Murray Bowen, MD, developed a systems view of the family based on evolution and the natural sciences. This view moved thinking about human behavior away from Freudian Theory and toward seeing the human family as a part of all nature. The concepts in the Bowen Theory are based in science. Throughout his long career Dr. Bowen accumulated a vast array of materials that accompanied his search for a scientific basis for human behavior. Some of these materials include papers, manuscripts, book chapters, video tapes of his clinical work with families and of his teaching efforts at conferences. Much of his work and thinking was recorded in the scores of letters he wrote to family, friends, professional colleagues, patients and their families.
The Murray Bowen Archives Project was established in 2008 and is devoted to ensuring that these materials reflecting Dr. Bowen’s thinking and odyssey toward a new theory of human behavior are preserved and catalogued at the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and are available to researchers and other students of human behavior.
Vision
Murray Bowen’s archives will be available to the world to advance the understanding of his theory of human behavior, its development and integration with the natural sciences.
Mission
To obtain the resources necessary to fulfill the vision, to advance scholarship, and enhance public knowledge of these archives.
Already, thousands of letters, clinical notes and other documents are available at the NLM, as well as video recordings of Dr. Bowen. The Archives Project is currently processing a vast collection of writings that were found in the Bowen home.
Collections in the archives include (1) the L. Murray Bowen Collection of writings and video of Dr. Bowen at the National Library of Medicine, (2) the Oral History Project, video recorded interviews of individuals who knew and were influenced by Dr. Bowen, and (3) books and dissertations based on the primary material of the collection at NLM.
Dr. Bowen gave his theory as a gift to the world. The Murray Bowen Archives Project is dedicated to opening the Murray Bowen Archives to the world.
The history of The Murray Bowen Archives Project is the story of making that gift a reality. Shortly before Dr. Bowen’s death in 1990, it was agreed that the National Library of Medicine would serve as the repository for all of his work. The NLM already had a collection of early video recordings of interviews with clinical families in its History of Medicine Division.
Dr. Bowen gave his daughter, Joanne Bowen, responsibility for seeing that his archives became a reality. Over the several decades since Dr. Bowen’s death materials from the extensive collection of paper records, video and audio recordings, photos, books, articles, clinical records and memorabilia have been catalogued and moved to NLM where they will be fully archived and made available to the public.
The Murray Bowen Archives Project board and legions of volunteers are engaged in the process of ensuring that all of the materials that reflect the decades of study and thinking Dr. Bowen devoted to developing the Bowen Theory are preserved and available to the public.
The board is actively involved with the National Library of Medicine to ensure that the archives are preserved and archived to the highest standards. The board is working to secure the funds necessary to cover the expenses of archiving, digitizing, copying, transcribing and close captioning materials to be housed on the NLM website and accessible to current and future students of human behavior.
TMBAP’s Organizational Chart
