Papers of Robert Menninger

Abstract: Personal papers of Robert Gaines Menninger, who worked in both adjunctive therapy and directed the Menninger museum and archives. Topics include the Josephine McCreary estate out of Los Angeles, California, involving a ranch co-owned by the Menninger Foundation and the Save-the-Redwoods League; recreation committees, long-range planning committee, and other such groups with which Dr. Bob served or chaired; appointment sheets for patients Dr. Bob met through the Menninger Community Service Office and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services at either Haskell Health Center or Holton Health Clinic; records related to the Menninger museum; a manual for adjunctive therapy; and other related topics and miscellaneous materials. Types of records include memoranda and correspondence, meeting minutes, legal documents, reference and research materials, etc.

Biog. Sketch (Full): Robert Gaines Menninger was born on 16 June 1922 in Topeka, Kansas, the son of Karl and Grace Gaines Menninger. He received his bachelors from the University of Kansas in 1948 and his medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine in Rochester, New York in 1952. He also received post-doctoral training in psychiatry from the Menninger School of Psychiatry and graduated from the Topeka Institute of Psychoanalysis.

Menninger's schooling was interrupted by World War II, during which time he served as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army as a hospital adjutant. After completing his medical education, Menninger interned with university hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio before returning to Topeka, where he was a resident at the Winter V.A. Hospital and Menninger Clinic, as well as serving as a staff psychiatrist with the Topeka State Hospital.

Menninger continued to hold a variety of positions with the Menninger Foundation, both clinical and administrative, including as director of the Museum and Archives program, for Alumni Relations in the MSP, and for the Community Service Office. He also consulted with the Hillhaven Convalescent Center and Indian Health Service at the Haskell Institute in Lawrence.

Professional organizations to which Dr. Menninger belonged include the American Psychiatric Association, the American Medical Association, the Kansas and Shawnee County Medical Societies, the Topeka Psychoanalytic Society, and the American Association of Museums, among numerous others. His special interests professionally include short term psychotherapy, history of medicine and of psychiatry, psychopharmocology, and geriatrics.

Robert G. Menninger is married to Mavis and has three children, Karl A. Menninger II, Ann, and Sarah.