiocassette tapes from the International Transactional Analysis Association (San Francisco Social Psychiatry Seminar) Tape Library. Tape no. 7, listed in inventory as "Dusay, Jack, & Steiner, Claude. Trip to England. Counter Scripts" is not part of this collection.
Box 1, Folder 1

ITAA Library of Cassette Tapes Inventory ca. 1970

Box 1, Item 1

01. Berne, Eric. Group Meeting - Nancy Brings her Daughter Eve. 1966-01-12

Access Restrictions

Restricted.
Box 1, Item 2

02. Plays, Nancy, & Berne, Eric. Group Meeting. Money Game. 1967-02-01

Access Restrictions

Restricted.
Box 1, Item 3

03. Berne, Eric. Group of Adolescents - 2nd Meeting. 1967-05-04

Access Restrictions

Restricted.
Box 1, Item 4

04. Steiner, Claude. Decisions. 1967-05-31

Box 1, Item 5

05. Berne, Eric. Scripts. 1967-06-06

Box 1, Item 7

06. Berne, Eric. Script - How It Relates to Myth or Fairy Tale. 1967-06-13

Box 1, Item 8

08. Post Mortem. ITAA Conference. 1967-08-22

Box 1, Item 9

09. Berne, Eric. Group of Relatives. 1967-09-19

Access Restrictions

Restricted.
Box 1, Item 10

10. Berne, Eric. Group Therapy Meeting. 1967-09-19

Access Restrictions

Restricted.
Box 1, Item 11

11. Berne, Eric. Group Therapy Meetings. 1967-09-28

Access Restrictions

Restricted.
Box 1, Item 12

12. Karpman, Steve, & Berne, Eric. Training Seminar. Staff Conferences. 1967-12-19

Box 1, Item 13

13. Berne, Eric. Son of Games People Play. Eric Berne reads from Galleys. 1968

Box 1, Item 14

14. Dili, Dr. Oko. African Fairy Tales. 1968-02-27

Box 1, Item 15

15. Steiner, Claude. Games Alcoholics Play. 1968-07-01

Box 1, Item 16

16. Christensen, Mr., & Steiner, Claude. TA Used in School Project. Group Scene - Part 1. 1968-08-06

Box 1, Item 17

17. Berne, Eric. APA Panel - TA Presentation: "How to Speed Up the Therapeutic Process." 1968-09-03

Box 1, Item 18

18. Berne, Eric. TA Demonstration Group at Vienna at 4th Intl Conference TA Demonstration. 1968-10-29

Box 1, Item 19

19. Everts, Ken, Steiner, Claude, Nicols, Jay, Rosenfeld, Barbara, & Dusay, Jack. TA papers for APA - Detroit 1968. 1) Picking Out Aspects of Script. 2) Defining the Script. 3) Script & Injuction Antithesis. 4) Sex & Script. 1968-05-09

Box 1, Item 20

20. Dusay, Jack. Management of Acute Psychosis in a TA Group - Permission. 1968-12-20

Access Restrictions

Restricted.
Box 1, Item 21

21. Berne, Eric. Feeling Good, Feeling Bad. 1968-12-17

Box 1, Item 22

22. Berne, Eric, Everts, Ken, Steiner, Claude, David, & Dusay, John. Script Transmission: Oral or Not. Debated with Steiner, Dusay, David, Everts. 1969-03-25

Box 1, Item 23

23. Berne, Eric, & Steiner, Claude. Follow Up on Patients. 1) On Games. 2) Follow Up on Patients. 3) Follow Up on Patients. 1969-05-01

