Samuel A. Kirk Papers, 1933-1969 | University of Illinois Archives

Description: Papers of Samuel A. Kirk (1904-1996), Professor of Education (1947-68), and Director of the Institute for Research on Exceptional Children (1952-68), including correspondence, manuscripts of speeches and articles (1940, 1948-73, 1976-86), publications (1933-34, 1938, 1948, 1950-69), publication information, retirement scrapbook, and reports relating to the organization, policies, financial support and administration of the Institute (1952-58); the education of the mentally handicapped; the Illinois test of psycholinguistic abilities; research in special education; professional meetings; a presidential mission to study Russian techniques and developments in treating mental retardation (1962); a controversy concerning certification of teachers for the deaf (1949-65); a controversy over the results of Bernadine G. Schmidt's treatment of the mentally handicapped (1946-55), research on the effects of preschool education on the development of young mentally retarded children (1950-54), biographical remarks on John F. Kennedy (1964), and a trip to the Soviet Union to attend the International Conference on Special Education sponsored by the International Congress of Psychology (1966). Correspondents include Rudolph Capobianco, Gunnar Dybwod, William C. Geer, Ray Graham, G. Orville Johnson, Maynard C. Reynolds, Charles W. Sanford, William Spalding, Godfrey D. Stevens and Vernon Nickell.