Sigmund Freud Statue

In 1909, Sigmund Freud spoke at Clark University in a series of five lectures, part of an International Psychoanalysis Conference organized by G Stanley Hall, a pioneer in Psychoanalysis and Clark University’s first president. Speakers alongside him included Carl Jung and Emma Goldman.

What makes it even more interesting, however, is that this was the only place Freud ever spoke in the United States, and these lectures were spoken in German with no translation. Despite the language barrier, the lectures, which outlined his ideas of psychiatry and psychotherapy, soon created a boom in Psychoanalysis in America. Curiously, Freud never spoke in America again.

There have been many rumors on why he never returned, ranging from a food poisoning incident to just general disappointment with the United States. Regardless, his few influential days at Clark are commemorated with a statue near the “Red Square” at the school.