[Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas, 1955].
Price: $5,000.00
Hardcover. First edition. Thick folio, measuring approximately 9" x 14". iv, 349pp., mimeographed and paginated rectos only. Bound into navy cloth with spine gilt, original two-hole-punch visible at the gutter, and title page tipped-on to a stub. Binding with some soil and wear at the corners, pencil underlining and marginalia, mostly confined to the first half, very good.
A mimeographed transcript of a symposium on the sexual behavior of mammals (humans included, of course), sponsored by the University of Kansas Medical School and held November 17-19, 1954, at the Lord Jeffrey Inn in Amherst, Massachusetts. Pages iii-iv lists the 31 attendees of the conference, a rather intimate affair, but major American institutions both public and private are represented: Harvard, Yale, Duke, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, the National Institute of Mental Health, the American Museum of Natural History, and Walter Reed Army Medical Center, among others. Dr. Alfred C. Kinsey and two of his co-authors, Wardell B. Pomeroy and Paul H. Gebhard, all representing the Institute for Sex Research, were also in attendance. Dr. Kinsey read his paper, "Unique Problems in the Study of Human Sexual Behavior," on Friday morning, but, alas, it was off-the-record and not reproduced here.
In addition to the normal introductory and closing remarks (also published), and a round-table discussion on the final day that here occupies 24 folio pages, 15 papers (and one film) were presented and published here (excepting Dr. Kinsey's and, of course, the film). Over 100 pages are dedicated to the transcripts of post-presentation discussions (again, excepting Dr. Kinsey's).
A few of the other notable presenters include Frank A. Beach, co-author of *Patterns of Sexual Behavior* and founder of behavioral endocrinology; Robert Goy, "pioneering investigator of the origins of behavioral sex differences"; eminent psychologist Jerome Kagan; Lawrence Kubie, psychoanalyst to Tennessee Williams and Leonard Bernstein; and Henry W. Nissen, the western world’s leading authority on the biology and psychology of the chimpanzee. The Symposium Chairman, George W. Corner, is known as the pioneer of the contraceptive pill. A full list of attendees and papers delivered is available upon request.
Of particular note is the paper delivered by the symposium's sole female attendee, Dr. Joan G. Hampson of Johns Hopkins, along with her colleague Dr. John Money: "Psychosexual Development and Behavior Problems in Human Hemaphroditism." The following year, Dr. Hampson and Dr. Money, along with Hampson's husband, Dr. John Hampson, would release their pivotal paper on the topic, "An Examination of Some Basic Sexual Concepts: the Evidence of Human Hermaphroditism," and their group at Johns Hopkins would develop "treatment protocols for intersex conditions," which would play a fundamental role in the subsequent understanding of gender.
The question of publication is mentioned in the introductory remarks and formally addressed on the final day. In lieu of formal publication, the attendees seem to agree on mimeographed copies being made from "Miss Meininger's" stenotype report, and later sent to attendees. They also raise the possibility of advertising the mimeographed document to colleagues. As neither Dr. Henry Guze nor his wife Vivian (also a psychologist, and to whom a laid-in mailing label from the University of Kansas Anatomy Department is addressed) attended the conference, we assume this was the case. However, the number of copies ultimately published, (given the number of attendees, the current size of field, and the almost DIY-manner of publishing) is almost certainly very low. *OCLC* locates a single copy at the University of Kansas, and we locate one other at the library of the Kinsey Institute.
A rare and fascinating look into the mid-Century study of sexuality through papers by major scholars in the field and their post-presentation discussions.
Item #461591
