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Records of the Department of Occupational Therapy, Steinhardt School of Education

Call Number

RG.26.25

Dates

1941-1990, inclusive
; 1951-1958, bulk

Creator

Steinhardt School of Education. Department of Occupational Therapy

Extent

3 Linear Feet (6 boxes)

Language of Materials

Materials are primarily in English.

Abstract

In the 1940s the Department of Occupational Therapy at NYU was one of the first university-level institutions to educate occupational therapists. A key aspect of the program was the completion of research projects related to practice specialization. Student notebooks from 1951-1958 prepared during the practical training at hospitals in the tri-state area comprise the bulk of the collection. Department newsletters, a 1988 yearbook, and articles written by faculty members provide additional information about the department's history from 1941-1990.

History of the Department of Occupational Therapy

In 1940 NYU's School of Education established a Department of Occupational Therapy (OT), making NYU one of a handful of universities to educate occupational therapists. From 1941 to 1942 Susan Colson Wilson, Director of OT at Brooklyn State Hospital, taught the first OT courses.

In 1942 Frieda J. Behlen became the first full-time instructor of the Department of Occupational Therapy. During those first years of the program's existence Behlen was in charge of program development as well as teaching all of the applied OT theory courses. In 1943 the program earned formal approval from the Council on Medical Education of the American Medical Association. NYU's was the only OT school at the time to offer courses for both day and evening students and to accept male students and African-American students.

In 1953 NYU's Department of Occupational Therapy developed a post-professional master's degree program, and in 1973, it established the world's first doctor of philosophy program in occupational therapy. In 1981 the Department developed innovative work-study post-professional master's programs that attracted students from around the world. A key aspect of these programs was the completion of master's research projects related to practice specialization.

The Department began to phase out the bachelor's degree program in 1993, requiring that all professional level preparation be done at the master's degree level. By focusing only on master's and doctoral students, the Department has reaffirmed its primary mission of innovative, quality professional education.

Arrangement

Folders in the first five boxes are arranged alphabetically by author. Folders in Box 6 are arranged by topic.

The files are grouped into 2 series:

Missing Title

  1. Student Notebooks
  2. Topical Files

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of notebooks prepared by students for various classes taught at the Department of Occupational Therapy from 1951-1958. Frieda Behlen taught some of the classes, and some of the notebooks contain her comments. The collection also contains OT newsletters from 1947-1959 and 1989-1990, as well as a 1988 yearbook, a list of OT reference books, and faculty articles.

Access Restrictions

Institutional records of New York University are closed for a period of 20 years from the date of their creation (the date on which each document was written). Board of Trustees records are similarly closed for 35 years from the date of creation. The opening date for files spanning several years will be 20 years from the most recent date. Access will be given to material already 20 years old contained within a collection that is not yet open when such material can be isolated from the rest of the collection.

Materials related to personnel, faculty grievances, job searches and all files with information that falls under the University's Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) policy are permanently restricted.

Please contact the University Archivists with specific questions regarding restrictions.

Use Restrictions

Permission to publish materials must be obtained in writing from the:
New York University Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012
Phone: (212) 998-2641
Fax: (212) 995-4225
E-mail: university-archives@nyu.edu

Preferred Citation

Published citations should take the following form: Identification of item, date (if known); Records of the Department of Occupational Therapy, Steinhardt School of Education; RG 26.25; box number; folder number; New York University Archives, New York University Libraries.

Provenance

These materials were transferred to the University Archives from the Department of Occupational Therapy in 2005.

Separated Material

Two films were removed to the Audiovisual Collection. Photos were removed to the Behlen and Labowitz portrait files and the University Archives Photo Collection.

Collection processed by

Svetlana Kouzmina.

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-20 17:51:47 -0400.
Language: Description is in English.

Repository

New York University Archives
New York University Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10012