Brian Sutton-Smith papers

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: 2015.bss

Staff Only

The Brian Sutton-Smith papers document seven decades of play-related research, teaching, and writing by one of the foremost figures in play scholarship, with the bulk of the materials dated between 1950 and 2008. These papers contain professional manuscripts, publications, original research data, reference materials, notes, correspondence, memorabilia, photographs, and other research materials; some personal papers are also part of this collection. The information within the collection reflects Sutton-Smith’s interdisciplinary research in psychology, education, and folklore; his teaching at three American universities; and his contribution to play scholarship (work on 50 books and more than 350 articles). Additional scope and content information can be found within the Contents List section of this finding aid.

The Brian Sutton-Smith papers have been arranged into two series, both of which have been further divided into subseries. The physical materials are housed in 171 archival document boxes.

Dates

1878–2015
Majority of material found within 1950–2008

Creator

Sutton-Smith, Brian, 1924-2015 (Person)

Conditions Governing Use

This collection is open for research use by staff of The Strong and by users of its library and archives. Though the donor has not transferred intellectual property rights (including, but not limited to any copyright, trademark, and associated rights therein) to The Strong, he has given permission for The Strong to make copies in all media for museum, educational, and research purposes.

Extent

90 Linear Feet (171 archival document boxes)

Additional Description

Overview

The Brian Sutton-Smith papers are a compilation of seven decades of play-related research, teaching, and writing, including manuscripts, publications, original research data, reference materials, notes, correspondence, memorabilia, and photographs. The bulk of the materials are dated between 1950 and 2008.

Biographical Note

Brian Sutton-Smith (1924–2015) was one of the foremost play scholars of the last 100 years. His The Ambiguity of Play (1997) stands alongside Johann Huizinga’s Homo Ludens (1938) and Roger Caillois’s Man, Play and Games (1961) as a touchstone of play theory. For more than half a century, in more than 350 books and articles, Sutton-Smith led or synthesized all the major advancements in play studies. His collected works, papers, and personal library are a key element of the Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play, and they symbolize the import of its holdings.

Born in Wellington, New Zealand, in 1924, Sutton-Smith grew up roaming the rugged seaside hills around the small suburban town of Island Bay. He relished rough-and-tumble play (which he called “feverish exploits”), excelled at soccer, and went on to study at Wellington Teachers’ College because it allowed Wednesday afternoons off for sports. Afterward, at nearby Victoria University of Wellington, he gained an introduction to play theory and subsequently began teaching primary school, where he became fascinated by what he called “unorganized games”—physical play unsupervised by adults.

These observations led Sutton-Smith to write juvenile fiction and eventually to undertake graduate study of children’s unorganized games and play. His semi-autobiographical stories, serialized in the New Zealand School Journal in 1949 (and collected 12 years later in Smitty Does a Bunk), and his first book, Our Street, published in 1950, provided a realistic and unexpurgated reminiscence of childhood and sparked lively public debate. Conservative representatives of local Education Boards and Headmasters’ Associations condemned Sutton-Smith’s depiction of salty language and rough-and-tumble play in his publications, but members of the Labour Party praised them for meeting a national need for stories about the country’s children. After producing massive documentation for a dissertation about unorganized games and play in New Zealand, Sutton-Smith secured a Fulbright Scholarship to the United States. En route, he lectured about his work to the British Folklore Society and became a friend of the eminent English folklorist Peter Opie. Once in America, Sutton-Smith reviewed play research at the University of California, Berkeley; explored game studies with sociologist David Reisman and game theory with psychoanalyst Bruno Bettelheim, both at the University of Chicago; and examined child anger with psychiatrist Fritz Redl at Wayne State University.

In 1954, shortly after receiving his PhD in educational psychology from the University of New Zealand, Sutton-Smith immigrated to the United States and embarked upon a long and brilliant academic career with an interdisciplinary focus on children’s and adult games; children’s play, drama, films, and narratives; children’s gender issues and sibling position; and play theory. At Bowling Green University from 1957 to 1967, Sutton-Smith taught psychology and directed programs in developmental psychology and human development. At Teachers College, Columbia University, from 1967 to 1977, he taught developmental psychology. And at the University of Pennsylvania from 1977 to 1990, he taught psychology, education, and folklore.

For combined diversity and magnitude, as well as for impact on the thinking of others, Sutton-Smith’s body of scholarly work on play is unparalleled. Among his principal publications: The Sibling (1970) moved the study of child development beyond the mother-child relationship and emphasized the importance of brothers and sisters; The Study of Games (1971), Child’s Play (1971), and The Folkgames of Children (1972) all chronicled children’s stories; Play and Learning (1979) gathered psychologists, anthropologists, and physical educators to connect play to cognitive development in children younger than ten; The Folkstories of Children (1981) and A History of Children’s Play (1981) examined the connection of child’s play to the changing political economy of New Zealand; Toys and Culture (1986) examined the history of toys, the role of toys in family life, the technological innovations of toys, and toys in the marketplace; Play and Intervention (1994) argued that adult intervention in child’s play contributed to the growing stresses of childhood; Children’s Folklore Source Book (1995), a collection of essays, examined childhood mischief (songs, riddles, and pranks) and the creative, “phantasmagorical” irrationality of play (rhymes and games) and challenged traditional notions of child development; and The Ambiguity of Play (1997) presented a theoretical examination of the search for the meaning of play in its various “rhetorics.” Today, every new study of play theory draws upon the latter for inspiration, context, or both.

In addition to researching and writing at a feverish pace all his adult life, Sutton-Smith also lectured throughout the world; participated in making television films on toys and play in Great Britain, Canada, and the United States; consulted on a number of children’s television projects; participated in numerous scholarly organizations; helped launch what is now The Association for the Study of Play; helped establish the Children’s Folklore Society; and secured countless grants and received numerous citations of recognition, including lifetime achievement awards from the American Folklore Society and The Association for the Study of Play.

In 2007 Sutton-Smith gave The Strong his personal library of 2,500 play books and 45 bins of research papers accumulated over a career of 50-plus years. Sutton-Smith passed away on March 7, 2015, at the age of 90 in White River Junction, Vermont.

System of Arrangement

Series I: Professional papers, 1878-2015

Subseries A: Manuscripts

Subseries B: Publications

Subseries C: Dissertation data and related materials

Subseries D: Research files and notes
1. Chronological

2. Subject

3. People

4. Organizations/conferences

5. Notes and other research materials

Subseries E: General correspondence

Subseries F: Publicity, diplomas, and awards

Subseries G: Partnership with The Strong

Series II: Personal papers, c. 1890s-2012

Subseries A: Correspondence

Subseries B: Photographs

Subseries C: Memorabilia

Subseries D: Family history

Subseries E: Manuscripts

Subseries F: Miscellaneous

Custodial History

The Brian Sutton-Smith papers were donated to The Strong in multiple shipments (April 2007, June 2010, July 2013, August 2014, and November 2014) as a gift from Brian Sutton-Smith. The papers were accessioned by The Strong under Object IDs 107.3075, 113.4605, 114.3442, and 114.7323.

Revision Description

Doris Sturzenberger created a detailed inventory for the materials accessioned under Object ID 107.3075 in 2010. In 2014, Kaitlyn Metzger inventoried the papers received under Object IDs 113.4605 and 114.3442. Julia Novakovic performed processing, arrangement, and description in January–May 2015.