The Hermann Rorschach Archives and Museum

Personal papers:

The archival material is arranged and described as fonds and can be searched in IDS Basel Bern Rorschach Archives. Please note that the fonds descriptions are not yet completed. An inventory of the Rorschach Archives (The Rorschach Archives’ Guide) as well as inventories for most of the fonds are available for downloading in PDF format.

Fonds Hermann Rorschach
Fonds Georg A. Roemer
Fonds Emil Oberholzer
Fonds Walter Morgenthaler
Fonds Hans Behn-Eschenburg
Fonds Arnold Weber
Fonds Emil Lüthy
Fonds Max Müller
Fonds Marguerite Loosli-Usteri
Fonds Kenower W. Bash
Fonds Adolf Friedemann
Fonds Olga Rorschach
Fonds Elisabeth Rorschach
Fonds Wadim Rorschach

Fonds Hermann Rorschach
The core of the Archives’ holdings is the fonds Hermann Rorschach. It includes the ten cards which Rorschach developed in 1918, which he used for testing purposes during the implementation of his experiment, and which served as masters for their first publication in 1921. Besides these there are many further blots which he created for possible use. The fonds encompasses numerous test records, many complete with scoring and structural summary, manuscripts, innumerable excerpts from all scientific disciplines, correspondence, photos, personal mementos and drawings spanning the time from his schooldays until the last years of his life.
Inventory Fonds Hermann Rorschach

Fonds Georg A. Roemer
The German psychiatrist Georg A. Roemer (1892-1972) became acquainted with Hermann Rorschach during his, Roemer’s, stay as volunteer in the Herisau asylum in 1919. Enthusiastic about Rorschach’s inkblot method he began experimenting himself, however modifying Rorschach’s test beyond all recognition. The fonds is made up of, among other things, the extended correspondence between the two men from 1919 until 1922. Roemer, having experimented for decades seeking new techniques for the preparation of blot patterns, left an immense number of sheets, which are interesting for their aesthetic and artistic value. Complemented by some of the other papers and non-published literature of the time, the letters received and sent by Roemer are an important source of knowledge on the history of psychotherapy during the Nazi rule in Germany.
Inventory Fonds Georg A. Roemer

Fonds Emil Oberholzer
Rorschach’s colleague and friend Emil Oberholzer (1883-1958), working as psychoanalyst in private practice in Zurich, played an active part in Rorschach’s inkblot experiments. The fonds consists of the correspondence between himself and Rorschach in the years 1916 to 1922. This exchange of letters is interesting not only in relation to the origin and development of Rorschach's test but also with regard to the psychoanalytical movement in Switzerland. As members of the executive committee of the Schweizer Gesellschaft für Psychoanalyse (Oberholzer as president, Rorschach as vice president) they discussed, besides organisational questions, general issues concerning the institutional development of psychoanalysis.
Inventory Fonds Emil Oberholzer

Fonds Walter Morgenthaler
Walter Morgenthaler (1882-1965) played an important role in finding a publisher for Rorschach’s experiment and in publicising and institutionalising the Rorschach method after Rorschach’s death in 1922. He was Honorary President of the International Rorschach Society founded in 1952, and in 1957 initiated the Rorschach Archives. The fonds contains the correspondence between Walter Morgenthaler and Hermann Rorschach, drawing an impressive picture of the difficulties encountered during the preparation and publication of “Psychodiagnostik”, and Morgenthaler’s correspondence pertaining to his strong and lifelong commitment to the Rorschach Test. In addition there are Rorschach test protocols and papers concerning his teaching activity.
Inventory Fonds Walter Morgenthaler

Fonds Hans Behn-Eschenburg
Hans Behn-Eschenburg (1893-1934), under the close guidance of Rorschach, was the first to write a dissertation using Rorschach’s inkblot method. In 1920 he joined the Swiss Psycho-Analytical Society and, after training at the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute, opened a private practice in 1924 in Zurich. Besides manuscripts and papers on psychoanalytic topics, the fonds contains correspondence and papers pertaining to his dissertation, which was published in 1921, a few weeks after Rorschach’s “Psychodiagnostik”.
Inventory Fonds Hans Behn-Eschenburg

