Semeonoff, Boris (1910-1998)

File 1 of 2 contains correspondence relating to the British Psychological Society Publication Committee business, including with Sir Cyril Burt, 1953-1954, D. W. Harding, Bedford College, 1953-1954, H. Y. Eysenck, Institute of Psychiatry, 1953 (with a 4-page typed proposal), Peter McKeller, Aberdeen 1953, C. W. Valentine, 1953-1954 (with a 7-page typed memorandum for the committee). Includes suggestions for a new journal on social psychology and the running and the future of the Publications Committee. Covers 1953-1954.

File 2 of 2 contains writings by Semeonoff as follows:

4 -page typed documents entitled "Craik at Edinburgh", dated Jan 1997

41-page handwritten reminiscences entitled "Psychology at Edinburgh in the Thirties

11-page typed copy of "Edinburgh in the Thirties"

1 reprint, forwarded from his widow to H. Beloff (University of Edinburgh) entitled "Changing Horizons: An Essay in Autobiography" by Boris Semeonoff, 1969, signed by Semeonoff.

1953-1997

1 file (in 2 parts)

Other number refers to the numbering system used by previous owner, the British Psychological Society

Deposited in the library at Wellcome Collection by the British Psychological Society in September 2008.

Semeonoff, Dr Boris (1910-1998)

Although born in St Petersburg, Boris was brought up in Edinburgh and went to George Watson's School and then on to the University of Edinburgh where he studied English Language and Literature.

Boris Semeonoff joined the staff of the Department of Psychology Edinburgh University in 1933 under its Chairman, Professor James Drever (primus). His career was interrupted when war broke out and he went to work for the War Office Selection Board where he was involved in selecting spies to infiltrate occupied Europe. He returned to the Department of Psychology for the academic year 1946/47 where James Drever (secundus) was now in command.

Later, when in 1966 Drever left to become Principal of Dundee University, Boris became acting head of the department until David Vowles was appointed in 1968.

Boris is best known as an authority on the use of projective techniques on personality testing such as the Rorschach (or 'ink-blot') test and the Thematic Apperception Test (T.A.T.). His most notable publications were Diagnostic Performance Tests (1958); Personality Assessment: Selected Readings (Penguin 1966/70) and Projective Techniques (1976). He also contributed the article on projective techniques to Richard Gregory's The Oxford Companion to Mind(1987).

Boris was a well known figure in the British Psychological Society of which he became president for the year 1968/69. His Presidential Address "Changing Horizons: An Essay in Autobiography" appears in the Bulletin of the B.P.S. for July 1969. He was for many years editor of the British Journal of Psychology and served as president of the Psychology Section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.

Besides psychology, Boris was well known in musical circles as an opera enthusiast with a unique collection of gramophone records. In 1951 he published his Record Collecting: A Guide for Beginners.

Compiled by the Cataloguing Project Archivist at the British Psychological Society History of Psychology Centre, with minor editing by Wellcome staff.

Custodial history information is not known.

British Psychological Society accession number 0023.