Archive for Sexology

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The following sampler gives a first impression of the documents in our collection, which contains many more items than are shown here. The entire collection can be studied on location at our archive during regular opening hours.

Please note: All images are quick load JPEG's. To get the full size picture, just click on them for a larger image.

Benjamin was born in Berlin, but, as a young physician, left Germany in 1913 for a research project on tuberculosis in the USA. Trying to return one year later, his ocean liner was intercepted by the Royal Navy and diverted to a British port, because WWI had broken out. As a German "enemy alien", Benjamin was sent to an internment camp, but managed to obtain his release on the condition that he return not to Berlin, but to New York. There, in 1915, he began his private medical practice (starting in the forties, he also practiced in San Francisco during the summer months, thus, for many years, establishing a bi-coastal professional presence). His special interest was hormonal research, and thus he became a disciple of Eugen Steinach, whom he visited in Vienna every summer through the twenties and early thirties. On these occasions, he also took frequent side trips to Berlin, where he visited both Magnus Hirschfeld and Albert Moll and also participated in their congresses. He also knew Alfred Kinsey quite well and, through him, became acquainted with a young patient who was anatomically male, but insisted that he was really female. This led to Benjamin's interest in what he himself later described as "transsexualism". In his long and distinguished career, Benjamin came to know many famous American and European scientists, scholars, and artists. From his earliest youth, he was also an ardent opera lover (the legendary soprano Maria Jeritza was a patient and close friend). He always retained a great love for his native Berlin and hoped that it would, once again, become a center of sexology.

1. Portrait of Harry Benjamin The photo was taken in Vienna during the days of the "Anschluss", spring 1938. [31K]	2. Photo of Harry Benjamin in uniform with his mother, Berlin 1909 [58K]	3. Invitation to a meeting of the Medical Society for Sexology and Physiological Research of October 22, 1926, Berlin, Charité. There is a lecture by Peter Schmidt on the hormonal research by Eugen Steinach and others. Harry Benjamin is listed as a participiant in the subsequent discussion. [75K]

4. Benjamin, Magnus Hirschfeld and Max Thorek in Chicago 1930 [69K].	5. Carbon copy of a letter from Harry Benjamin to Magnus Hirschfeld (Aug. 29, 1932). [216K]	6. Letter from Harry Benjamin to Havelock Ellis, Oct. 20, 1932. [143K]

7. Letter from Havelock Ellis to Benjamin, Nov. 23, 1932. [??K] For full transcript click here.	8. Letter from Benjamin to Ellis, Feb. 15, 1933. [65K]	9. Title page of Benjamin's book on Transsexualism (1966). For full text, click here. [38K]

10. Harry Benjamin in his later years at the desk of his medical practice in New York. [61K]	11. Harry Benjamin´s "Reminiscences" in The Journal of Sex Research, Feb. 1970. [60K] For full text, click here.	12. Harry Benjamin´s last interview in a German medical journal on the occasion of his 100th birthday. [72K] For a full translation click here.

-- Please note: All images are quick load JPEG's. To get the full size just click on them for a larger image.

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