Tours and Workshops
The Cummings Center for the History of Psychology offers a variety of tours and workshops for group visitors. These programs provide a fresh look at the exhibits in our National Museum of Psychology and hands-on experiences with original materials from the Archives of the History of American Psychology.
- All programs are offered year-round unless stated otherwise.
- There is no additional fee for these programs outside of regular museum admission rates.
- Although these programs are designed primarily for college and university students, community organizations and other non-student groups are welcome to request any of the tours or workshops listed below.
- Please note that, due to the staffing capacity required to host these programs, we do not currently offer them to individual visitors.
To book any of the tours or workshops listed below, please contact us at ahap@uakron.edu. In your email, please include the title of your chosen tour or workshop, your estimated group size, date and time availability for your visit, accessibility needs, and your institutional affiliation (if applicable). All program scheduling is dependent on staff availability; bookings are not finalized until you receive confirmation from a member of our team.
Guided Tours
Under the Covers: A Guided Tour of Sexology
AVAILABLE THROUGH JANUARY 2025
Duration: Approximately 45 Minutes
Recommended Group Size: 10 - 15 Visitors
Get up close and personal with Sexology magazine, which brought news and information about sexuality and gender to the American public from 1933 through 1983. Visitors will explore the Cummings Center’s Sexology: Science & Sensationalism exhibit, learning about the magazine’s editors and contributors and exploring its coverage of topics like reproductive health, sex work, gender identity, sexual orientation, and more.
Optional: Extend your visit with a 30 minute archival workshop, where visitors will have the opportunity to freely browse original magazines pulled from the Archives. (Total Duration: Approximately 75 Minutes)
Race & Psychology Museum Tour
Duration: Approximately 60 Minutes
Recommended Group Size: 10 - 25 Visitors
The Race & Psychology Museum Tour recontextualizes the National Museum of Psychology by exploring the relationship between psychological science and systems of racial injustice. Guests examine the power of psychology to both reinforce and tear down racist policies and belief systems, including histories of diagnosis, institutionalization, intelligence testing, and a discussion of the American Psychological Association’s recent Apology to People of Color. In relation to these topics, the tour highlights the important contributions of psychologists of color throughout the history of psychology.
Women in Psychology Museum Tour
Duration: Adaptable to run 30-60 minutes
Recommended Group Size: 10 - 25 Visitors
This tour examines the stories of women psychologists, including the specific challenges they have faced over the past century and their contributions to the field of psychology and the world. Visitors will learn about the first generation of women psychologists, including Lillian M. Gilbreth, Helen Wooley Thompson, and Leta Stetter Hollingworth, as well as pioneering research on the psychology of women and the challenges of gender-based discimination in the laboratory. Tour length can be adapted to run between 30 to 60 minutes.
Exploring Ethics Museum Tour
Duration: Adaptable to run 30-60 minutes
Recommended Group Size: 10 - 25 Visitors
Why do psychologists operate according to a Code of Ethics? And where did these standards come from? Join this guided tour of the National Museum of Psychology to delve into the history of research ethics. Tour content will focus on the role ethics play in psychological research by exploring classic experiments, including Stanley Milgram’s Studies of Obedience and Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment. Tour length can be adapted to run between 30 to 60 minutes.
Workshops
Asylum and State Hospital Reports
Duration: Approximately 60 Minutes
Recommended Group Size: 10 - 30 Visitors
Hands-on archival workshop that delves into the history of mental health institutionalization in the United States. Attendees will be guided through an exercise using original asylum and state hospital reports published in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Topics explored include diagnoses, treatments, and changes to the institutional model over time.
Propaganda and Morale
Duration: Approximately 60 Minutes
Recommended Group Size: 10 - 24 Visitors
Hands-on archival workshop that explores the history of propaganda and morale during the Second World War. Attendees will be guided through an exercise using popular psychology magazines published between the late 1930s to the mid-1940s in the US and the UK.