Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1915-2001 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
2 boxes
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Catherine Elizabeth 'Karin' Stephen was born in 1890. She was a fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge and married Adrian Stephen (brother of Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell) just before the First World War; as conscientious objectors, they spent the war working on a dairy farm. After the war, they both became interested in training as psychoanalysts. In order to qualify, they trained as doctors and went into analysis with James Glover until his untimely death in 1926, when Karin went to Sylvia Payne and Adrian to Ella Sharpe. They were accepted as associate members of the British Psychoanalytical Society in 1927; Adrian became a full member in 1930 and Karin in 1931.
Karin entered private practice as a psychoanalyst. She gave the first course of lectures on psychoanalysis ever given at Cambridge University; these were highly successful and formed the basis of a book for medical students. She was active on the Public Lectures Committee of the British Psychoanalytical Society but was sometimes critical of the society and contributed to the Extraordinary Business Meetings held during the Controversial Discussions.
During the Second World War, her husband, angered by anti-semitism, abandoned his pacifist stance and joined the Royal Army Medical Corps as an army psychiatrist. Karin became a driver in the Queen’s Messenger Flying Squad Food Convoy. Karin Stephen suffered from increasingly severe deafness and from manic-depression; following the death of Adrian Stephen in 1948, her health deteriorated and she committed suicide in 1953.
Repository
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Duplicate typescripts and offprints of psychoanalytical writings and lectures by Karin Stephen, as well as some brief handwritten notes commenting on colleagues' works and the script of a Woman's Hour broadcast in which she was involved. Also included is material produced by her husband Adrian Stephen, comprising a paper on public relations at the British Psychoanalytical Society plus a letter and two offprints. The final item is a memorandum supplied by the depositor describing the history of this material.
Accruals
No further accruals are expected.
System of arrangement
The papers has been arranged by type/ subject into seven series:
P14-A - Psychoanalytic writings
P14-B - Cambridge lectures
P14-C - Offprints and bibliography
P14-D - Notes on colleagues' work
P14-E - Woman's Hour radio script
P14-F - Adrian Stephen
P14-G - Memorandum for archives
Please note that this differs from the order in which items are described in the memorandum
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Access to our archive collections in our reading room is by appointment only; please email the archivist to arrange your visit. Please note that access to material that is in poor physical condition may be restricted.
Access to the information in our archive is governed by our access policy and guided by sector ethical codes and relevant legislation.
We charge fees for access, reprographics and guided research; please see our current price list.
Conditions governing reproduction
Copies of material from our archive collections may be supplied for research and private study in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Written permission must be obtained from the chair of the archive committee and the archivist to reproduce or publish any material held in our archive.
It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearance from the copyright holder.
We reserve the right to make a charge for the publication of material obtained from our archive.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
- Latin
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
The collection catalogue is published online
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Further writings by Karin Stephen can be found in the manuscripts collection (ref. M-S-02). The main source of material related to the Controversial Discussions is the Society's collection (refs. S-A-03-C-02, S-B-01 & S-D-02).
Elsewhere, the papers of Karin Stephen's grandmother Hannah (Withall) Smith, held at the Lilly Library at the University of Indiana, USA, include correspondence with Karin Stephen; the Berenson archive at the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, USA, holds letters from Karin Stephen to Bernard Berenson; and the Russell archive at the McMaster University Library, Canada, holds letters from Karin Stephen to Bertrand Russell.
Publication note
No known publications based on this collection.
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Language(s)
- English
Script(s)
- Latin
Sources
Marion Milner (1954). Karin Stephen 1889-1953. Int. J. Psycho-Anal., 35: 432-434. Pearl King & Riccardo Steiner (eds) (1991). The Freud-Klein controversies 1941-45, p.xxii.