In November 2020, an 18-month Wellcome Trust-funded Archive Project began to catalogue the records of psychoanalyst and organisational consultant Harold Bridger (1909-2005). The project is based within the Planned Environment Therapy Archives and Special Collections, part of the Mulberry Bush Charity Third Space service in Toddington, Gloucestershire.
Harold Bridger is most recognised as being a psychoanalyst, a founder of the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations and an organisational consultant for commercial organisations such as Shell, Unilever and J Lyons and Co.
The Collection includes records from all stages of Bridger’s life and career. Access to these records will provide a wealth of valuable information to relevant organisations, individuals and connected collections eg the Tavistock Institute’s Archive based in the Wellcome Library.
The overall aim of the project is to catalogue and preserve the records to international archive standards whilst simultaneously promoting the Collection to relevant stakeholders using a variety of tools.
Once catalogued, the Collection will be accessible in the archive online catalogue. Contact archives@mulberrybush.org.uk for enquiries relating to the Collection during and after the completion of the project. Updates will also be posted on Instagram.
As part of the initial stages of the project, a number of oral history interviews involving Bridger were catalogued and are in the TCVOICES collection within the archive. These interviews inspired a blog post for the Tavistock Institute’s Archive Project to introduce Harold Bridger’s life, work and legacy, as well as exploring some of the links between Bridger and the Tavistock Institute.
Annie Lord
Project Archivist, The Mulberry Bush