Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies

The Kansas legislature provided for establishment of a Bureau of Child Research at the University of Kansas in 1921 (1922?), leaving organizational structure to the university administration. The bureau was not activated until the 1930s when budgetary problems made it short-lived. Reactivation came in June of 1954 with Dr. Ethan P. Allen, director of the Governmental Research Center, serving as bureau director until it could be reorganized as an independent division. Others included on staff at that early period were Donald Pilcher, assistant director of non-clinical research, and B. W. Tucker as a part-time research associate.

New emphasis on activities of the Bureau of Child Research came with the appointment in 1956 of Dr. Richard L. Schiefelbusch as director. He was to provide coordination of effort among the dozen K.U. divisions in Lawrence and at the Medical Center in Kansas City that were already concerned with research, training, and state service for children in Kansas. The new organizational pattern would also intensify and enlarge K.U.’s contribution to the statewide Institute for Exceptional Children.

The policy making arm of the bureau was a coordinating staff, representing the university divisions directly concerned with the welfare of children. The co-coordinating staff members were from the home campus: Dr. Joseph F. Meisels, acting chairman of the Department of Social Work; Dr. Erik Wright, director of the Psychological Clinic; Dr. Gordon Collister, director the Guidance Bureau; Dr. Robert W. Ridgway, assistant professor of elementary education; Dr. Alfred H. Moore, assistant professor of special education; Dr. Edna Hill, chairman of the Home Economics department, child welfare; and Dr. Richard L. Schiefelbusch, speech and hearing and from the K.U. Medical Center: Dr. Cornelius P. Goetrzinger, assistant professor of hearing and speech; Dr. C. Arden Miller, assistant professor of pediatrics; Dr. H. David Francisco, instructor in orthopedics: Dr. George Frankl, assistant professor, child study unit; Edward Tuttle, social service. Joining the group after return from sabbatical were June Miller, associate professor of hearing and Dr. Harry Gianakon, assistant professor of pediatrics and child study.

A consulting staff was assembled from members of the faculty who would have important contributions to make to the bureau’s activities. These included from Lawrence: Dr. Roger G. Barker, psychology; Dr. Ethan P. Allen, political science; Dr. Herbert A. Smith, education; Dr. cloy S. Hobson, education; Prof. Quintin Johnstone, law; Prof. Luella M. Foster, home economics: Dr. Lawrence S. Bee, home economics and sociology; Dr. Carroll D. Clark, sociology, and from the Medical Center: Dr. Herbert C. Miller, pediatrics; Dr. James B. Heaver, orthopedics; Dr. G. O. Proud, otorhinolaryngology; Dr. Donald L. Ross, physical medicine; Jeanne Holman, nursing; Dr. David W. Robinson, plastic surgery.

A central office for the bureau was provided in the remodeled Bailey Hall, new home of the School of Education.

By the 1970s the Bureau of Child Research had grown into the largest research organization of the University. The Bureau administered a combined national center for research in mental retardation and related aspects of human development and a university affiliated clinical training center. The Bureau had laboratories and training sites in Kansas City (KUMC), in Parson (Parsons State Hospital and Training Center), and on the University campus in Lawrence. Programs included various research efforts with children with developmental disabilities in laboratory as well as in community settings, an international program featuring close and continuing cooperation with member nations of the Organization of American States (OAS), nationally and internationally distributed film and print media products, and an outreach project that provides services in the field to children with developmental disabilities and their families. Emphasis was upon methods and materials for the care and treatment of children with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities and the professional training of students for careers of service to clients with disabilities.

From the guide to the University of Kansas Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies records, 1923-, (University of Kansas Kenneth Spencer Research Library University Archives)