Erik H. Erikson Professor of Human Development Emeritus and father of the "identity crisis" concept, has been named the second Jefferson Lecturer in the Humanities for 1973 by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The Jefferson Lectureship, which carries an award of $10,000, was founded last year to bridge the gap between scholarship and public affairs by inviting scholars of international reputation to deliver a series of lectures to government officials, educators and journalists.

The National Endowment for the Humanities is a federally funded organization which distributes funds for research projects.

Erikson will deliver two lectures in Washington D.C. next April, which will then be published.

Erikson said yesterday that he was pleased with the award and that it would give him time to do research. Erikson said that he had not yet decided the topic of the lectures, but he said he was doing some reading on Thomas Jefferson, for whom the lectureship was named.

Erikson was selected from among 200 nominees suggested by educational and professional organizations, Erikson said he knew of his award since the first Jefferson Lecture Series last April, given by Lionel Trilling, the Norton Professor of Poetry in 1969-70.

Erikson taught at Harvard from 1960 to 1970. He is presently publishing the Godkin Lectures he presented at Harvard last March.