Access Restrictions

Restricted.
Box 1, Item 24

24. Berne, Eric. Report on Conferences: 1) Business Winners Conference. 2) APA Conference, etc. 1969-05-13

Box 1, Item 25

25. Berne, Eric, & Zechnick, Bob. Picturing the Patient Case History. Exhibitionism: Paper. 1969-06-03

Box 1, Item 26

26. Revolution - Plan to Revamp 202's. 1969-06-03

Box 1, Item 27

27. Matson, Frances, & Berne, Eric. Addicts Group. Ain't It Awful Group. 1969-06-10

Access Restrictions

Restricted.
Box 1, Item 28

28. Campos, Len, & McCormick, Paul. First Group Meeting - Incarcerated Boys. 1969-07

Access Restrictions

Restricted.
Box 1, Item 29

29. Steiner, Claude, & David, George. Boring Patient. Voodoo Death and Hypnosis. 1970-05

Access Restrictions

Restricted.
Box 1, Item 30

30. Berne, Eric, Karpman, Steve, Steiner, Claude, Horowitz, & Dusay, John. Therapeutic Potency Panel - Rehearsal. 1970-05-21

Box 1, Item 31

31.Berne, Eric, & Steiner, Claude. Schizophrenia Debate. undated

Box 1, Item 32

32. Berne, Eric, & Everts, Ken. Cases: 1) Resistance and Stomping Out of Room. 2) Listening. 3) Stroke Patient. undated

Access Restrictions

Restricted.
Box 1, Item 33

33. Berne, Eric, & Steiner, Claude. 1) Case Study: Alice and the Tunnel. 2) Case Study: using Perl's Technique to Get to Protocol (Poor Quality). undated

Access Restrictions

Restricted.
Box 1, Item 34

34. Berne, Eric, & Groder, Marty. "Sphincters" - Reading of portion of book to be "Sex in Human Loving." Injunctions. undated

Box 1, Item 35

35. Berne, Eric, & Steiner, Claude. Script Injunctions: From Mom's P or C. undated

Box 1, Item 36

36. Berne, Eric, & Steiner, Claude. Dispute between Big Knife (Berne) and Short Stick (Steiner) Concerning Writing of "Laymen's Guide" Parts 1 & 2. undated

Box 1, Item 37

37. James, Muriel, & Berne, Eric. Suicide Case. Suicide Case - Part 1. undated

Access Restrictions

Restricted.
Box 1, Item 38

38. Crossman, Pat. Gestalt Therapy. undated

Box 1, Item 39

39. Hilliker, Virginia. Contracts in Teaching. undated

Box 1, Item 40

40. Schiffs. Reparenting. undated

Box 1, Item 41

41. Berne, Eric, Steiner, Claude, & Votalina, Dr. KQED Interview - Eric Berne & TA. Closeness: 1) Closeness, Warmth & Strangers (Discussion only). 2) Group Scene - Part II. 3) A TA Ward. 4) Suicide Case. undated

Access Restrictions

Restricted.
Box 1, Item 42

42. Berne, Eric. Script Case Histories. undated

Access Restrictions

Restricted.
Box 1, Item 43

43. Leuner, Dr. Guided Eidetic Imagery. undated

Box 1, Item 44

44. Steiner, Claude. HIP and the Cultural Revolution. High and Proud Cult. Rev. undated

Box 1, Item 45

45. Berne, Eric. Travelog of East Europe, Ontario Group. undated

Box 2

Eric Berne Transactional Analysis 101 Lectures, Series II. 1963

Scope and Contents

Contains seven recordings, each on 1 audiocassette and 2 computer discs, of a series of "Transactional Analysis 101" lectures given by Eric Berne in 1963.
Box 2, Item 1

I. Eric Berne 101. 1963-12-11

Box 2, Item 2

II. Eric Berne 101. 1963-12-11

Box 2, Item 3

III. Eric Berne 101. 1963-12-11

Box 2, Item 4

IV. Eric Berne 101. 1963-12-11

Box 2, Item 5

V. Eric Berne 101. 1963-12-11

Box 2, Item 6

VI. Eric Berne 101. 1963-12-11

Box 2, Item 7

VII. Eric Berne 101. 1963-12-11