Origins of Professional Psychology in Canada (1925-1965)

Edward C. Webster was one of the earliest vocational guidance and industrial psychologists in Canada. He opened his practice in 1936 and was also a long-time professor of psychology and university administrator. During the last decade of his life he began to document his perspective on early professional psychologists-almost all of whom he had known personally-and the nature of the profession its origins and evolution in Canada and the interplay between the emergence of psychology as a profession and the development of the Canadian Psychological Association.<br /><br />Sometime after Edward died in 1989 his son and the executor of his estate William G. Webster found his drafts notes and correspondence with others. As a retired academic psychologist himself William felt that his father had a most interesting story to tell. Working with his son David E. G. Webster William compiled Edward's recollections of and reflections on the early years of the profession those pre- and immediately post-World War II and those through to the mid-1960s when a pivotal conference set the trajectory for professional psychology and professional psychologists in Canada.<br /><br />With new information not previously published by Edward Webster or others Origins of Professional Psychology in Canada (1925-1965) brings forward the thought-provoking authentic reflections of a man whose ground-breaking contributions to applied psychology forever changed the field.