Reference number
  • BRIDGER
Level of description
  • Collection
Date(s)
  • 1927-2005
Extent and medium
  • Approximately 300 boxes
Category
  • Personal Papers
Scope and content
  • ┆The collection contains correspondence, publications, counselling records, patient files, training records, testing materials, field notes, minutes and reports, consultancy records, school books, photographs, video interviews, research, studies and conference, seminar and workshop papers relating to Harold Bridger's life and work covering the years 1927-2005. The records largely represent Bridger's roles as a psychoanalyst, a founder and consultant at Tavistock Institute of Human Relations,  a member of professional organisations and institutions and an educational and vocational counsellor. The collection is currently being catalogued, with completed sections and sub-sections being added once completed. Contact the archive for information regarding the collection.
History
  • Harold Bridger was born in Tavistock Crescent London on 15 May 1909, the oldest of five children. His father came from Russia and his mother was born in England a child of Polish migrants. Bridger attended Marylebone Grammar School and later studied mathematics at University College London. After university, he went on to teach mathematics at Bablake School in Coventry. During the outbreak of the Second World War Bridger commanded a search light battery in Coventry. He later transferred to the War Office Selection Boards and was closely associated with its development and use of group methods. The Boards were a radical scheme devised by British Army psychiatrists whereby new officers were selected based on psychological assessments, not inherited social rank. The Boards implemented a 'leaderless group' theory to select appropriate candidates on ability, not upbringing. In 1944 Bridger was appointed commanding officer at Hollymoor Hospital in Birmingham, alongside S.H Foulkes and Tom Main to conduct the second Northfield experiment. The hospital had been acting as a military hospital since 1940 and in 1942 it dealt specifically with the treatment of psychiatric casualties. In 1943 the military sent in psychoanalysts John Rickman and Wilfred Bion to run the training wing of the hospital whereby they began an experiment in rehabilitating soldiers. This experiment lasted only six weeks and in 1944 the second experiment began. Bridger’s main contribution to the experiment was creating the ‘hospital club’ whereby he allowed the patients to organise their own activities, groups, and leadership in order to engage the patients and the hospital as a whole and it was here that the therapeutic community element of the experiment emerged. In 1945 he joined the staff at the Civil Resettlement Units (for returned prisoners of war) as Chief Vocational Officer. After the war, Bridger trained to become a psychoanalyst at the Institute of Psychoanalysis, qualifying in 1950. Alongside this, he became one of the twelve founding members of the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations in 1946 where his career focused on group relations and consultancy. Bridger practiced psychoanalysis until 1960 and after this point he used psychodynamic principles in his role at the Tavistock to practice counselling for many individuals and families connected to action research projects. This counselling mainly focused around the topics of career development and education. Between 1950 and 2000, whilst at the Tavistock Institute, Bridger led on a number of consultancy projects working with commercial organisations such as Unilever, Shell, Philips, and J. Lyons and Co to apply a number of his experimental theories to the workplace. These included the 'double-task' approach, his development of the working conference, and the idea of 'suspending business' to help managers think reflectively about their organisation. During this time Bridger helped to bring group dynamics to the forefront of business Much of Bridger's work was conducted with international organisations and individuals with connections in Europe, America and the Middle East. These connections ranged from therapeutic communities, applied behavioural science institutes, commercial businesses and academics. In 1991 he helped Lisl Klein develop the Bayswater Institute and in the latter stages of his career, he continued to travel, giving lectures and teaching all over the world until the age of 91. Harold Bridger died in Little Brook House, Warsash Hampshire on 3 May 2005.
Name of creator(s)
  • Harold Bridger
Access status
  • MIXED
Conditions governing access
  • Some records are subject to UK data protection laws. Contact the archivist for access and specific information on closure periods.
Conditions governing reproduction
  • UK copyright restrictions apply and details are specified throughout the collection where appropriate.
Language
  • ENG
System of arrangement
  • BRIDGER/1 Biographical and Personal 1927-1980 BRIDGER/2 Tavistock Institute of Human Relations 1946-1994 BRIDGER/3 Research and Consultancy Projects 1947-1990 BRIDGER/4 Memberships and Professional Associations 1940-2000 BRIDGER/5 Psychoanalytic Training and Practice 1948-1980 BRIDGER/6 Publications, Writing and Research 1946-1990 BRIDGER/7 Correspondence 1940-2000
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
  • Gift of Harold Bridger, 2002
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
  • Hybrid collection
Copyright
  • Presumed copyright of the Planned Environment Therapy Archive (assigned with gift of the collection in 2002)