Guide to the Association for the Psychophysiological Study of Sleep Records 1961-1986


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Table of Contents

• Descriptive Summary
• Information on Use
• Access
• Citation
• Historical Note (1)
• Scope Note (1)
• Related Resources
• Subject Headings (1)
• INVENTORY

Descriptive Summary

Information on Use

Access

The collection is open for research.

Citation

When quoting material from this collection the preferred citation is:

Association for the Psychophysiological Study of Sleep Records, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library

Historical Note

The University of Chicago was a pioneer in scientific sleep research and organized the first program in the field. Allan Rechtschaffen, at the University of Chicago's Department of Psychiatry, Nathaniel Kleitman, in California, and William Dement, in New York, worked on an individual basis to assemble the then small group of "new" sleep researchers. Rechtschaffen thought it would be useful for sleep and dream researchers around the country to get together, inform each other of research, make presentations, and spread ideas on techniques and procedures.

The first gathering of researchers was held at the University of Chicago in 1961. It was to be an informal annual meeting of those interested in studying sleep. At the outset, the reluctance to institute formal organizational procedures stemmed from a concern that they might constrict meaningful exchanges of scientific ideas. Presenters were encouraged to communicate ideas about work-in-progress and future work as well as offering finished data.

It was not until late 1962 or 1963 that an officially designated, central "communicator" was selected. Joe Kamiya, from Langley Porter Neuropsychiatric Institute in California, became the Secretary-Treasurer of the group. There were no other officers. Though the name "Association for the Psychophysiological Study of Sleep" (APSS) was discussed as early as 1962, Kamiya commented in a 1964 communique that this name was not formally approved until the March 1964 meeting.

A single officer served until 1966, when a double officer plan was finally adopted. Charles Fisher became the first Coordinating Secretary, and David Foulkes became the first Executive Secretary. The Secretary-Treasurer office was then eliminated. Fisher and Foulkes served until 1969. They were succeeded in their respective posts for three year terms by Tony Kales and Vern Pegram (1970-1972); Roger Broughton and Bob Embe (1973-1975); Elliot Weitzman and John Karacan (1976-1978); Al Rechtschaffen and Tom Roth (1979-1981); and Gerry Vogel and Peter Hauri (1982-1984). APSS took on a more hierarchical President/Executive Secretary/Treasurer format in 1983 around the time it changed its name to the Sleep Research Society (SRS). In 1986 the SRS became associated with the Association of Professional Sleep Societies, although continued to function as a separate organization as late as 1995.

The first non-Chicago APSS meeting was held in 1963 at the Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY. This meeting was the first to have "sessions" and session charimen. Unbound abstracts were handed out in folder assemblages until 1971, at which time a loose-leaf bound, but still unpublished, book of abstracts was prepared for the first International Sleep Congresses. Covered abstract books then became the standard.

Though the original APSS remained devoted to avoiding a highly structured society, it was nevertheless vigorous when it came to seizing opportunities to bring investigators together. The data on sleep phenomenology and mechanisms was burgeoning. Since the inception of the APSS in 1961, its members have plumbed the phenomenology, psychology, psychophysiology, psychopathology, endocrinology, neurocircuitry, neurophysiology, biochemistry, pharmacology, ontogeny, phylogeny, neuropathology, and pathologies of sleep.

Scope Note

The records of the Association for the Psychophysiological Study of Sleep range in date from 1961 through 1986. The core of the collection, with adjunctive resources, is the abstracts of all papers presented at annual meetings since 1961. In addition to these abstracts, the collection contains most programs and program announcements, reports of business meetings and informational mailings to members. They also contain reports on the initiation of the journal Sleep and correspondence and announcements on the merger of the sleep societies into the present Association of Professional Sleep Societies.

A highlight of the collection is the early recollections of Nathaniel Kleitman, William Dement, and Allan Rechtschaffen on the initial meetings as well as letters about meetings from other early members. There is a history of the development of the society by Howard Roffwarg and an article by Harold Williams of the Peter Tripp prolonged public sleep deprivation. The end of the collection contains materials collected by Roger Broughton, who was the coordinating secretary from 1973-1975.

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Subject Headings

• Rechtschaffen, Allan
• Kleitman, Nathaniel
• Dement, William
• Sleep research
• Sleep deprivation

INVENTORY