Boder, David P. (David Pablo), 1886-1961

Biography

David P. Boder, 1886 - 1961, was a faculty member of both Lewis Institute (1929 - 1952 ?) and Illinois Institute of Technology, where he did pioneering research in psychology. Immediately after WW II he traveled to Europe where he interviewed 109 Holocaust survivors, many of them still in relocation camps. Upon retiring from IIT in 1952, Boder moved to California where he continued his research in psychology at UCLA. He was educated in Lithuania, Russia, Germany, and the University of Chicago, and received a Ph.D. from Northwestern University. Boder was employed as an academic, clinical, and research psychologist in Germany, Russia, Mexico, Chicago, and California holding positions in government, private sector, and educational institutions, specializing in trauma research and inventing psychological testing equipment. While at Lewis Institute, he found the Psychological Museum which was continued at IIT. In 1946, he traveled to Europe, visiting multiple camps where survivors of the Holocaust were awaiting relocation. Using newly invented magnetic wire recording equipment (invented by fellow-IIT colleague, Marvin Camras), Boder conducted what has since been recognized as the first recorded oral history interviews. He spent the rest of his life translating and transcribing the interviews, only a small number of which were published during his lifetime.

In 1951 Boder conducted similar interview with survivors of the Kansas City Flood. Boder's professional activities include the following: Director of Psychology and Research, Department of Mental Hygiene, Chicago Board of Health, and participated in organization of Mental Hygiene Clinic in Ida B. Wells Public Housing Project, May to October, 1952; Faculty sponsor of the Menorah Society of Lewis Institute, 1929; Active member of local, regional and national professional organizations.

Partial list of writings by David Pablo Boder: 1. Boder, David P., La B - S - T - M; La Escala Binet-Simon-Terman en su Adaptacion Provisional Para Mexico. Mexico, D.F., Talleres Graficos de la Nacion, 1925. 2. Boder, David P., A New Concept of Intelligence; essay dated 19??; Box 15/Lewis Institute Records/IIT Archives 3. Boder, David P., The Influence of Concomitant Activity and Fatigue Upon Certain Forms of Reciprocal Hand Movement and Its Fundamental Components. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, ca. 1935 4. Boder, David P., On the History of Experimental Psychology. Chicago: Lewis Institute, 1938 5. "Specters of Damnation," paper delivered to the Chicago Literary Club, November 7, 1949 6. Boder, David P., The Adjective-Verb Quotient, A Contribution to the Psychology of Language. Bloomington, Ind.: The Principia Press, 1940. (Discussed in Time, June 10, 1940, pp. 56 - 57.) 7. Boder, David P., Morse Code Training Forms: A Method of Learning by Anticipated Recognition. Chicago, Ill.: Illinois Institute of Technology, 1943. 8. Boder, David P., "Psychology and the War Effort," Illinois Tech Engineer & Alumnus, 1943, vol. 1, pg. 23. 9. Boder, David P., "The Displaced People of Europe," Illinois Tech Engineer, 1947, p. 2-7. 10. Boder, David P., I Did Not Interview the Dead, Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1949. (Reviewed in The Journal of Social Psychology, 1951, Vol. 34, pp. 145 - 148 and Saturday Review of Literature, May 6, 1950, p. 20.) 11. Boder, David P., Topical Autobiographies of Displaced People Recorded Verbatim in Displaced Persons Camps, with a Psychological and Anthropological Analysis. Chicago, 1950-57. 12. Koshtoyants, Kh. S., Essays on the History of Physiology in Russia, translated from the Russian by David P. Boder, Washington: American Institute of Biological Sciences, 1964. 13. Boder, David P. and Goldman, Irving L., The Significance of Audible Onset as a Cue for Sound Localization. Princeton, N.J: Psychological Review Co.; Journal of Experimental Psychology, vol. 30, no. 3, 1942; p. 261-272 illus.

Found in 5 Collections and/or Records: