Smiley Blanton

1882-1966

Smiley Blanton was among the earliest in America to work in the field of speech pathology. He combined his medical and psychoanalytic training to create counseling and family therapies children and adults who stutter and who have voice and articulation problems. He worked with his wife, Margaret Blanton to write several books in the field. He was the director of the first university speech clinic at the University of Wisconsin, called the "Speech and Mental Hygiene Clinic." In 1929 he underwent psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud and a book was published posthumously by his wife on his diary about his experiences with Freud. Later in his life he directed famous free counseling clinic in New York City connected to the church of Reverend Norman Vincent Peale. A 6000 piece collection of his papers and other belongings, along with those of Margaret Blanton are on file at the Special Collections Library at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Born in Unionville, Tennessee, May 7, 1882.

Father, Hiram Harris Blanton, was an accountant. Mother's name was Sally (Brunson) Blanton.

Early education, Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville Tennessee.

BS Vanderbilt University, 1904

Graduate student in English at Harvard, 1906-1907

Actor in stock companies and summer stock, 1907

Graduate Student in anatomy and neuro-history at Cornell University Medical School, 1908-1910

Instructor in speech and dramatics, then called "oratory" at Cornell, 1907-1911. Interest in speech began here, under the influence of James Albert Winans.

MD at Cornell Medical School in NYC, 1914

House physician, Phipps Psychiatric Institute at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore MD 1916 (on leave from Univ of Wisconsin). Studied at Phipps Psychiatric Institute with Adolph Meyer

Organized and directed several mental-hygiene and child guidance clinics

Psychiatrist in New York City, 1917

University of Wisconsin, 1914-1924, became professor of speech and mental hygiene (he also refers to it as "speech hygiene").

Queens Square Hospital for Paralyzed and Epileptic in London, UK 1922-1923, during leave from Wisconsin

Diploma in Neurology and Psychological Medicine, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, London England, 1923

Director of Minneapolis Minnesota Child Guidance Clinic affiliated with Minneapolis Minnesota Public Schools, 1924-1927

Assistant professor of Clinical Medicine, University of Minnesota, 1924-1927.

Professor of Child Study, Vassar College 1927-1933, where he organized and directed a nursery school of 18 month to 4 year olds and taught courses in child guidance

Student of Sigmund Freud, 1929-1930 (underwent psychoanalysis and returned to work with Freud, summers 1935, 1936, 1937)

Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Cornell University, 1933-1938

Associate Professor in Clinical Psychiatry, Cornell, 1943

World War I, US Army Medical Corps-captain, directing the psychiatric ward in the hospital at Ft Slocum, NY. (for a few months)

Transferred to Advance General Headquarters, Trier, Germany where he studied the effect of malnutrition on the mental development of German School children.

Major, Medical Reserve Corps 1924

Directed a Religio-Psychiatric Clinic Connected with Marble Collegiate Church of NY 1937 (with Norman Vincent Peale). The clinic offered free assistance to people disturbed by anxiety, depression, and other emotional problems.

With Peale, established the American Foundation of Religion and Psychiatry, 1951.

Wrote two books with Peale: Faith is the answer (1940) and The art of real happiness (1950)

Papers at Nashville Tenessee, see http://www.lib.utk.edu/~spec_coll/manuscripts/a0739

Writings, chronologically arranged

Blanton, S. (1914). Stammering and the voice teacher. Public Speaking Review, 4, 74-81.

Blanton, S. (1915). The voice and the emotions. Quarterly Journal of Speech Education, 1, 154-172.

Blanton, S. (1916a). Research problems in voice and speech. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 2, 9-17.

Blanton, S. (1916b). A survey of speech defects: Madison Wisconsin Public Schools. Journal of Educational Psychology, 7, 581-592.

Blanton, S. (1916c). The University of Wisconsin speech clinic. The Journal of Educational Psychology, 7, 253-260.

Blanton, M. & Blanton, S. (1919). What is the problem of stuttering? Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 13, 303-313 (reprinted in Quarterly Journal of Speech Education, 5, 4, 342-350).

Blanton, S. (1917) Speech defects in children. Journal of Laryngology and Otology.

Blanton, S. (1917). Retarded school children in Madison, Wisconsin. Psychological Clinic, Vol 10, #9.

Blanton, S. (1917). An unusual case of speech inhibition. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 11, 5.

Blanton, S. & Blanton, M. (1918). The broader aspects of speech training. Quarterly Journal of Speech Education, 4, 47-52.

Blanton, M. & Blanton, S. (1919). Speech training for children: The hygiene of speech. New York: The Century Co.

Blanton, S. (1919). Mental and nervous changes in the children of the volksschulen of Trier, Germany, caused by malnutrition, Mental Hygiene, 3, 3, 343-386.

Blanton, M. & Blanton, S. (1919) What is the problem of stuttering? Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 13, 303-313. Republished in the Quarterly Journal of Speech, 1919, 5, 340-350.

Blanton, S. (1920a). The nervous child. The Wisconsin Medical Journal, 19, 7, 1-7.

Blanton, S. (1920b). The development of the defects of speech. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 6, 50-60.

Blanton, S. (1921a) The medical significance of the disorders of speech. Journal of the American Medical Association, 77, 373-377).

Blanton, S. (1921b). Speech disorders as a psychiatric problem. Journal of the American Medical Association, 77, 375.

