Lawrence K. Frank Papers

Collection

Identifier: MS C 280b

Abstract

Contains correspondence, memoranda, reports, talks, drafts, reprints and printed matter. Among the organizations and conferences represented are the Gesell Clinic, the Yale University Child Study Center, the Cornell-N. Y. Hospital Institute of Child Health, the World Health Organization and the 1940 White House Conference. A sizable portion of the correspondence and reprints pertain to individual projects and publications.

Dates

Creation: 1914-1974

Extent

11.3 Linear Feet

Creator

Frank, Lawrence Kelso, 1890-1968 (Person)

Physical Location

Materials stored onsite. History of Medicine Division. National Library of Medicine

Language of Materials

Collection materials primarily in English

Restrictions

Collection is not restricted. Contact the Reference Staff for information regarding access.

Copyright and Re-use Information

NLM does not possess copyright to the collection. Archival collections often contain mixed copyrights; while NLM is the owner of the physical items, permission to examine collection materials is not an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. It is the user's responsibility to research and understand any applicable copyright and re-publication rights not allowed by fair use. NLM does not grant permissions to publish.

Privacy Information

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Biographical/Historical Note

Lawrence K. Frank was born in Cincinnati, OH, December 6, 1890 and received his bachelor's degree in economics from Columbia University in 1912. He died September 23, 1968, in Boston, MA. He first worked as a systems analyst for the New York Telephone Company, but in 1923 shifted to foundation work, first at the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial. He later worked for the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation and the Caroline Zachary Institute of Human Development. He retired in 1955 to Boston, MA, where he lived until his death.

Frank is often considered the originator of child development movement in the United States, but Margaret Mead said his impact was far greater, and that Frank "more or less invented the behavorial sciences." As associate director of the Spelman Fund, one of the leading financiers of child development research during the 1930s and 1940s, Frank championed the new holistic interdisciplinary paradigm of human development that recognized individual differences among particular children, and which incorporated knowledge not only from evolutionary natural science, but from the social sciences as well. Applying this holistic paradigm to developmental theory, Frank argued that the central problem of child development research was to understand the development of the whole child. He advocated that researchers be child-centered by understanding that children are emerging, becoming, and dynamically learning.

A prolific writer, he wrote a popular column for the New York Times and Sunday magazine called "Parent and Child." To social scientists he was a scholar, technical writer and innovative foundation executive whose influence extended beyond the financial to the intellectual, a man who devoted himself to bringing together people from across disciplines. In 1947, he shared the Lasker Award with Catherine Mackenzie for "contributions to popular adult education in mental health, especially concerning parent-child relationships."

[Portions excerpted from "What is 'Normal' Adolescent Growth?" A Paper Presented at the History of Childhood in America Conference, August 5-6, 2000, Washington, DC by Heather Munro Prescott, Central Connecticut State University]

Collection Summary

Correspondence, memos and minutes, publications, speeches and unpublished papers, reports and conferences on children, essays by others, and tape recordings document the professional life and activities of Lawrence Frank.