Charles E. Osgood:

An Inventory of the Charles E. Osgood Papers at the University of Illinois Archives.

Biographical Notes

Charles Egerton Osgood was born on November 20, 1916 in Somerville, Massachusetts, and educated at Dartmouth (B.A. 1939; D.Sc.1962) and Yale (Ph.D. 1945). On June 27, 1939 he married Cynthia Luella Thornton. They had two children.

Major themes developed and researched:

Psycholinguistic research and theory

Cross-cultural research on affective meaning and attribution of feelings

Psycho-social dynamics and the prospects for mankind

Associations:

Guggenheim Fellow

Fellow, Center Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences, Palo Alto

Member, American Psychological Association (president, 1962-63)

American Academy of Arts and Sciences

National Academy of Sciences

AAUP

Linguistic Society of America

Phi Beta Kappa

Sigma Xi

Note:

For galleys of an autobiography published in Vol. VII of A History of Psychology in Autobiography (1980), see Box 25.

Source of biographical information:

Who's Who in America, 43rd ed. (1984-85), Chicago: Marquis, 1984.

Scope and Contents

Papers of Charles E. Osgood, professor of communications and psychology (1949-84) and director of the Institute of Communications Research (1959-66), including correspondence (1949-81); publications (1939-81); manuscripts (1939-81); book reviews (152-81); clippings (1976-82); course materials (1946-81); and subject files relating to conferences (1954-72), organizations and foundations (1953-81), consulting and reviewing (1952-81) and research in foreign countries (1960-73), relating to psycholinguistics; semantics; cognition; measurement of meaning; communications doctoral program (1950-72); the Institute of Communications Research (1950-76); Department of Psychology (1949-77); Center for Advanced Study (1066-80); cross cultural research in Afghanistan, Finland, Hong Kong, India, Iran, and Yugoslavia; conferences and meetings; theses (1953-73); Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (1964-71); Institute for Defense Analysis (1960-64); nuclear policy peace research; the "Mankind 2000?" project on world problems (1977-82); invitations (1952-76) and recommendations (1947-64). Correspondents include William F. Brewer, Wilbur Schramm, George Suci, Percy Tannenbaum and Christine Tanz. The series includes files on the American Psychological Association (1950-75) and Social Science Research Council (1952-67).

Arrangement

By type of material and alphabetical/chronological thereunder.

Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

None. This collection is open for public use.

Detailed Description/Box and Folder Listing

Private papers and personal correspondence. Box 1 - 1

Correspondence (A - XYZ) . Box 2 - 3

Letters of Reference . Box 3 - 3

Institute of Communications Research Subject File . Box 3 - 4

Institute of Communications Research and Department of Psychology Subject Files . Box 4 - 5

Theses. Box 5 - 5

University Activities Subject File , 1953-80. Box 6 - 8

Conferences and Organizations File, Nuclear Policy , 1960-64. Box 8 - 9

American Psychological Association (APA) Presidential Papers , 1962-64. Box 10 - 10

Outside Activities, Conferences , 1952-69. Box 11 - 12

Outside Activities, Organizations and Foundations , 1950-78. Box 12 - 14

Outside Activities, Consulting and Reviewing , 1952-81. Box 14 - 14

Outside Activities, Leisure Trips and Requests , 1962-66, 1973-81. Box 15 - 16

Correspondence about Countries, Afghanistan -Vietnam , 1960-73. Box 17 - 18

Psycholinguistics , 1965-81. Box 19 - 19

Writings and Publications , 1939-1984. Box 20 - 27

Clippings Files (newspaper and magazine articles, pamphlets, bulletins, offprints) . Box 28 - 31