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John Fryer papers
Notifications
Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]1300 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19107
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
People
- Mead, Margaret, 1901-1978.
- Persichetti, Vincent, 1915-1987.
- Saunders, Cicely M., Dame.
- Spitzer, Robert L.
Organization
- American Psychiatric Association.
- Association of Gay & Lesbian Psychiatrists.
- Friends Hospital (Philadelphia, Pa.).
- Norristown State Hospital (Norristown, Pa.).
- Temple University. Dept. of Psychiatry.
- Temple University. School of Medicine.
- Temple University.
- Transylvania College.
- Vanderbilt University. School of Medicine.
- Will Menninger Center for Applied Behavioral Sciences.
Subject
- AIDS (Disease)
- Alcoholism
- Bereavement
- Choral music
- Church music
- Community mental health services
- Comorbidity
- Death and dying--20th century
- Death and mourning--20th century
- Death--Psychological aspects
- Drug addiction--Psychological aspects
- Drug addiction--Treatment
- Episcopal Church. Diocese of Pennsylvania
- Gay rights--United States
- Gays--United States
- Gender identity--Psychological aspects
- Health--Religious aspects
- Homophobia--United States
- Homosexuality--United States
- Hospice care--Psychological aspects
- Medicine
- Mental health services--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia
- Mental illness
- Psychiatry
- Religion
- Sex differences--Psychological aspects
- Sex differentiation disorders
Place
- Publisher
- Historical Society of Pennsylvania
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Willhem Echevarria
- Finding Aid Date
- ; 2012.
- Sponsor
- This collection was processed as part of the Civic Engagement Collections Project. Funding for this project was provided by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).
Collection Inventory
This series makes up the bulk of the collection. In organizing his files Fryer did not make a distinction between professional and personal files. Except for a small number of folders and several boxes of loose papers, folders were kept in alphabetical order with no intent of grouping by subject or genre or any other convention. Thus, documents related to his Dogs are followed by folders about Drug Addiction Issues. This series includes correspondence; personal files; subject files; Fryer’s own medical records; materials related to St. Peter’s and other churches Fryer was associated with; sheet music and scores; papers from his student years at Transylvania College, Vanderbilt University, and Ohio State University Hospital; appointment books; personal and travel diaries; materials related to courses taught at Temple University; student records; business cards and address lists; financial records; and documents produced while taking part in different committees at Temple University. A small group of folders labeled "Genealogy" in Box 40 (Folders 1-3) contain information on four German families: Stutz, Oetzel, Ritter, and Zempter. Among the materials are Fryer's notes on his findings, as well as photocopies of various records.
Physical Description134 boxes
Please note that this folder contains images of nude men.
Please note that this folder contains images of nude men.
This journal contains only one entry (1 page) dated April 3, 2002. The rest of the book is blank.
In this series are included all medical records for Fryer’s patients. Most of them were in folders with the corresponding name while others were loose in record boxes. Also included here are folders Fryer kept on group therapies, and folders with requests for patient records from insurance companies, employment agencies, and other medical offices.
Physical Description17 boxes
The photographs, slides, glass slides, and audiovisual materials (slides, audio cassettes, audio reels, floppy discs, film rolls, VHS tapes, and electronic agenda) encompass both personal and professional events and interests. John Fryer was an avid traveler, and his travel photographs show a mixture of his sightseeing endeavors as well as his connections with organizations both in the United States and abroad. He also took pictures of a number of professional events and conferences, most notably the annual conferences of the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science in Star Island, New Hampshire. Personal photographs include those of his home, his friends and family, special occasions, pets, and church events. A number of photographs remain in their original albums. Many sets of photographs were in their original development sleeve with negatives – typically unlabeled and undated – and the rest were found scattered in various boxes in seemingly random order. Box 215 contains a series of circa 1960 glass slides that contain images and information pertaining to mycobateria and tuberculosis. They may from Fryer's residency at Ohio State Hospital. Some of the slides are cracked, so researchers are asked to please handle them with care.
Due to the disorganized nature of the majority of photographs, the photos were grouped together by subject matter, with the exception of those that were unlabeled and undated, which can be found together; when found grouped with other photos, original order was maintained. In instances in which photographs were kept together and labeled, either by Fryer or another’s hand, the exact wording was maintained in their descriptions. Dates were determined either by inspecting the details of the image (such as a conference signs), or viewing handwritten and/or developing labels/notes. All others are marked as undated.
Physical Description41 boxes
**Includes images of nude men.
This series contain all publications kept by Fryer for both professional and personal reasons. The series have been arranged in a broad manner, grouping items by type of publication: newspaper clippings; magazines; newsletters; publications (portion composed of printed material in soft cover larger in size than pamphlets); series/journals; pamphlets and bulletins; and directories. Monographs are located at the end of the series and numbered in volumes. Printouts and photocopies of journal articles (unless annotated or authored by Fryer himself) were removed and a list of them have been included in lieu of the originals.
Physical Description18 boxes, 34 volumes
Included in this series are handwritten annotations, notes for meetings, plaques, computer software, currency, flyers, lists, menus and cooking recipes, programs, notes on opera, business cards, artifacts, oversize prints and photographs, credit and membership cards, broadsides and posters, the book for Fryer’s memorial service, and some materials that were added to the collection after his death in 2003.
Physical Description11 boxes, 9 flat files