Guide to the Helen Merrell Lynd (1896-1982) Papers
RG 10.4

Summary Information

Repository

Sarah Lawrence College Archives

Creator

Lynd, Helen Merrell, 1896-1982

Title

Helen Merrell Lynd (1896-1982) Papers

ID

RG 10.4

Date [inclusive]

undated, 1888, 1914-1980

Extent

10.0 linear feet 6 record cartons, 1 document box, 3 flat boxes, and 1 oversize flat box

Language

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

Sarah Lawrence College Archives September 1985/August 2004

Revision Description

 Finding Aid entered in Archivists' Toolkit by Alayna Barrett. July 2014

Conditions Governing Access note

The collection is open to researchers without restriction. Any folders that are restricted are labeled as such in the finding aid.

Acquisition Note

Donated by the Lynd Family in 1981 as accession # 1981-3.

Processing Information note

Originally processed by three students, K. Halligan, Augusta Field, and Marthe Muller in September 1985. Reprocessed August 2004 by Sarah Crossley

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Biographical note

Helen Merrell Lynd was born in 1896 in La Grange Illinois. Having spent her formative years in Illinois, after high school, the Merrell family relocated to Massachusetts, where Lynd was accepted to Wellesley College. There Lynd studied under philosophy professor Mary Case, whose passion for the work of Hegel sparked a life-long interest in philosophy for Lynd.

Lynd graduated from Wellesley in 1919 and married sociologist Robert Lynd in 1921. She completed her M.A. and Ph.D. in the History of Ideas from Columbia University in 1922 and 1944, respectively. From 1924 to 1929, Lynd was Assistant Director and Research Associate of the Middletown Studies, a project she undertook with her husband. From 1926 to 1928 she was also a Research Associate for the Lincoln School in New York City. In 1929, Lynd began teaching at the newly founded Sarah Lawrence College and had a concurrent position as lecturer at Vassar College from 1929 to 1930. Lynd taught at Sarah Lawrence until her retirement in 1964, after which she remained an emeritus professor in social philosophy until her death in 1982. During her tenure at Sarah Lawrence, Lynd became heavily involved in not only her own teaching, but also in establishing the curriculum of the College. Her innovative approach to education helped to give shape to the progressive educational theories Sarah Lawrence is known for.

Helen Merrell Lynd and Robert Lynd had two children, Staughton Craig, a labor activist and Andrea Merrell (married to Joseph Nold), an educator.

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Scope and Contents note

The Helen Merrell Lynd Papers consist mainly of research materials collected throughout Lynd’s career as an educator and academic including notes on courses taught at Sarah Lawrence College, research for published works, collected research on various topics, lectures and miscellaneous publications by scholars in her field. Also included are materials related to her family including correspondence, professional papers and poetry. An oral history conducted by the Oral History Research Office at Columbia University entitled, “Reminiscences of Helen Lynd” is also included in the collection. Additionally, some academic work from her years at Wellesley and the Mary Case Papers* round out the collection. The majority of the lectures were prepared by Helen Merrell Lynd for presentation at Sarah Lawrence College and have been kept separate from lectures presented elsewhere. Unless otherwise noted, all lectures, as well as publications, are by Lynd.

Additional materials include oversized folders (box 8), two volumes of Hegel’s writings (boxes 9 and 10) and microfilm of the Robert and Helen Lynd Papers (box 11) housed at the Library of Congress. While oversized folders are housed in box 8 of the collection, they are listed in the finding aid under the sub-series to which they belong. Note: The Sarah Lawrence College Archives does not hold rights to the Robert and Helen Lynd Papers on microfilm or the oral history by Columbia University and are for reference purposes only.

Prior to her death, Lynd worked on a new manuscript: Beyond Problem Solving to Creativity. All six completed chapters are housed in the collection as well as notes used for each chapter. In this instance, the sub-series is organized to keep individual chapter notes with their respective chapter.

