THE BARNARD COLLEGE PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT

HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY COLLECTION

BARNARD COLLEGE - COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

New York City, NY 10027

Thomas Perera Ph. D.: Historian / Museum Curator

Steven Stroessner Ph.D.: Psychology Department Chair

This collection is dedicated to the preservation of the history and apparatus from the early days of the Barnard College Psychology Department. Barnard College, a four-year women's college, was founded in 1889 and the first courses in psychology were offered in 1906 over the strenuous objections of many faculty and administrators who maintained that psychology was not a fitting topic for young women. We have digitized the documents and apparatus which have been stored in the departmental archives for nearly 100 years and placed them on the internet in a form that makes them accessible to historians and students. This museum was created in 1995 and, as time permits, more of this information will be digitized and made available.

In this photograph, Harry L. Hollingworth, founder of the Barnard College Psychology Department, demonstrates the operation of the Hipp Chronoscope at the opening of the Hollingworth Laboratories.

THE BARNARD COLLEGE PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT

HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY COLLECTION

HIPP CHRONOSCOPE
This finely made timing device was powered by a heavy weight which hung down under the clockwork mechanism. The two dials indicated elapsed time and allowed measurements as fine as 1/1000 second. It used a small ''tuning fork'' escapement which regulated and controlled the speed of the mechanism. The mechanism was controlled by a pair of electromagnets which were mounted on the rear of the main clockwork timing gear box. The device was used to time short elapsed intervals in reation time experiments. It was manufactured by Royer Tavarger & Co., Neufchatel Suisse and carries number 20659.

STANFORD WHITE SWINGING REACTION TIME APPARATUS
This reaction timer was "set" by swinging the lever to the far left where it was held in place by a catch. The experimenter released the catch which simultaneously presented a visual stimulus to the subject through the round hole and started the pendulum swinging. When the subject pressed the response key, electromagnets mounted on the swinging pendulum instantaneously clamped it to a curved metal plate and stopped it. The distance that it moved along the calibrated scale indicated the elapsed time. It was manufactured by Stanford White, 300 Broadway, New York., and carries serial number 142.

C. H. STOELTING DUAL PENDULUM ''VERNIER CHRONOSCOPE'' REACTION TIMER
This apparatus allowed the time elapsing between two key-pressing responses to be measured. Pressing either of the two black buttons released the corresponding metal disk and a count of the number of swings before they became sinchronized allowed calculation of the elapsed time difference. The pendulums were set to exactly equal lengths by running the metal rod through the holes in each pendulum and adjusting the strings to equal tension. It was manufactured by C. H. Stoelting Co., Chicago, Illinois.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY FALL TACHISTOSCOPE
This device used gravity to cause a metal aperture to fall down across a slit in the stationary plate and expose a visual stimulus. The speed of movement of the falling aperture and therefore the exposure time of the stimulus could be measured by timing the closing of the four electrical contacts which were mounted on the stationary portion of the apparatus. It was manufactured in the machine shop of the Columbia University Psychology Department and carries the engraved words "Columbia University" on its base.

FALL TACHISTOSCOPE - MANUFACTURER UNKNOWN
This device used gravity with or without additional spring tension to move a metal aperture down across a slit in the stationary panel and expose a visual stimulus. The exposure was initiated electrically by passing a voltage through the coils of an electromagnet. The subject saw a plain black panel with a window in it and the stimulus was presented through the window.

SPINDLER & HOYER ROTATING VERTICAL DRUM KYMOGRAPH
This clockwork spring driven kymograph rotated the vertical drum at a constant speed. Electrically operated, fluid operated or air operated pens traced physiological and/or behavioral changes on paper which was taped to the drum. It was manufactured by Spindler & Hoyer., Gottingen.

STOELTING MERCURY-DIP CONTACT METRONOME PULSE GENERATOR
This metronome can be adjusted to swing back and forth at different rates by sliding the weight up and down the swinging arm. Each time it swings left or right, a contact dips into a pool of mercury and closes an electric circuit producing a string of pulses at variable repetition rates.
Another view of the metronome showing the contacts.

SPINDLER & HOYER MERCURY-DIP CONTACT RELAY
This relay was activated by an external circuit during an experiment. Upon activation, the electromagnets pulled down the armiture which dipped a metal pin into a pool of mercury and closed an electrical circuit. The heavy weight on the far end of the armiture could be used to slow the operation of the relay and therefore introduce a delay into the circuit closure. It was manufactured by Spindler & Hoyer of Gottingen, and imported by Arthur H. Thomas., Philadelphia.

MERCURY-DIP CONTACT REVERSING SWITCH
This switch was used for reversing the polarity of DC voltage circuits in reaction timing setups.

COMPLEX ELECTRICAL SWITCHING APPARATUS
This complex device has a number of electrical contacts and adjustable springs. It's exact function in the psychological laboratory is not known.

