I am seeking film of any of the research by Muzafer Sherif. I am particularly interested in the Robbers Cave project, but any would be of interest. Do you have any idea where I might locate such film?

-- c. eugene walker (genewalker@iname.com), March 12, 2002

Answers

I do not know the answer to your question, but have a few ideas of where to begin. First, check out the Archives of the History of American Psychology in Akron, Ohio (http://www3.uakron.edu/ahap/). Second, check out the archives of the American Psychological Association in Washington DC (http://www.apa.org/archives/). Third, try the archives of the university at which Sherif spent most of his career (which I believe was Oklahoma, but I am not certain).

-- Christopher Green (christo@yorku.ca), March 12, 2002.

[Posted for JET by cdg.]

To the best of my knowledge, Muzafer did not make use of film in any of his field based studies; he did use still photographs extensively especially with his "summer camp studies." While a graduate student at the Institute of Group Relations at the University of Oklahoma in the late 60s I vividly recall poring over piles of still photos many of which were not organized in any systematic way; in fact, the ones I reviewed were strewn about in cardboard boxes. A few of the photos were used in the Sherifs' textbooks especially for the Robbers Cave Study. I have no idea where those photos ended up. He and Carolyn may have taken some of them with them when they moved to Penn State. Also, it may be worth checking with the archives at the University of Akron as they have some of the Sherifs works archived there. It's interesting to point out that a year or so after I graduated from Oklahoma and the Institute all of the Sherifian related files, equipment, experimental apparatus (the "AK" machine which was actually a big black box) were either taken to a trash dump or carted off by William R. Hood for safe keeping. Bob Hood, one the Robbers Cave "camp counselors," moved to Oklahoma City from Norman to accept an appointment at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center after the collapse of the Institute in 1970. He passed away rather tragically a few years after the move. His files and perhaps some of Sherif's files were taken in by Bob's former spouse who then lived in Tucson, AZ I believe. They may still be there. The reason and motives beyond the tragic demise and collapse of the Institute is a story for another time.

I hope this helps you. If there were films and I didn't know about them I certainly would want to know and get access to them.

-- Joseph E. Trimble (Joseph.Trimble@wwu.edu), March 12, 2002.

Joseph: The archives in Akron do indeed have Sherif's papers and many photos. I may have imagined it, but I thought I saw a clip of some film from the field experiments.

-- c. eugene walker (genewalker@iname.com), March 12, 2002.