Joseph Campbell at Pacifica Graduate Institute
One of the supporters of Pacifica’s vision in its early years was the late mythologist, Joseph Campbell. He offered guidance to the school’s founders and appeared many times as a guest speaker in the Institute’s public conference series. After his death, his widow, Jean Erdman Campbell, and his estate felt that Pacifica would be able to carry Campbell’s work into the future and, thus, would be the most appropriate home for his archives. After careful consideration, she donated his 3,000-book library and archival collection to The Center for the Study of Depth Psychology, an independent non-profit organization housed at the Pacifica campus. That center has now evolved into the OPUS Archives and Research Center on the Campuses of Pacifica Graduate Institute. Still, an independent, non-profit organization, OPUS houses the Joseph Campbell Collection along with the collections of many other scholars who were prominent in the development of Depth Psychology. The presence of the Campbell collection on the Pacifica Campuses and the scholars who were drawn to the continuation of Campbell’s work led the Institute to develop an M.A./Ph.D. program in Mythological Studies in 1994. In keeping with the vision of the school, and of Joseph Campbell himself, the curriculum of the Mythological Studies program was framed in the traditions of depth psychology.