Blanton, S. (1921c). Speech defects in school children. Mental Hygiene, 5, 820-827.

Blanton, S. (1921d). Speech defects in school children. Proceedings of the National Confrence of Social Work, 267-282.

Blanton, S. (1922). Treatment of stutterers. American Annals of the Deaf, 67, 371-385.

Blanton, S. (1923). A speech correction program for the public schools. National Conferences for Social Work, p. 48.

Blanton, S. (1924a). Mental hygiene and vocational guidance. The Vocational Guidance Magazine, 3-7.

Blanton, S. (1924b). A workable bibliography for the beginner in speech correction. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 10, 37-41.

Blanton, S. (1925a). Speech disorders and disorders of personality in children. Childhood Education, 1, 269-271.

Blanton, S. (1925b). Stuttering. In Studies in rhetoric and public speaking in honor of James A. Winans. pp. 253-266, NY: The Century Co

Bl anton, S. (1925c). Problems and methods in the correction of defective speech. In A. M. Drummond (Ed). A course of study in speech training and public speaking for secondary schools. NY: Century Co.

Blanton, S. (1925d). The speech of the hard of hearing. Volta Review, 25 636-638.

Blanton, S. (1926a). The use of behavioral charts in the preschool and kindergarten clinics. American Journal of Psychiatry, 5, 615-623.

Blanton, S. (1926b). Child guidance. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 12, 35-37.

Blanton, S. (1927). Influence of speech upon the intellect and emotions. Journal of Expression, 1, 74-76.

Blanton, S. & Blanton, M. G. (1927). Child guidance. New York ; London: The Century Company.

Blanton, S. (1928). Mengtal hygiene in colleges. Mental Health Bulletin, 6, 8.

Blanton. S. (1929). Speech disorders. Mental Hygiene, 13, 740-753..

Blanton, S. (1930). Love in the home. Parents Magazine.

Blanton, S. (1931a). Stuttering. Mental Hygiene, 15, 271-282.

Blanton, S. (1931b). Stuttering. In Proceedings of the American Speech Correction Association, 1, 70-73.

Blanton, S. (1931). Why children stutter. Parents' Magazine, 6, 26-27.

Blanton, S. (1932). The psychologic aspects of the child health examination. The Health Examiner, 2, 7-13.

Blanton, S. (1933a). Speech disorders as a medical problem. New York State Journal of Medicine.

Blanton, S.(1933b). Speech disorders. (East Stroudsburg). Trained Nurse and Hospital Review, 90, 577-581.

Blanton, S. (1933c). Neurotic elements in lisping. Spoken Word, 1, 9-12.

Blanton, M. & Blanton, S. (1934). Emotional life of children. Washington DC: National Education Association.

Blanton, S. (1936a). Helping the speech handicapped school student. Journal of Speech Disorders, 1, 97-100.

Blanton, S. & Blanton, M. G. (1936b). For stutterers. New York ; London: D. Appleton-Century company incorporated.

Blanton, S. & Zerler, M. (1936c). Helping the child who stutters. National Parent Teacher. 31, 14-15.

Blanton, S. (1936d). The treatment of stuttering. In Proceedings of the American Speech Correction Association. 6, 23-31.

Blanton, S. & Peale, N. V. (1940). Faith is the answer: A pastor and a psychiatrist discuss your problems. NY: Abingdon-Cokesbury

Blanton, S. (1940). Analytic study of a cure at Lourdes. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 9, 348-362.

Blanton, S. (1942) How to conquer. Redbook, 56 ff.

Blanton, S. (1942). Incoordination and tension due to anxiety. The Journal Lancet, 42, 398-440.

Blanton, S. & Blanton, M. (1942). Welcome change and profit by it. Redbook, 56 ff.

Blanton, S. (1944). Contribution of modern psychiatry to the physician and surgeon. New York State Journal of Medicine, 2, 177-179. Blanton, S. & Kirk, V. (1947). A psychiatric study of 61 appendectomy cases. Annals of Surgery, 126, 3, 305-314.

Blanton, S. (1947). Phallic women. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 16, 2, 214-224.

Blanton, S. & Peale, N. V. (1950) The art of real happiness.

Blanton, S. (1952). Mental factors on the relation to reconstructive surgery of nose and ears. AMA Archives of Otolaryngology, 56, 148-151.

Blanton, S. (1955). Love or perish. NY: Simon & Schuster.

Blanton, S. (1957). Religion and psychiatry. The New Physician. 11-12.

Blanton, S. (1958). The healing power of poetry. Carmel, NY: Gideposts Associates, Inc.

Blanton, S. & Gordon, A. (1959). Now or never, the promist of the middle years.

Blanton, S. (1960). I prescribe books. Christian Herald Magazine, 114-115.

Blanton, S. & Gordon, A. (1961). How to handle temptation. Readers Digest. Blanton, S.

Blanton, S. (1962). Stuttering. In Studies in rhetoric and public speaking in Honor of James Albert Winans (pp. 253-266). NY: Russell & Russell, Inc.

Pastoral counseling in industry. The Pastoral Counselor.

Blanton, S. (1966). The bible's timely insights. Readers Digest.

Blanton, S. (1971). Diary of my analysis with Sigmund Freud. NY: Hawthorne Books, put together after Smiley's death by Margaret Blanton--see especially Margaret's comments about her relationship with Smiley in accompanying notes.