Kristine Mann (1873-1945) – Pioneer in Psychoanalysis

The Library for Jungian Research in New York is named after one of the ‘founding mothers’ of Psychoanalysis Dr. Kristine Mann. It was Kristine Mann who along with Mary Esther Harding (1888-1971), and Eleanor Bertine (1887-1968) founded the Analytical Psychology Club of New York (APC) in 1936 to provide fellowship to persons who had experienced Jungian analysis. It was these ‘founding mothers’ who were the pioneers of the Jungian movement in the United States. The APC was founded by these three extraordinary women who were during the 1920s and 1930s being analyzed by Carl Jung or his colleagues both in America and in Zurich. At that time there was no formal training program for Jungian analysts. Those interested underwent analysis and came up through the club. These pioneering founding mothers were responsible for bringing Carl Jung to America, New York and Bailey Island, and to creating a direct relationship with the Psychology Club in Zurich. In 1941 the founding mothers established The Library of the Analytical Psychology Club of New York (APC) and after the death of Kristine Mann in 1945 it would become the Kristine Mann Library.

For further information about the life of Kristine Mann read Beth Darlington’s wonderful article from Eranos (Spring 2015) “Kristine Mann: Jung’s “Miss X” and a Pioneer in Psychoanalysis”.  
[insert pdf here]

Kristine Mann Timeline

1873 – Kristine Mann was born August 29th 1873 in Orange, New Jersey.  Her father Charles Holbrock Mann (1839-1918) was a minister in ‘The New Church’ – Swedenborgianism, a theological tradition of several historically related Christian denominations that developed under the influence of Emanual Swedenborg (1688-1772). Her mother was Clausine Borchsenius who had emigrated from Rudkobing, Denmark when she was 14.  Kristine Mann grew up with two older brothers, Horace and Riborg; an elder sister, Clausine; a younger sister Anna; and a younger brother Holbrock. Kristine's life of education began at age four at the Dearborn Morgan School in Orange which she graduated from at age eighteen.

1885 – In 1885 Kristine and her family began spending summers at Bailey Island (Maine). Summering at Bailey Island would prove to be a lifelong ritual for Kristine and her friends and family.

1891 – 1891 Kristine entered Smith College, a liberal arts women’s college in Northampton, Massachusetts, receiving an A.B. in 1895.

1895 –Kristine returns to Orange, NJ where she assisted her father as editor of the New Church Messenger, the official newsletter of the Swedenborgian General Convention. Her father’s conflicts with the New Church deepened to the point that Mann severed his ties with them in 1897. Mann founded a new periodical called ‘The Secular Church’.  Kristine continued to grow up in this somewhat unorthodox New Church family setting.

1900 –Kristine attends the University of Michigan where she received a Masters of Arts degree.
After which she went on to teach English for four years at Vassar College and then also teaching at the Brearely School in New York while pursuing graduate studies in education, philosophy and psychology at Columbia University.  

1907 – In 1907 Kristine began the study of anatomy at Women’s Medical School and in 1907 she entered Cornell Medical School receiving her medical degree in 1913 at the age of 40. At Cornell she became reacquainted with Eleanor Bertine (1887-1968) who was previously her student at Vassar and would become her lifelong friend.

1913 –Kristine receives her medical degree, becoming Dr. Kristine Mann.

1914 – Kristine moves to New York to begin a two-year investigation of the health conditions of sales women for the New York Department Store Education Association.

1915 – Dr.Mann’s article, “Training Women for Marriage” is published in the Smith Alumnae Quarterly, which articulates her belief in the necessity for women to work to attain confidence in their autonomy.

1916 –The Psychology Club Zurich was founded in 1916 by Emma and Carl Gustav Jung, and some Zurich friends of Complex Psychology (later changed to Analytical Psychology). Emma Jung was the first president of The Psychology Club Zurich.

1914-1918 –During World War One Kristine works for the Army Ordnance Department supervising the health of women in munitions plants in Washington DC.

1918 – After the war Kristine works for the Work Council of the YWCA visiting twenty colleges for women. This was an intensive study on the psychology of sex, euphemistically referred to as “social hygiene”.

1920 – Article refers to Kristine Mann as “one of America’s most distinguished women physicians.”

1920 –On August 18th, 1920 the Nineteenth Amendment becomes part of the U.S. Constitution and Women in the US obtain the right to vote. "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."

1920-1924 –Kristine becomes the Director for the Health Center for Business and Industrial Women in New York. During this time Kristine meets Dr. Constance Long (from London) who influenced Kristine about the ideas of Carl Jung and she resolved to enter the new field of Analytical Psychology.

1921 –Kristine Man studies with Carl Jung for the first time. She also begins practicing as an analyst part-time. Kristine studied in Europe with Jung  several more times during the early 1920s.

1923 – Kristine Mann publishes "Thousands of 'Well' Women Pay for Training Health Center", New York Times, Section 8, Page 15 (April 1, 1923).

1925 – In early 1925 Kristine hosts a lecture by Carl Jung in her New York apartment.

1928 –Kristine Mann travels to Zurich. ‘Groping towards a system of psychological healing’ (Swedenborgian idea). This is Kristine’s new vocation and with the help of her friends she begins to shape the Jungian Community in New York.

1936 – In 1936 the Analytical Psychology Club of New York was founded. Formed by Kristine Mann, Mary Esther Harding (1888-1971), and Eleanor Bertine (1887-1968), with the purpose to provide a gathering place for self-discovery and to gain an understanding of the key components of Jungian therapy.

1936 – Bailey Island, Maine. The ‘Founding Mothers’ of the Analytical Psychology in America organize Carl Jung’s visit to Bailey Island, Maine. At the Bailey Island Library Carl Jung gave the week-long seminar “Dream Symbols of the Individuation Process.”

1940 – Kristine Mann publishes "The Shadow of Death", Papers of the Analytical Psychology Club of New York, 4 (1940).  In the same year Kristine publishes "The Self-Analysis of Emanuel Swedenborg", Papers of the Analytical Psychology Club of New York, 4.

1941 – The Library of the Analytical Psychology Club of New York (APC) is established and within a few years it shall become the Kristine Mann Library.

1945 –After a long and difficult battle with breast cancer Kristine Mann dies and leaves her Jungian library to the Analytical Psychology Club of New York (APC) where it becomes the nucleus of the library today. The library was named in honor of Dr. Kristine Mann, one of the first psychoanalysts in the United States and a founder of the APC of New York. The library, which included her bequest of over 400 books and papers, eventually moved to a pleasant suite in the Peter Cooper Hotel, New York.

1955 – The Kristine Mann Library endowment fund created.

1963 – The Kristine Mann Library committee was formed.

1975 – In 1975, the library relocated to its current home in midtown New York City. The building also houses the C.G. Jung Center of New York along with the C.G. Jung Foundation, their bookstore, the C.G. Jung Institute, the Analytical Psychology Club, ARAS (The Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism), and the New York Association for Analytical Psychology.