The International Society of the Rorschach 

The foundation of the International Society for the Rorschach and Projective Methods (ISR) was laid in August 1949 in Zurich (Switzerland) at a conference of the Swiss Society for Pure and Applied Psychology during which the First International Rorschach meeting was held at the invitation of Dr. W. Morgenthaler, President of the Swiss Rorschach Commission. The following countries were represented: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Egypt, England, France, the American and British zones of Germany, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Scandinavia, Switzerland, and the United States (the Society acquired its legal status in 1952).

The first Executive Board was composed of Walter Morgenthaler (Bern), Marguerite Loosli-Usteri (Geneva), who were Presidents, and Samuel J. Beck (Chicago), Ewald Bohm (Copenhagen), André Ombredane (Brussels) and Carlo Rizzo (Rome) who were Vice-Presidents. Adolph Friedemann (Freiburg) was the Secretary and Hans Huber, Jr. was the Treasurer.

This team, elected for a six-year term, certainly reflected the variety and scope of interests of that time and demonstrated from the start its openness to the world and to the methods of psychodiagnosis.

The same spirit was continued by the following Presidents.

Subsequently, the ISR held congresses every 3 years in different countries and its membership expanded.

The official publication of the ISR (now called Rorschachiana) started in the form of Acts from Congresses and news from member societies and in 1993 (vol. 18) was transformed into a Journal of peer reviewed original articles with a unique feature: each English language article is followed by long summaries in 3 other languages (French, Spanish and Japanese).During the same period, a yearly Bulletin was created as a newsletter for the sharing of information between all members, upcoming events, updates and important information. All members of the ISR have an online access to both publications.

Thanks to Walter Morgenthaler, Hermann Rorschach’s personal library, writings, correspondence and experimental documents were collected and stored in the basement of the Library of the University of Bern. John E. Exner unearthed this collection and in 2000 was founded the Hermann Rorschach Archives and Museum (HRAM) liens vers la page /How to consult the Archives in Bern), open to the public.

Today, the ISR is a thriving society grouping organizations, associations, and individual members, scholars, clinicians, researchers, with a common goal: to enhance scientific knowledge about the Rorschach test and Projective Techniques and to ensure their ethical use in personality assessment.