First of all, acknowledgment should be made to the 12,000 persons who have contributed histories, and particularly to the 5300 males who have provided the data on which the present volume is based. These persons represent each and every age, from children to the oldest groups; they represent every social level, of several racial groups. If these persons had not helped there would have been no study. It has taken considerable courage for many of them to discuss such intimate aspects of their histories, and to risk their confidences with the scientific investigators. They have contributed in order that there should be an increase in our knowledge of this important aspect of human biology and sociology. It is unfortunate that we cannot name each and every one involved. Those who have spent time in persuading their friends to cooperate have contributed in a very special way; and to them we are especially indebted for devoted and effective service.
Herman R Wells, the President of Indiana University, Fernandus Payne, Dean of the Graduate School of the University, the Trustees, and others in the Administration of the University have constantly encouraged, materially supported, and stoutly defended the importance of this research.
The Rockefeller Foundation has contributed a major portion of the cost of the program during the past six years. Dr. Alan Gregg, as Director for the Medical Sciences of The Foundation, has encouraged a wide-scale, long-time project which would adequately cover all social levels and all aspects of sexual behavior in our society.
The National Research Council’s Committee for Research on Problems of Sex, as a part of the Medical Division of the Council, has administered the funds granted by The Rockefeller Foundation. It has encouraged and advised on many aspects of the research. Especial mention should be made of the cordial support given by Dr. Robert M. Yerkes, who has served as Chairman of the Research Council’s Committee since its inception more than twenty-five years ago. Under Dr. Yerkes’ guidance the Committee has contributed to a long list of notable projects on the sex endocrines; on the behavior of chimpanzees at the Yerkes Laboratories at Orange Park, Florida; on the behavior of lower mammals, particularly under the direction of Dr. Frank A. Beach, formerly at the American Museum of Natural History and now at Yale University; and on the human studies which were published by Peck and Wells (1923, 1925), by Hamilton (1929), by Katherine Davis (1929), by Terman et al. (1938), by Landis (1940, 1942), and by still others.
The statistical set-up of the research was originally checked by Dr. Lowell Reed of the School of Hygiene and Public Health at The Johns Hopkins University. A long list of persons experienced in sampling and in other aspects of statistics has been constantly available for consultation. We are especially indebted to Dr. Frank K. Edmondson, Chairman of the Department of Astronomy at Indiana University, for continual guidance and supervision of the details of the statistical methods which have been used.
Dr. R. L. Dickinson of the New York Academy of Medicine has rendered peculiar service based on his long experience with research projects in the field of human sex behavior. As the first head of the National Committee on Maternal Health, Dr. Dickinson encouraged a long list of pioneer studies, particularly on the clinical aspects of human reproduction and sexual behavior; and we have had the benefit of his accumulated experience, and his constant advice on many of the details of this research.
A number of other persons, additional to those whose names appear as authors of the present volume, have served for various periods of time as members of the full-time staff on this project. Dr. Glenn V. Ramsey, now of Princeton University, was responsible for a series of histories from younger boys and served on this staff for a short time before going into the Army as clinical psychologist during the recent war. Dr. Vincent Nowlis, now psychologist at the Child Welfare Research Station of the State University of Iowa, and Dr. Robert E. Bugbee, now of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Rochester, were formerly members of this staff, took some of the histories, and contributed to the laboratory handling of the data. Dr. Nowlis has critically reviewed the whole manuscript of this volume. Dr. Paul H. Gebhard, trained in anthropology at Harvard University, has been a member of the staff during the past year. Mrs. Elizabeth Murnan has given full time as statistical calculator during the past three years. Mrs. Velma Baldwin, Mrs. Enola Van Valer Trafford, and Mrs. Ellen Lauritzen Welch have served as secretaries and research assistants on the project. Mrs. Hedwig Gruen Leser has been the German translator on the staff.
Finally, much of the success of this project is to be attributed to our wives, without whose encouragement and specific help, and without whose support it would have been impossible to have carried this project through to its present point of development.
None of these persons is responsible for any of the errors which we, the authors, may have made in our calculations or in our interpretations of the data; but the credit for any merits which this volume may have should be shared by those to whom we have made acknowledgment.
THE AUTHORS