L. E. KNOTT APPARATUS CO. SINGLE-AXLE COLOR MIXING APPARATUS
This device used a large pulley turning a small pulley to increase the rotational speed of a stimulus wheel beyond what could be achieved by direct hand rotation. Wheels with different combinations of colors were used to demonstrate the principles of color mixing. Wheels with black and white patterns were used to demonstrate motion aftereffects and to produce colors using Bentham's patterns. It was manufactured by L. E. Knott Apparatus Co., Boston, Mass.

MILTON BRADLEY TWO AXLE COLOR MIXING APPARATUS
This device used two large pulleys turning two small pulleys to increase the rotational speed of a stimulus wheel beyond what could be achieved by direct hand rotation. The two axle color mixing apparatus could achieve much higher speeds than the single axle version. Wheels with different combinations of colors were used to demonstrate the principles of color mixing. Wheels with black and white patterns were used to demonstrate motion aftereffects and to produce colors using Bentham's patterns. It was manufactured by Milton Bradley Co., Springfield Mass., and was patented Feb 28, 1893.

STRATTON PRISMATIC GOGGLES
Stratton used prismatic goggles to shift the direction of his subjects' view. These toy prismatic goggles were used at Barnard to demonstrate the effect. The prisms can be rotated independently through a full 360 degrees.

STEREOSCOPIC PHOTOGRAPH VIEWER
This device was used to demonstrate stereoscopic vision.

C. H. STOELTING TUNING FORK
This tuning fork is mounted on a wooden box which amplified the sound intensity. The tuning fork vibrated at a fixed frequency and could be used for auditory demonstrations or to produce auditory stimuli for experiments.

C. H. STOELTING ADJUSTABLE TUNING FORK
This tuning fork is mounted on a wooden box which amplified the sound intensity. The tuning fork frequency could be adjusted by sliding the weights up or down the tines. It was used for auditory demonstrations or to produce auditory stimuli for experiments.

PRESSURE TESTING APPARATUS
This device is calibrated to allow measurement of the amount of pressure being applied to the skin of the subject.

C. H. STOELTING - OLFACTORY TEST APPARATUS
This piece of apparatus was found with several tuning forks that were mounted on similar wooden bases. It consists of a vertical metal plate with a circular piece of material mounted in its center and with two holes drilled all the way through the material. It was finally located in an old Stoelting catalog. It was used to introduce separate olfactory stimuli into the right and left nostril of a subject. Two glass tubes ran through the two holes and into the subjects nostrils. The subject was prevented from seeing the stimulus as it was introduced into the tubes by the metal screen. It was manufactured by C. H. Stoelting., Chicago, Illinois.

GORTON CODFISH CAKE CANS AND HISTORY
These various designs of codfish cake can labels were used in an early psychological test of product preference which is described by then-chairman Dr. Richard P. Youtz as follows:

HOW COME GORTON CODFISH CANS WITH HAND-PAINTED LABELS AND LETTERS ON TOP ?

Professor Harry L. Hollingworth ( 1882 - 1956) taught at Barnard from 1912 to 1946. He was chairman of the Psychology Department from about 1923 (when Psychology became a department separate from Philosophy) until 1946. When he retired he told me he had moved out everything he wanted and said that I should throw out anything not useful to the department. The Gorton codfish cans with the variety of hand-painted labels led me to ask him about them. He reported as follows (as I remember it):

After Hollingworth's approximately 15 months of service in World War 1, the success of the Army Alpha and Army Beta intelligence tests led him and several other psychologists into further exploration of the ways that psychological techniques could be applied in civilian life. (Albert T. Poffenberger and John B. Watson were two others.). Some companies started the then-new idea that perhaps the ways in which their goods were packaged might influence buyers, or at least call the buyers' attention to their products.

After Holly had made a number of talks to business luncheon groups, he was approached by several companies, among them the Gorton Codfish Company. He was asked if his psychological techniques could help them decide which of a number of different can-labels would be best.

Hollingworth told me that the method he used was a basic psychological one, probably paired-comparisons, In which subjects expressed their choices in terms of various criteria such as - better looking? better codfish? prefer to buy? etc. You'll note that each can has a large capital letter on top for identification. (He didn't recall which can label was chosen as best so I can't tell you.)

Holly reported that college professors didn't do much consulting in the early 1920's. He said that there were whispers at the APA meetings that he and some other professors had 'taken money' for doing studies for companies. However, applied and industrial psycholgy soon became "respectable" and it became acceptable for psychologists to earn money through consulting.

(June 15, 1976. Richard P. Youtz, Chairman 1946 - 1974.)

Additional illustrations and history will be added shortly

Haupt, Edward J., & Perera, Thomas B. Museum of the history of Psychological Instrumentation, Montclair State University.
http://www.chss.montclair.edu/psychology/museum/museum.html

Pantalony, D. The Museum of Brass Instrument Psychology at the University of Toronto.
http://www.psych.utoronto.ca/museum

Click here to return to the Main Barnard College Psychology Department Pages.

CONTACTS: MUSEUM CURATOR: (Updates, Corrections, Information.)

Thomas B. Perera Ph. D.
Historian and Barnard College Museum Curator
Professor Emeritous: Department of Psychology
Montclair State University