Scope and Contents

The collection consists of Japanese material, including: 1. general material on Japanese society and culture; 2. Japanese culture and personality studies; 3. Japanese medicine and psychiatry; 4. family and child rearing; 5. hospital studies; 6. autobiography of a mental patient, 7. nurses study and other material, including 8. biographical material; 9. Chippewa material; 10. study of a ward of a mental hospital; 11 drafts of writings; 12. reprints and papers; 13 miscellaneous printed and processed material.

The papers include both reference materials and original notes relating to many of the research activities with which Caudill was involved, and they also include general reference materials. There is, however, little or no material relating directly to Caudill's early studies of Japanese Americans nor notes or material relating to the administration of psychological tests relating to Japanese values or changing patterns of emotion. The material relating to research on Japanese child rearing appears to be significant but limited in quantity.

Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.

Biographical Note

William Abel Caudill studied at the University of Chicago (Ph.D., 1950). His speciality was culture and personality, and he had a considerable amount of practical experience in human relations and in work with mental patients. In the latter, he was especially interested in culturally determined aspects of mental illness and treatment in Japan. His professional employment included an instructorship at Yale University (1950-1952), faculty positions with the Department of Social Relations at Harvard University (1952-1960), appointment as a research associate in the Department of Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School, and chief of the Personality and Environment Section, Laboratory of Socioenvironmental Studies, United States National Institute of Mental Helath (1960-1962).

Caudill's earliest research were psychological studies carried out in 1946 with the Chippewa Indians of Lac du Flambeau. In 1947-1949, as one of a team of social scientisits, he carried on investigations of the social and personal adjustment of Japanese Americans who had moved to Chicago following release from internment during World War II. In 1950-1952, again as one of a team, he studied the social structure and interaction among patients of a ward of a mental hospital and the relationship between emotional disorder and social class.

Beginning in 1954, Caudill made a series of journeys to Japan in order to carry on research. In 1954-1955, he studied the relationship between American soldiers and Japanese communities. He also began a study of psychiatry as practiced in Japan. This work included visits to many Japanese hospitals and also a study of changing Japanese values. In 1958-1959, his studies focused on three small psychiatric hospitals with contrasting theoretical orientations and methods of treatment. He also carried out studies of psychoanalysis in Japan, Morita therapy, and other aspects of Japanese treatments; patterns of emotion; and a general study of nurses of two hospitals. In 1961, he began investigation of Japnaese child-rearing practices.