Part I: Beginnings

Can you imagine looking at 30 years of files, papers packed in loose-leaf binders, filling the shelves of ISPA’s Central Office as well as at home, and wondering if I will live long enough to go through it all to determine what should be archived? They were all, when received, evaluated as important for a Central Office and of benefit for the association. Now and again it was my intention to begin going over all those papers, determine what is important for the history of ISPA and send them to Betts Rivét as official archival material to be stored in the library at the University of Memphis. Busy working days postponed these good intentions and only occasionally when a binder grew so big that not even one new (and important) sheet could go into it, this binder had to be examined and a number of older papers plucked out ending up in the wastebasket.

ISPA has filled pretty much of my life over these many years. Also my memory has been dominated with the natural "filing in my head" of ISPA information but, as you might expect, growing in age many of these memories have ended up in the "old age wastebasket." However, now being freed from daily responsibilities, I found myself ready to take on the challenge of reading, sorting, and examining what is needed for future historical importance for ISPA. It seemed overwhelming and, indeed, a retiree’s nightmare. Finally I began by starting with the oldest material first. In many a case, I do not know what to keep because some of it may already be in the possession of Betts or Tom Fagan. For that reason Betts and I have agreed that I would make a rough sorting of the material and what I find worth keeping I will send to her for a final decision and thereafter archiving. It has proven to be very time consuming to read every letter, every document. Having worked a day or two with this, I realized that I had, in hand, fundamentally important information related to the origin of ISPA and, in fact, I was one of the few people involved at ISPA’s beginning and still active now. I felt strongly that some of this information should be shared with the readers of WGR. This I will try to do in coming issues with bits and pieces in which I was involved and which, I hope, will contribute to the understanding of the decade of ISPA, the years from 1974 to 1984, the period up to the tragic death of Cal Catterall in the train accident in France.

How it all began
On March 11, 1974, I received a newsletter called the World Go Round (Vol. 2, No. 1) edited by a Dr. Calvin Catterall, a man fully unknown to me. It was issued by an International School Psychology Committee (ISPC) which was described as ‘a joint committee of Division 16 of the American Psychological Association and the National Association of School Psychologists’. The newsletter told that ISPC had two co-chairpersons, Dr. Catterall and Frances Mullen, and it went on to report about plans for an international colloquium for School Psychologists to be held some place in Europe during 1975. Dr. Catterall requested people to contact him if they were interested and willing to take leadership responsibilities in this. Several years earlier I had held a UNESCO post in Thailand and had, in several other ways, been traveling with professional purposes but this WGR was my first contact with an international group with the same profession as my own. It raised such an interest in me that I, the same day as I received the newsletter, forwarded a reply to Dr. Catterall. My letter began with "I wonder how you found me", a question that was never really answered. After introducing myself, informing him that I was the elected President of the Danish Association of School Psychologists (or chairman as we say), I continued by saying that "Your idea of an International Colloquium of School Psychology is very fascinating. Is Denmark too small a place for that?" After giving more information about the Danish association the letter ended saying, "Please do write if you think we have something to contribute." Soon I received Dr. Catterall’s reply. It was a long letter, rich in words which I soon found was a characteristic of his. He wrote to ask me to serve on the international planning group for this coming colloquium.

I accepted, with pleasure, for this was to be the very first international colloquium for school psychologists. A number of letters crossed the Atlantic in the ensuing months and it was decided that the site of the first colloquium should be Munich, a place easy to reach, and with reduction in hotel rates available. I had received a small Danish grant to be used for a study visit to New York during the fall of 1974. This made it possible for me to accept an invitation to attend the Executive Board meeting of NASP to be held in Chicago in October where I also were to meet with Cal Catterall and Frances Mullen in person. I must admit that as I landed at O’Hare airport in Chicago, I felt something important was just ahead of me.

Cal and Frances were at the O’Hare Inn where the NASP meeting was held. Our first talk was held over an awful chicken curry dinner. The NASP meeting was chaired by President Jean Leppaluoto. I was introduced as a member of the planning committee for the next year’s colloquium and I addressed the Board with a greeting from the Danish association. Later in the evening I met with a few members of the planning committee to discuss early stages of the colloquium plans. As the following months went by, plans developed well and Cal, supported by Frances, did an outstanding job working out details from a distance. They both possessed a warm, sincere sense of international cooperation, listening to and respecting other cultures as they designed this first colloquium.

