Description
Leonarde Keeler was a pioneer in the burgeoning field of criminology in the 1920s and 1930s. The Leonarde Keeler papers contain
professional correspondence, research and publications, notes, and newsclippings that relate to the polygraph, personal research,
and the academic field of crime science in general. As the son of a family of intellectuals and naturalists, the collection
also has materials relating to his upbringing and adolescent interests.
Background
Leonarde Keeler was born in 1903 in Berkeley, CA, the son of poet and naturalist Charles Keeler and artist Louise Bunnell.
He attended UC Berkeley and UCLA before transferring to Stanford University to study psychology. His adolescent interest in
police work and detection inspired him to develop, while in college, the "Keeler Polygraph"--an updated modification to previously
existing lie-detection technology. He performed psychological research and experiments at various prisons and institutions,
including the Institute for Juvenile Research in Chicago, before moving to Chicago permanently in 1930 to work at the Scientific
Crime Detection Laboratory headquartered at Northwestern University. He married Katherine Applegate, a fellow psychology student,
in 1930. Frequently hired as a consultant in police investigations and court cases, he gave lectures and performed research
relating to this work as well as criminology in general throughout his later life. He died of a stroke in 1949.
Extent
Number of containers: 3 cartons, 1 box, 10 volumes
Linear feet: 5
3 digital objects (3 images)
Restrictions
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head
of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000. Consent is given on behalf of The
Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright
owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.
Availability
Collection is open for research.