Fonds Arnold Weber
Arnold Weber (1894-1976) played an important role for Hermann Rorschach inasmuch as he provided him in 1921 and 1922 with test protocols of professional musicians and other talented persons for “blind diagnosis”. Later he worked, alongside his teaching at the university, as psychoanalyst in private practice, where he made full use of the Rorschach Test. The fonds contains the aforementioned Rorschach protocols complete with Rorschach’s elaborate evaluations. There are numerous further Rorschach protocols, papers concerning Weber’s teaching, and his correspondence with Hermann Rorschach’s widow Olga Rorschach.
Inventory Fonds Arnold Weber

Fonds Emil Lüthy
Emil Lüthy (1890-1966) was a painter and one of the first members of the Swiss Psycho-Analytical Society. In his capacity as painter he was consulted by Rorschach in matters of art psychology, e.g. styles and talents of artists with regard to introversion / extratension. The small fonds includes among other things correspondence with Rorschach and drawings relating to Rorschach’s test.
Inventory Fonds Emil Lüthy

Fonds Max Müller
The psychiatrist Max Müller (1894-1980) became acquainted with Hermann Rorschach in 1921. Familiar with the Rorschach method he, in 1933 together with Emil Oberholzer, began a research programme with the intention of assembling as many results as possible using the Rorschach method applied to the average healthy population, in order to determine standard scores. The fonds contains the Rorschach protocols which came out of that research programme abandoned in 1934 because of disagreement between the two men.

Fonds Marguerite Loosli-Usteri
Marguerite Loosli-Usteri (1893-1958), a distinguished expert on the Rorschach Test and the first to make an attempt at systematic instruction in the use of the Rorschach method, was the first president of the International Rorschach Society. The fonds consists of Rorschach test protocols, correspondence and manuscripts relating to her research activities, teaching and writing, and her work in the Rorschach Commission and the International Rorschach Society.
Inventory Fonds Marguerite Loosli-Usteri

Fonds Kenower W. Bash
The psychiatrist Kenower W. Bash (1913-1986), an authority on Jungian psychology and the Rorschach method, was president of the International Rorschach Society from 1981 to 1986. The fonds consists of Rorschach test protocols, material arising from Bash’s research activities, academic work and writings related to the Rorschach, and his participation in the Rorschach Commission and the International Rorschach Society.
Inventory Fonds Kenower W. Bash

Fonds Adolf Friedemann
Adolf Friedemann (1902-1981), advocate of the Rorschach Test throughout his professional life, became chairman of the Rorschach Commission of the Swiss Psychological Association in 1960 and remained in that office until 1975. From 1960 to 1981 he was president of the International Rorschach Society. The small fonds contains some results obtained through a test developed by a certain Mr. Theo Lüdi (L-Test) and through the Z-Test.

Fonds Olga Rorschach
The Russian born Olga Štempelin (1878-1961) married in 1910 Hermann Rorschach. In 1917 she gave birth to daughter Lisa and in 1919 to son Wadim. When her husband died in 1922 she, herself a medical doctor, had to support the family. The fonds contains among other things photos, personal records and correspondence.
Inventory Fonds Olga Rorschach

Fonds Elisabeth Rorschach
Elisabeth Rorschach (1917-2006), daughter of Olga and Hermann Rorschach, remained unmarried and without offspring. Her excellent knowledge of English made her an important addressee for inquiries concerning her father and his estate from Anglophone countries. The fonds include among other things photos, correspondence and a curriculum vitae of her father’s sister Anna.
Inventory Fonds Elisabeth Rorschach

Fonds Wadim Rorschach
Wadim Rorschach (1919-2010), son of Olga and Hermann Rorschach and like his father psychiatrist, had no offspring. After the death of his mother he together with his sister Elisabeth kept their father’s papers which they successively donated to the Rorschach Archives. The fonds contains among other things biographical items and correspondence.
Inventory Fonds Wadim Rorschach

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