ALS in German, signed "Sigm. Freud," one page, 5.5 x 7.25, personal letterhead, September 18, 1932. Letter to a doctor, in part (translated): "The idea of being present in whatever way during the pursuit of psychoanalytic studies at Harvard gives me much joy...an encouragement to take action...which came from my dear friend James J. Putnam in the year 1909. I wish your endeavors the best success." A tape-repaired tear to top edge, toning to lower left, trivial surface loss to reverse from removed adhesive remnants, and a small repaired area of surface loss near but not affecting signature, otherwise fine condition.
Longstanding Harvard professor and neurologist James J. Putnam was an instrumental figure in Freud's first visit to the United States. Accompanied by other luminaries of the psychoanalytic realm such as Carl Jung and Sandor Ferenczi, Freud arrived at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, in early September 1909 to receive an honorary doctorate and to deliver a series of innovative lectures. Among those in attendance was Putnam, who, following the ceremony, escorted Freud to his country home for a four-day period of reprieve and discussion. Putnam continued to endorse Freudian ideas throughout his career, publishing his own Personal Impressions of Sigmund Freud in 1910, and even writing the introduction to the English translation of Freud's Three Contributions to the Theory of Sex. A fascinating letter from the revered Austrian neurologist in which he fondly recalls the friend who helped him break through to the American audience.
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