The Munich Colloquium ( 22-26 July, 1975) The colloquium theme was "School Psychology in Changing Societies." Program booklets were made and distributed during the winter, all adorned with a logo designed by Cal’s daughter, Karen. That logo is still the one representing our association today. Also they were very impressive as to the content of the program to be offered in Munich. The actual program presented at the colloquium was almost up to the promised standard, but cancellations or changes did not pose a problem because Cal possessed a very special ability to establish an atmosphere of acceptance. He could, elegantly, reorganize a session so that the 200 participants felt valued and given ample opportunity for international interaction about various aspects of the colloquium theme. An interesting note: more than ten of those present in Munich have attended most of our colloquia ever since. Two have served ISPA one way or another until this day and Bayard Bartley is one of them. The program booklet announced an evening session from 8 to 10 titled: The Future Of International Communication in School Psychology. Added was that it was ‘an invitational meeting for the presidents of National Psychology groups, the Colloquium Planning Committee, and members of the International School Psychology Committee. The aim of the meeting was that the invited persons should try to formulate some thoughts about how this first attempt for international cooperation could continue. These thoughts were to be brought up for discussion and a possible decision in a plenary session on the last morning of the colloquium.

Only very few of the above mentioned types of leaders were attending the colloquium, for which reason it was suggested to extend the invitation to a broader audience and meet in a nearby Bierstube which evolved into a good social evening with an exchange of opinions and ideas which became the basis of proposals that were presented the last day. I believe that Cal originally had hoped that steps could be taken to establish a real membership organization. This was understandable since, to continue ISPC, funds were badly needed. Until then, Cal and his family not only did all the work but also paid for printing and mailing. Personally, I felt sure (as did others) that it was not a mature time to establish a formalized organization. Cal accepted this. I was asked to chair this plenary session on the last day. My files show that I presented the following proposals:

• The planning group found it important to establish ways to continue some type of international cooperation but found it too early to try to establish a real membership organization with elected board and all that follows this. It was found that some sort of structure was needed if it should be realistic to keep a cooperation running and possibly making steps for further development and a minimum amount of money was also required.
• Goals or aims for this cooperation should be discussed and decided upon for the work to be done within the nearest 2-3 years, but which?
• Should a continuation of the WGR be one of these goals? To be published 4-5 times annually? If yes, how to provide funds for this?
• Should a new international colloquium be one of the goals to aim for?
• Would it be of importance to have published one or more books about school psychology in various countries, a project Cal Catterall already worked on?

Generally and without much discussion it was met with warm approval that the WGR should continue, that a new colloquium was considered important, and that books about school psychology would be most relevant for promotion of international cooperation and improvement of school psychology worldwide. The discussion about financing was the most difficult part. The group suggested that national associations should be asked to pay 10/15/20 cents per member to this international cooperation. Would that be realistic? Furthermore, each person receiving the WGR should be asked to pay for it. Three or four dollars annually was suggested. Those who did not pay would be deleted from the mailing list. Would that be realistic?

No minutes exist from that meeting but I do remember a long discussion and much doubt being expressed as to the realistic nature of the plans. It came up that the publishing of the books might bring a profit that would help keep the project running. At least, if we wanted to go on, we had to believe that money would come in some way or another!

The final part that was discussed was a mechanism for steering the committee and keeping it of such simple nature that it would cost nothing yet efficient enough to take care of the initial projects. To this purpose the planning group suggested that:

• An executive group of 5 should be established and this body should be named "The International School Psychology Committee." Two of the members were obviously to be Frances Mullen and Calvin Catterall, (which I gave ground for saying) without their willingness to continue to put their effort and their heart into this international project, nothing whatsoever will be done and the goals not attained.’ This was accepted along with the suggestion that the group responsible for the day’s agenda be empowered to find three people for this committee who would be fairly representative of larger professional groups in major geographical areas outside the United States. Finally it was proposed that:
• The International School Psychology Committee should establish a larger Associate Committee consisting of members of the group involved in the planning of this first colloquium, and others who still wanted to be involved internationally, as well as one representative from each of the various national associations of school psychologists wanting to be involved in this project.’ The decisions made during this final session of the first colloquium were basic, but important steps in the later development of the International School Psychology Association (ISPA). They were small hesitant attempts and proved, in various ways, not to be very realistic. For instance, I am not sure that very much more money was paid than what the Danish association allocated (2 DKK per member = 30 cents per member). Right after the colloquium, I was asked to be a member of this new International School Psychology Committee. It took some time to find the two last members, but after long considerations and much exchange of thoughts Odette L van Kolck from Brazil and Avner Ziv from Israel also joined the committee in November.