Ruth Horel Caskey collection: David Seabury and Human Potential, 1924-1974

Summary

Creators:

Ruth Horel Caskey and David Seabury

Abstract:

The collection contains materials from David Seabury and the David Seabury School of Psychology, as well as materials from various human potential organizations. Ruth Horel Caskey was the assistant to Seabury from 1944 until his death in 1960. He was a popular writer on psychological topics, usually with a Christian angle. The collection also includes human potential, religious and occult materials.

Extent:

9.2 linear feet (9 record boxes and 1 2” box)

Language:

Languages represented in the collection: English

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Ruth Horel Caskey Collection: David Seabury and Human Potential, GTU 2017-05-01. Graduate Theological Union Archives, Berkeley, CA.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection contains two main parts. The firstpart consists of the later writings of David Seabury and lectures and related materials for the David Seabury School of Psychology. The second part includes the religious, self-help, health and occult materials collected by Ruth Harel Caskey.

Biographical / historical:

Ruth Horel Caskey (1895-1980) was born in Arcata, California. Her parents were Francis R. and Lois Horel. Her father was a medical doctor at the Arcata Sanatorium. She received a BA degree from University of California at Berkeley in 1917 and a Masters in Dental Pathology in 1918. She married Dr. Charles Rice Caskey in Oklahoma City in 1920. He worked in Dr. Horel's practice in Arcata from 1922 through 1927, when they moved to Los Angeles. They divorced in 1942. She later became an officer in California's Divorcees Anonymous. She continued as a social worker, a position she had taken in 1931.

In 1944, Ruth met David Seabury, a well-known writer and lecturer in popular psychology, and began a long working relationship. He founded the David Seabury School of Psychology in 1950, which represented his view of Centralist Psychology, using Christian beliefs. For its brief life (closed in 1960), the school initially operated out of the First Congregational Church in Los Angeles, where Fritz Kunkel, a psychotherapist trained in Germany, also had his school, We-Psychology. James William Fifield Jr (1899 -1977) was the minister of the church. Immensely popular, he was a founder of Christian libertarianism, promoted capitalism and "freedom under God."

Caskey was employed by the school as Seabury's assistant. She continued to promote Seasbury's writings after his death in 1960. She moved to Tucson, Arizona, where she died in 1980.

Biographical information based in part from the "Guide to the Ruth Horel Caskey Collection, 1890-1977" (http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf900006j0/).

Acquisition information:

The collection was received from the Historical Sites Society of Arcata on April 20, 2017. The separation was made in order to find an appropriate institution for the David Seabury collection and Health, Religion, Spirituality, and Self-Help materials

Arrangement:

The materials arrived loosely organized. Duplicate materials were removed, especially multiple copies for the David Seabury School of Psychology and Seabury's writings. The two series are: 1, David Seabury School of Psychology and Seabury's writings; and 2. Religious, Self-help, Health and Occult Materials.

Rules or conventions:

Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

Related resources

Separated material:

Duplicate copies of lectures and writings were discarded. Three Pioneer courses were added to GTU 2016-07-01, Essenes of Kosmon Collection, 1947-1957, on October 20, 2017.

Additional collection guides:

GTU 99-1-01 Fritz Kunkel Collection; GTU 2008-6-02 Mildred R. and James L. Gillingham New Religious Movement Collection, ca. 1925 – 1960; GTU 89-5-015 Arthur Carl Piepkorn Collection GTU 99-8-1 GTU Library New Religious Movements Organizations Vertical Files Collection, 1965 – 1998.

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Copyright has not been assigned to The Graduate Theological Union. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Graduate Theological Union 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 reader.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Ruth Horel Caskey Collection: David Seabury and Human Potential, GTU 2017-05-01. Graduate Theological Union Archives, Berkeley, CA.

Location of this collection:

Graduate Theological Union

2400 Ridge Road

Berkeley, CA 94709, US

Contact:

(510) 649-2523/2501

archives@gtu.edu

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