The collection is divided into four series:

Series I. Personal Papers

Series II. Sarah Lawrence College

Series III. Academic and Professional Papers

Series IV. Publications

*Mary Case was a Philosophy Professor at Wellesley College and acted as a mentor to Helen Merrell Lynd while she attended Wellesley.

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Series description

Series I. Personal Papers, undated, 1919-1999 consists of correspondence between family members, professional work produced by children Staughton and Andrea, and poetry written by family members. Additionally, the papers of Mary Case, an early mentor of Lynd’s, make up a small portion of the series. Researchers may find these papers useful to acquire a broader concept of the early education of Helen Merrell Lynd. Interviews conducted by the Oral History Research Office at Columbia University entitled “Reminiscences of Helen Lynd” offer insight into the ways in which Lynd saw her life and experiences.

Series I is divided in to seven sub-series: Sub-series A. Correspondence; Sub-series B. Education; Sub-series C. Family; Sub-series D. Memorial Services; Sub-series E. Poetry; Sub-series F. Miscellaneous; and Sub-series G. Mary Case Papers. All folders within each sub-series are arranged alphabetically by folder title.

Series II. Sarah Lawrence College, undated, 1939-1980 consists of Helen Merrell Lynd’s work at Sarah Lawrence. Lectures and student papers comprise the bulk of the series, however Lynd’s notes on coursework are informative as well. Many of Lynd’s course notes and lecture outlines have survived the years. Information on the courses taught is incomplete. Additionally, there is some information pertaining to academic freedom and Lynd’s own hearing before the Internal Security Sub-Committee after being accused of being a communist.

Series II is divided in to six sub-series: Sub-series A. Courses; Sub-series B. Lectures; Sub-series C. Memorials; Sub-series D. Poetry; Sub-series E. Student Papers; and Sub-series F. Miscellaneous. All folders within each sub-series are arranged alphabetically by folder title.

Series III. Academic and Professional Papers, undated, 1888-1980 is the largest series in the collection. Series III serves to encompass Lynd’s research that does not directly pertain to Sarah Lawrence College. Correspondence concerning academic freedom as well as lecture and conference presentations outside the realm of Sarah Lawrence College are housed here. Additionally, research notes and subject files make up a large portion of this series. Both the research notes and subject files are filed according to content. Research notes are the notes of Helen Merrell Lynd on specific subjects while subject files are remiss of any notes at all. For instance, a collection of articles centering around creativity, where notes were found to coincide would be located in the research notes portion of the collection. Groupings made up solely of secondary sources make up a subject file. At the time of her death, Lynd had been working on a book, Beyond Problem Solving to Creativity, with which many of her research notes and subject files correspond.

It should be noted that often, the notes of Helen Merrell Lynd were either illegible or indistinguishable as to subject matter. As such, topics may overlap and information can often be found in more than one place.

Series III is divided in to seven sub-series as follows: Sub-series A. Beyond Problem Solving to Creativity; sub-series B. Book Reviews; Sub-series C. Correspondence; Sub-series D. Lectures; Sub-series E. Research Notes; Sub-series F. Subject Files; and Sub-series G. Miscellaneous. All folders within each sub-series are arranged alphabetically by folder title with the exception of sub-series A. Sub-series A is arranged by chapters with corresponding notes behind each respective chapter.

Series IV. Publications, undated, 1937-1980 contains collected publications filed under author, unless no author is known. While there are several publications belonging to Helen Merrell Lynd, the majority of publications were collected either for research purposes or sent along by friends and colleagues. All of Lynd’s publications have been foldered separately and filed under Lynd, followed by the title.

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Related Materials

See also

See Also: “Robert Lynd Eulogy” housed in the Audiovisual Collection and Helen Merrell Lynd’s Faculty File in the Dean of the College Records.

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Controlled Access Headings

Genre(s)

• Clippings (information artifacts)
• Correspondence

Subject(s)

• Philosophy
• Sociology

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Collection Inventory