Call Number:

Ms.Coll. 1495

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

.2 linear_foot (1 box)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

David Goldenberg collection of Joseph Eyer material, 1986-1993, Ms. Coll. 1495, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1986-1993 (inclusive)

Form:

Correspondence

Abstract:

David M. Goldenberg (born 1947) is a writer and an educator who was active at Dropsie College and the University of Pennsylvania. He was a neighbor of Joseph (Joe) Eyer (1944-2017), a scholar from Philadelphia whose research focused on social causes and health effects of stress. The two became friends and Eyer described Goldenberg as his "spokesman, mediator, and on occasion savior." This collection consists largely of copies of letters written by Eyer to a variety of people, and sent to Goldenberg. Some of these letters appear to have been written during times of personal crisis for Eyer and they are emotionally charged. In particular the copies of letters written to his father and brother are indicative of fraught relationships and internal conflict; but they also provide insight into his philosophies and academic interests.

David M. Goldenberg is a writer and an educator who earned his Ph.D. from Dropsie College in 1978 and then worked at Dropsie from 1978 to at least 1986, serving as president from 1981 to 1986. As early as 1993, he was associated with the University of Pennsylvania and since 2003, he has been a visiting scholar. He was a neighbor of Joe Eyer, with whom he became friends, and who Eyer described as his "spokesman, mediator, and on occasion savior," (box 1, folder 2).

Joseph (Joe) Eyer (1944-2017) was a scholar from Philadelphia whose research focused on social causes and health effects of stress. He and his colleague, Peter Sterling, coined the term "allostasis," an alternative view of physiological regulation which goes beyond its homeostatic roots, offering novel insights relevant to our understanding and treatment of several chronic health conditions.

Eyer grew up in a single-mother household in West Philadelphia. He attended Central High School; and in 1966, he graduated as a valedictorian from Haverford College, his education funded by a Westinghouse Science Scholarship. In 1978, he received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania with a dissertation examining the social sources of stress and disease patterns. Eyer married Ingrid Waldron, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and was father to Katie and Jessie.

Throughout his education and early career, he was involved in organizing around a variety of radical causes, and also worked with the Civil Rights Movement in the South. He continued his academic career as a lecturer at Penn (1972-1984), Rutgers University (1985-1986), and Brooklyn College (1986-1987). In the late 1980s, his academic career was cut short as his bipolar disorder prevented him from further publishing. He died by suicide in 2017.

This collection consists largely of copies of letters written by Eyer to a variety of people, and sent to Goldenberg. It is not always clear why the letters were sent to Goldenberg; but Eyer's trust in Goldenberg is evident. Attached to one set of letters, Eyer wrote, "I am thankful for your role as a spokesman, mediator, and on occasion, savior. Therefore, I want you to read these. I believe I can rely upon you to communicate properly, since my experiments have revealed that you have done so extensively in the past," (box 1, folder 2). On other occasions, Eyer wrote on the top of first pages, "FYI," "I thought you might get a chuckle out of these," etc.

Some of these letters appear to have been written during times of personal crisis for Eyer and they are emotionally charged. In particular the copies of letters written to his father and brother are indicative of fraught relationships and internal conflict. Eyer frequently uses metaphors to explain his experiences and to describe his relationships, and he makes many references to insanity, myths, paranoia, phone taps, reality, and religion.

These letters provide glimpses of the academic as well as a human being struggling with bipolar disorder; and they provide insight into his philosophies.