SES 0322431 Elson Bihm, University of Central Arkansas "Marian Breland Bailey and the History of Behavioral Psychology"
The historical legacy of behavioral-psychology pioneer Marian Breland Bailey will be organized, preserved, and transported to the Archives of the History of American Psychology at the University of Akron. Working with Historian David Baker, the project directors will collaborate in cataloging and preparing for transport the psychology papers and artifacts of Marian Breland Bailey and of her husbands Keller Breland and Robert Bailey. Included will be the research records, business records, and artifacts of Animal Behavior Enterprises and the IQ Zoo (e.g., exhibits, correspondence, training manuals, props, film, and videotape). The availability of these materials will help scholars and students understand the importance of her work in relation to animal psychology and ethology, her role in establishing behavior analysis as a science, her role in the early work of behaviorist B. F. Skinner, and her contributions in explicating human operant behavior. To further demonstrate her significance in the history of scientific psychology, the project directors will establish an internet-accessible digital library of photographs, video clips, scanned documents, and accompanying multi-media information that will highlight her unique contributions, as well as the contributions of her collaborators. The preservation of these holdings should serve as a heuristic for future applied, theoretical, and historical research, and will provide a model of the scientific approach to behavior.
