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Joseph J. Greenbaum papers

 Collection
Identifier: NS-02-02-04

Abstract

Joseph J. Greenbaum (1924-2011), a specialist in experimental psychology, joined the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research in 1957 and was appointed full professor in 1962. He also served as dean of the Graduate Faculty from 1966 to 1979. This collection contains documentation of Greenbaum’s courses in the Psychology Department and administrative files from his role as dean.

Dates

  • 1943 - 1976
  • Majority of material found within 1957 - 1976

Creator

Extent

3.0 Cubic Feet (3 boxes, 13 folders)

Scope and Contents

These records document Greenbaum's role as administrator at the Graduate Faculty (later renamed the New School for Social Research), and scholar of psychology, consisting of faculty minutes, correspondence and reports as professor; correspondence with the president, chancellor and treasurer of The New School as vice dean and dean of the Graduate Faculty; grant applications, scholarships and financial aid material as chairman of the Psychology Department, chairman of the New School Fulbright Committee and Fulbright advisor; psychological questionnaires, surveys and other materials stemming from his research; and course materials as a student and instructor at both The New School and Wesleyan University. The earliest years of Greenbaum's time at The New School are particularly well documented. The collection contains little documentation from beyond the 1960s, even though Greenbaum taught at The New School until 2003.

Language of Materials

All materials are in English.

Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research use. Files containing student grades are restricted for 75 years from creation date of item (or last creation date in file). Files with faculty or other personnel salary, performance reviews, hiring information are restricted for 50 years from creation date of item (or last creation date in file). Please contact archivist@newschool.edu for appointment.

Conditions Governing Use

To publish images of material from this collection, permission must be obtained in writing from the New School Archives and Special Collections. Please contact: archivist@newschool.edu

Biographical Note

Joseph J. Greenbaum was born February 23, 1924, in the Bronx. He served in the United States Army during the Second World War, and later attended City College as the first member of his family to receive a college education. After earning his Bachelor of Social Sciences degree in 1946, Greenbaum pursued a PhD in Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was mentored by Edward Chace Tolman. He was awarded a doctorate in 1950.

From 1950 until June 1957, Greenbaum taught at Wesleyan University in Connecticut as an assistant professor. His specialty was experimental psychology, a concentration that he brought to The New School when he joined the Graduate Faculty (now, the New School for Social Research) as an associate professor in 1957. In 1962, he was promoted to full professor.

Greenbaum served as the chair of the Psychology Department from 1959 until 1963. After brief service as vice dean of the Graduate Faculty from 1964 to 1966, he became dean of the Graduate Faculty from the 1966-1967 academic year through the 1978-1979 academic year. Greenbaum then returned to the Graduate Faculty Psychology Department, where he taught until his retirement in 2003; his New School career lasted more than forty years. Among his courses were Statistics, Processes of Learning, Basic Problems in Psychology, Culture and Personality, Methods of Social Psychology, Cognitive and Modern Theories of Psychology, and History and Systems of Psychology.

For his work with the Federal Republic of Germany to establish the Theodor Heuss Chair at the Graduate Faculty, which brought German scholars to the United States, the West German government awarded Greenbaum the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit in 1972. In 1990, The New School honored him with a Distinguished Teaching Award. Joseph Greenbaum died on May 3, 2011 in Berkeley, California.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Transferred from the Raymond Fogelman Library of the New School for Social Research to the New School Archives and Special Collections, 2012.

Related Materials

New School psychology professor Arien Mack discusses her colleague Joseph Greenbaum in an oral history interview conducted by Carmen Hendershott. This forms part of the New School Oral History Program (NS.07.01.01).

Title
Guide to the Joseph J. Greenbaum papers
Status
Completed
Author
Jennifer Ulrich, with Biographical Note by Carmen Hendershott
Date
August 24, 2016
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Revision Statements

  • October 14, 2022: Updated restriction dates according to revised policy.