Ross Thalheimer papers

1940-1978

Ross Thalheimer, psychologist, university professor, and author, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1905. Thalheimer received his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University. He was a faculty member at Johns Hopkins from 1927-1928, the University of Washington (Seattle) from 1928-1929, and intermittently the University of Baltimore and Johns Hopkins from 1929-1938. Before entering the Army in 1941, Thalheimer was National Legislative Representative of the American Federation of Teachers for two years. In 1946, he entered private practice as a psychotherapist and in 1953, founded the Community Guidance Service, a service agency staffed by psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers, providing low-cost personal guidance services at private offices throughout the New York City area. He was also the founder and executive director of the American Institute for Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis.

Beginning in about 1937, Thalheimer endowed the annual Thalheimer Awards, presented by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for outstanding branch fundraising program activities. He also made an annual grant to the National Urban League from 1945 until the 1960s. Initially, this award was presented to the branches with the largest number of subscriptions to Opportunity Magazine, but from 1948-1953, awards were given to students who wrote the best essay for its vocational Opportunity Campaign. In 1954, this prize was replaced with cash awards provided to local branches for notable achievements in the field of vocational guidance. Thalheimer served as chairman of the Psychologists' Committee on Interracial Relations in the 1960's. He died in 1977.