Archives and Museum Hermann Rorschach History 

Ever since the founding of the ISR (1949/1952), Dr. Morgenthaler had the idea to safeguard all H Rorschach -related material. He finally was able to negotiate an agreement with the Library of the University of Bern, in 1956.

Several past-presidents of the ISR donated material to the Archives (Morgenthaler, Loosli-Usteri, Bash, Exner).

The Archives collections stayed dormant, stacked in underground boxes until John E. Exner, under the Presidency of Nina Rausch de Traubenberg in 1990, and then as President of the ISR, took the bull by the horns and decided to resurrect the Archives by reorganising them and making them directly accessible to the public. First, everything had to be taken out of the boxes and a list of all the items had to be established. That consumed long hours of work in a cramped space in the basement of the University of the Library of Bern, with the help of Anne Andronikof, and occasionally of other ISR members, including Nina Rausch. A catalogue was created thanks to the remarkable work of Rita Signer, the then archivist. The complete bibliography was sent to all ISR members, together with a call for contributions: anyone interested was asked to send the Archive a copy of the published works, and reprints of any article concerning the Rorschach.

John E. Exner wanted the Archives and the personal objects of Hermann Rorschach to be gathered in a dedicated place. To this end, he found premises in Bern and founded the Hermann Rorschach Archives and Museum (HRAM) within the ISR, which operates with its own funds, derived from donations. The HRAM was inaugurated in September 2000 at a formal meeting of the University of Bern. The cost of renting and running the facility was shared between the Bern Library, the publisher Hogrefe AG and the ISR.

The many colleagues who had the privilege of visiting the HRAM marvelled at having been able to experience Hermann Rorschach's intellectual journey, and his creative genius, up close.

When first created, the Archives managed to acquire important publications on the Rorschach Test as well as two important sets of correspondence. Apart from photos from the family, these sets of correspondence remained the only original documents for decades. When at the start of the 1990s relations between the University Library Bern and the International Society of the Rorschach were reactivated, the two institutions managed to extend the collection of printed publications, reorganize it and record it electronically in entirety. Hermann Rorschach's two children gave a considerable part of their father's personal papers to the Archives. Another substantial contribution to the collection was the donation of records and other items formally belonging to Rorschach's pupil and colleague Georg A. Roemer. Inquiries in Switzerland and abroad led to the discovery of further important documents.

Unfortunately, the building that housed the HRAM, at Dalmazirain 11, Bern, suffered a fire in May 2012, and the entire collection had to be returned for safety reasons to the University library. In the short term, this was a great loss for the community, but on this occasion the archive specialists realised that the original documents, drawings and in general most of the items were not in optimal conditions of preservation. The former museum part has been closed.

Today, the archive is housed in the Institute for the History of Medicine at the University of Bern.

To consult the catalogue, borrow books, and/or contact the archivist, please click here.