Library of Menninger Clinic Available in Houston

 

The Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library is the proud recipient of the Menninger Foundation’s Library of Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis.  This fine gift includes their Clinical Library, the historical and rare book collections, and complete runs of the Menninger publications.  Nearly 18,000 clinical monographs, 6,000 journal volumes, and more than 3,000 rare books and journals were transferred to Houston in June this year. 

The Clinical Library is a wide-ranging collection pertaining to psychology, psychiatry, and psychoanalysis in adults and children.  The publications by and commentaries about Sigmund Freud are so extensive that the Menninger staff devised an expanded classification scheme to shelve these titles.  There are also a large number of titles devoted to community mental health, pastoral counseling, and social work.  

The rare book collection includes a large number of early journals on psychoanalysis, hundreds of German psychiatric texts, and special reports from many American asylums.  In addition to psychiatric materials, there are many fine texts related to the broader field of medicine. One of these volumes is a 1783 German edition of Andreas Vesalius’s anatomy with reproductions of the illustrations from the original,

The collection of Menninger publications is equally interesting.  Starting in 1919, the papers of faculty and staff were bound every year.  The Menninger employee publication, TPR, Menninger Perspectives, The Menninger Quarterly, and the Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic all document the programs, staff, and research interests of the Menninger Clinic.  There are also alumni directories, annual reports, and Directories of Training Programs from the Menninger Foundation.

At present, all the Menninger Library collections are located at the HAM-TMC Library’s Historical Research Center.  The newer materials in the Clinical Library (both books and journals) will be folded into the HAM-TMC Library’s main collection.  The older books and journals, Menninger publications, and rare books will remain at the Historical Research Center.

To research Menninger publications and the rare book collection, the Historical Research Center at 8272 El Rio is open from 8 until 5, Monday through Friday, with free parking.  Please call 713/799-7135 for an appointment.

For Clinical Reference, or information about the collection of books and journals, please contact from Dell Davis, ddavis@library.tmc.edu or 713.799.7109