A Guide to the Paul Harkai Schiller Papers

Finding aid prepared by Dept. Staff

University of Florida Smathers Libraries - Special and Area Studies Collections
March 2005

Descriptive Summary
	Creator:	Harkai Schiller, Pál, 1908-1949
	Title:	Paul Harkai Schiller Papers
	Dates:	1930-1949
	Abstract:	Manuscripts of works by Hungarian psychologist specializing in comparative psychology.
	Extent:	5.75 Linear feet. 12 Boxes.
	Identification:	MS Group 81
	Language(s):	Materials are written in English, Hungarian and German.

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Biographical/Historical Note

Paul Harkai Schiller was born November 4, 1908, in Budapest. He entered Petrus Pazmany University in 1926 and studied under the philosopher Akos Pauler and the psychologist Pal Ranschburg. He became Ranschburg's assistant in 1928 while Ranschburg was preparing a critique of objectivist and behaviorist psychology. His doctoral thesis, A Lélektani Kategóriák Rendszerének Kialakulása (1930), was an historical review of psychology. After two years of study in Germany under Wolfgang Köhler, he returned to Budapest and was appointed Lecturer in psychology at Pazmany University. He attained the rank of Professor in 1937 and headed the psychology department from 1937 until 1947. Schiller developed aptitude tests for the military, state railroads, and private industry to promote psychological studies in Hungary and established the Institute for Research on Public Opinion at Budapest's Radio Center. He was also interested in personality types and published articles on Hungarian smoking and drinking habits. Schiller's primary interest was not in applied science, however, but in theory and research. Much of his work was in the area of comparative psychology and included studies of detour behavior in rats and fish. It was during this period that he elaborated his "action theory" of behavior and published a monograph, The Task of Psychology, in 1940.

In 1939, Schiller married Claire (Klara) Imredy, a psychology student at Pazmany. This was his second marriage; he had a son, Peter, by his first wife. A daughter, Christina, was born in 1942. After World War II, he accepted a position at Bolyai University in Rumania. When the possibilities for free research dwindled under Communist rule, Schiller accepted an offer from Columbia University to work for six months as a research associate in Teachers College. He came to the United States in 1947. After his brief stay at Columbia, he was asked to join the Yerkes Laboratories of Primate Biology in Orange Park, Florida. There, he embarked on a comprehensive research program involving a variety animals including rats, minnows, chimpanzees, and the octopus. He also prepared an English revision of his book, Handeln und Erleben, entitled "An Analysis of Action."

On May 1, 1949, Schiller fell to his death after slipping on an iced portion of a trail at Mount Washington. His career as a psychologist lasted only nineteen years, but he was able to publish some seventy titles and supervise twenty doctoral dissertations. Schiller was an avid sportsman, an amateur aviator, and fluent in English, German, Italian, and French as well as his native Hungarian.

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Scope and Content

Research, bibliographic notes, correspondence, manuscripts, drawings, photographs, and publications. The Schiller Papers contain research notes and observations, as well as correspondence focusing on the last two years of his life, his work at Yerkes Laboratory, and research on public opinion in post World War II Hungary. The manuscripts, in German, Hungarian and English, include drafts and publication notes, letters from Pal Ranschburg, chimpanzee drawings, clippings, notes, and photos of family, colleagues and experiments. Also included are his publications, including "Lélektani Tanulmányok", his doctoral thesis, and publications by other Hungarian psychologists.

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Arrangement

The collection is divided into six sections: (1) Notebooks, (2) Correspondence, (3) Manuscripts, (4) Miscellaneous, (5) Photographs, and (6) Publications.

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Access or Use Restrictions

Access

The collection is open for research.

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Paul Harkai Schiller Papers, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.

Acquisition Information

The Schiller Papers are the gift of Christina Schiller Schlusemeyer and Peter H. Schiller.

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Selected Subjects and Access Terms

Chimpanzees -- Psychological testing -- Florida -- Orange Park.
Institute for Research on Public Opinion (Budapest, Hungary)
Psychologists -- Hungary.
Psychology, Comparative.
Psychology.
Public opinion -- Hungary.
Ranschburg, Pál, 1870-1945.
Yerkes Laboratory of Primate Biology.

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For further information, please contact: Special Collections Access Services.

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Last updated March 2005 - jrn