Early 1940s Dream Journal of an Anonymous Midwestern Woman

Offered here is an unusual document: a dream journal from the 1940s. Written by an anonymous woman, the journal documents dreams from January and February of 1943 and 1944. Dream interpretation is an ancient practice with many varied purposes,[1] but given the rising popularity of psychoanalysis at the time in the US,[2] it is plausible that this journal was kept for therapeutic purposes. Indeed, there would be quite a bit for an analyst to say about A.B.s dreams. She recalls moments from dreams such as when "It seems that also I have a sexual organ, very faint, from no cause at all" (January 15, 1943), "It seems I almost have to bite my mother to make her let me go" (January 16), and: "I had a dream of going to Chicago with my brother. We went to a hotel as husband and wife. He slept in the same bed but nothing sexual passed between us." (February 16, 1944) One dream in particular deals in some detail, which we omit, with A.B.s history of onanism (or lack thereof). This dream includes the sensation that: "someone is trying to probe into the dark recesses of my past to unearth the little secret hidden sins of childhood and the lapses of young girlhood and womanhood" (February 9), a feeling that would likely be close to the truth if A.B. were in fact the subject of analysis. Other themes include work, health, and money, and bizarre imagery such as "a left arm swaddled in a white surgical bandage from wrist to armpit" (January 15). Overall an uncommon survival and a peculiar read, of interest to dream interpreters and their historians. [1] J. Donald Hughes, "Dream Interpretation in Ancient Civilizations", Dreaming 10 (2000): 718, https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009447606158. [2] Otto Kernberg, "Psychoanalysis in America," interview by Sergio Benvenuto and Raffaele Siniscalco, Multi-Media Encyclopedia of Philosophical Sciences for Radiotelevisione Italiana, July 1996, transcript, https://www.journal-psychoanalysis.eu/articles/psychoanalysis-in-america/. Single 5 x 8 inch journal with forty-two double-sided pages filled out and many more blank.…