Anna Freud Centre

The following is an interim description which may change when detailed cataloguing takes place in future:

Please note that this archive is largely made up of patient data that is highly sensitive in nature. When the archive is catalogued, the patient data will require closure for the lifetime of the data subjects in accordance with the 1998 Data Protection Act. For fuller information on how the library handles sensitive archival data, see our Access Policy

Papers of the Anna Freud Centre and associated bodies, including patient notes, annual reports (1950-2000), correspondence, articles, accounts (1956-1986), minutes, reports, material relating to various research groups, lecture and conference material, and film and audio material. Also includes personal papers of Anne-Marie and Joseph Sandler, Marion Burgner, Ilse Hellman, Rose Edgcumbe, and Hansi Kennedy.

Much of the archive is split into the following sections:

Field foundation, 1950-1984.

Foundations' Fund for Research in Psychiatry, 1953-1961.

Grant Foundation, 1954-1975.

Psychoanalytic Foundation, 1956-1981.

The Freud Centenary Fund, 1957-1984.

Old Dominion Foundation, 1958-1970.

Anna Freud Foundation, 1958-1986.

Taconic Foundation, 1960-1968.

Leo Oppenheimer and Flora Oppenheimer Haas Trust, 1959-1979.

Ford Foundation, 1960-1966.

Psychoanalytic Research Development Fund, 1961.

National Institutes of Mental Health, 1963-1984.

The New-Land Foundation, 1966-1986.

Hampstead Child Therapy Training Course and Clinic work with blind children, 1966-1974.

G. G. Bunzl Fund, 1969-1987.

Mellon Foundation, 1971-1983.

Public Heath Service, USA, 1974.

Ehrmann Foundation, 1979-1983.

MacArthur Foundation, 1981-1984.

Acc 1048, received May 2002. 13 boxes. Additional records of the Anna Freud Centre.

Acc 1393, received Nov 1005. 44 boxes, 6 films, 2 audio reels, 1 cassette tape. Additional records of the Anna Freud Centre.

Acc 1457, received Oct 2006: 1 file. Annual Reports/Statistics of the Hampstead Child-Therapy Clinic: 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1976, 1977, 1980.

In 1940, two years after fleeing Vienna with her father Sigmund, Anna Freud set up a the Hampstead War Nurseries, a centre for children affected by the war. By 1947 the activities of the Nurseries had expanded to include research on psychotherapeutic treatments for children, and it was renamed the Hampstead Child Therapy Training Course and Clinic.

Anna Freud remained involved with the Clinic for the rest of her life, serving as Director from 1952 until her death in 1982. Two years later the Clinic was renamed the Anna Freud Centre in her honour. Since her death the Centre has continued to treat children and adolescents with emotional and behavioural difficulties, as well as conducting pioneering research in a variety of areas, including neuroscience, attachment research, and social and emotional relatedness.

The Anna Freud Centre has strong academic links with a number of universities such as University College London and Yale University, both of whom offer joint degrees with the Centre, as well as undertaking collaborative research.

More information can be found on the Anna Freud Centre website