The “wallbreaking” for the new home of the Archives for the History of American Psychology (AHAP) took place last Friday, February 26th. AHAP will move to its new location in August once renovations are complete.

According to the University of Akron’s news item on the wallbreaking,

The phase of the project currently under way, which will be completed by August, includes renovation of the first floor and lower level of the building. This renovation will feature a covered colonnade along College Street, masonry repairs on the exterior, new windows to admit daylight, along with a gallery to display objects from the AHAP collection. Other elements include a reading room, offices, administrative space, and space for handling new acquisitions. Subsequent renovations will occur in stages, as funding becomes available.

“We are pleased to add to the landscape of The University and the city of Akron this incredibly rich cultural resource,” says Dr. David Baker, AHAP director and interim provost.

Roadway Express Inc. donated the 70,000-square foot building to the University in 2005, which formerly housed the company’s records. The new building will provide expanded space for AHAP’s growing collections which are fast exceeding available space in AHAP’s current home in the basement of UA’s Polsky Building.

Before pictures of the Roadway Building, which will AHAP’s new home, can bee seen on AHAP’s Flickr page here. Additional images from the “wallbreaking” will be added to AHAP’s Flickr page soon.

It is also significant that,

Under Baker’s leadership, the psychology archives has experienced some impressive milestones, including being the first archive in the nation accepted into the prestigious Smithsonian Institution Affiliations program in 2002

Among those who attended the wallbreaking were: Dr. David Baker, Director of the archives and Interim Provost at the University of Akron; prominent historian of psychology Dr. Ludy T. Benjamin Jr., who is also one of the Archives’ donors; Dr. Nicholas Cummings, another prominent donor; Suzanne Morgan, chair of the Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation, one of AHAP’s largest donors; and Aaron Glavis of the Smithsonian Institution.

Located at the University of Akron, Ohio, AHAP is dedicated to preserving psychology’s history by collecting, cataloguing, and making available items of importance to psychology development.

Some of the previous AHP posts on AHAP canbe found here, here, here, here, here, and here.