Friday, July 27 2008.
Spent the day here at the Archive with Ruth Crocket, Richard Crocket's
daughter. (Who was Richard Crocket? Founding Director of the Ingrebourne
Centre therapeutic community, and founding member of the Association of
Therapeutic Communities? See brief biographical article
<http://www.pettarchiv.org.uk/staffpubs-craig-rc.htm>:
http://www.pettarchiv.org.uk/staffpubs-craig-rc.htm). Going through
trunks of material which came out of the house in Oxford after Richard
died, and stored here until Ruth had had a chance to go through and set
aside material not intended for deposit. Not so much of the latter, as
it turns out, at least on first viewing; but while going through objects
and manuscripts some interesting and exciting things emerge. A plan for
a cottage sharing scheme which he realised later is sketched out as
early as 1960, a working out of psychotherapeutic community processes in
an everyday environment. Tuning forks and a variety of knee hammers from
his neurological testing days. A reconnection letter from Bonn,
immediately after the Second World War, illustrating in one life the
immense destructiveness of the Nazi regime on German citizens who did
not wholeheartedly support it. Material on his visits to Germany before
the war, as a boy. Personal and family correspondence, pre-war and post.
Research material from his time as tutor in psychiatry at the University
of Leeds, 1950-1954. Drawings and paintings. Published and unpublished
writing. An immense amount of material, now waiting to be catalogued.
Among the manuscripts there is a four page sketch that begins:
_"On the use of the word 'enemy'_
Sutherland [this will be his friend and colleague Jock Sutherland, with
whom he trained before the war] remarked on Wednesday that the question
'What would your worst enemy say about you if asked?', included in that
battery of tests given to officer candidates, elicted the reply "I have
no enemies" in a moderate proportion of cases. Miller has therefore
modified his question to 'What would a severe critic say about you.' But
Bion concluded that the question ought to be left unaltered as, he said,
a man without enemies was immature and not qualified for officer status.
It is a matter involving a delicate nuance of meaning..."
The whole of the manuscript is reproduced with Ruth's permission in pdf
format here <http://www.pettarchiv.org.uk/rcrocket-enemy.pdf>
(http://www.pettarchiv.org.uk/rcrocket-enemy.pdf)
[another mini-celebration in anticipation of the Archive and Study
Centre's 20th anniversary in 2009]
--
Dr. Craig Fees, RMSA
Archivist
Planned Environment Therapy Trust Archive and Study Centre
Hon. Director, Institute for the History and Work of Therapeutic Environments (a research and study centre of the University of Birmingham)
Church Lane
Toddington near Cheltenham
Glos. GL54 5DQ
United Kingdom
01242 620125
http://www.pettarchiv.org.uk
Keep up to date with Archive News, Events and Recent Accessions: The Archive and study Centre blog at http://news.pettarchiv.org.uk/
|