The Public Paperfolding History Project

Index Page

x
 
Paperfolding in Occupational Therapy
 
This page attempts to record what is known about the historical use of paperfolding in Occupational Therapy. Please contact me if you know any of this information is incorrect or if you have any other information that should be added. Thank you.

**********

1910

'Studies in Invalid Occupation' by Susan E Tracy was published by Whitcomb and Barrows in Boston in 1910. Inter alia, it contains sections on the use of both paper folding and paper cutting as occupational therapy.

**********

1915

'Occupational Therapy: A Manual for Nurses' by William Rush Dunton was published by the W B Saunders Company in Philadelphia and London in 1915. It contains a chapter on Paper Work which includes sections on 'Paper Folding' and 'Folding and Cutting'.

**********

1919

'Teaching the Sick: A Manual of Occupational Therapy and Reeducation' by George Edward Barton, which was published by W B Saunders Company in Philadelphia and London in 1919, contains a short section on paperfolding. However, the author believes that paperfolding is of use as a therapy only in the very early stages of recovery.

**********

1958

Vol 1: Issue 1 of 'The Origamian' for October 1958 mentioned that the magazine Hokubei Shimpo had carried an article , the third of three about paperfolding, which 'reported the remarkable success achieved by Frieda Lourie with Origami in the Occupational Therapy Department of one of our leading hospitals' and how 'Frieda Lourie gave a report on her recent overseas trip: 'She touched on the highlights of her travels: her lectures to the C. T. Dept. of several London hospitals, her attendance at the C.T. Conference in Denmark, the Brussels Fair, Holland, Viena, etc. She stressed the universiality of Origami and how it transcends language barriers, for a box is a box, a bird is a bird, in any tongue.'

**********