1999-2000 Hunt Award Research Report

Psi Chi began with two students at the University of Kansas, Edwin B. Newman (b. 1908) and Frederick H. Lewis (b. 1906), who conceived of the idea for the society in late 1927 and guided it to its official birth in 1929. Their role in the founding of Psi Chi was crucial and indisputable. But Newman and Lewis did not work alone. The organization had many other supporters in its early days.
I was interested in learning more about those initial supporters, including their educational backgrounds and whether they continued to work in psychology. As far as I could determine, there had been no follow-up of them. I think there should be. Although their roles were not as crucial as those of Lewis and Newman, they were an important part of Psi Chi's history, and their names and contributions should not be lost.
These early supporters fall, roughly, into three groups. The first group is composed of the members of the National Graduate Council for a Psychological Fraternity. The Council was formed in 1928 to determine the feasibility of establishing the society or, alternately, to discard the idea entirely. The second group is composed of those individuals who signed the Psi Chi charter on September 4, 1929, at Yale University, effectively giving birth to the organization. The third, less formal, group consisted of other individuals who were identified as early supporters of the organization. I asked the same basic question of all three groups of individuals. Who were they? What role did they play in Psi Chi and in psychology?

     After the idea for a psychological fraternity was born and some of the details were discussed, Lewis and Newman realized that they would need input from others. In May 1928, at the Midwestern meeting of the American Psychological Association, held in Madison, Wis., they met with two other students, Harold Scott of the University of Wisconsin and Theodore Cutler (b. 1907) of Drake University. The four students considered the next step. They decided to canvass colleges and universities across the country to determine what psychology organizations had already been established and whether there would be support for a "psychological fraternity." A letter containing their questions was sent in the fall of 1928, and they received more than 100 responses.
     The response was not unanimous. About a third of the responses were in favor of the new proposed organization, a third were lukewarm, and the final third were decidedly negative. One of the most negative responses came from Edwin G. Boring, the noted experimental psychologist from Harvard, who would soon become the most prominent historian of psychology of his day. The most favorable response came from June Etta Downey, of the University of Wyoming, then also very prominent. (She is discussed in more detail later in this paper.)
     Another meeting was planned in December 1928, during the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, held that year at Columbia University. It was at that meeting that the National Graduate Council for a Psychological Fraternity was established. The charge to the Council was to explore further the proposal for the society and either to come up with a plan for the organization or drop the idea entirely. The Council voted to establish the society and began preparing a constitution.
     The Council consisted of 15 members, three of whom I am still trying to identify. The 12 members I have been able to identify present a varied picture in several ways. Two of them, Daniel H. Harris and Theodore H. Cutler, were only 21 years old when the Council was founded. They each went on to earn PhD degrees. Harris, who received his doctorate from Columbia University in 1931 at age 24, eventually became a rehabilitation specialist with the Veterans Administration. Cutler, who received his doctorate from the University of Colorado in 1948, worked as an industrial psychologist, later went into academia and, in 1955, became dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Denver.
     Other members of the Council were Edward N. Brush (b. 1904), who received a PhD from Harvard University in 1932, and became a professor of psychology and dean of graduate study at the University of Maine; Francis W. Irwin (b. 1905), who received his PhD in 1931 from the University of Pennsylvania and remained at that university to teach; Brian E. Tomlinson (b. 1896), who received his PhD from Ohio State University in 1930, and later was chairman of educational psychology and director of undergraduate study at New York University; and William W. Rogers (b. 1887) who, at age 40, was the oldest member of the Council. He had already received his PhD from the University of North Carolina when the Council was formed. Later he became professor and head of the department at Winthrop College.
     Additional Council members were Willard E. Parker (b. 1900), who had received an MS degree from the University of Michigan in 1927, and later became superintendent of training for Proctor and Gamble Co., and a partner and director of Personnel Management Consultants; Lucien H. Warner (b. 1900), who had received a PhD from Columbia University in 1927, and was the associate director of research for Time Inc. (Life Magazine); and Lovic P. Herrington (b. 1906), who received a PhD from Stanford University in 1930, and was on the faculty of the Yale University School of Medicine for many years.
     I have not been able to identify three members of the Council. They are listed as R. L. Barklay, University of North Carolina; P. E. Martin,¹ University of Southern California; and W. B. Lott, of Washington and Lee University. If anyone has information on these individuals, I would be very grateful to have it. I finally tracked down Harold D. Scott, who was the chairman of the Council. He completed a master's thesis at the University of Wisconsin under the legendary Clark Hull on "hypnosis and the conditioned response." A paper based on his thesis was published in 1930, but I can find no further record of him. The Council member who, arguably, became the most noted psychologist of the group was Starke R. Hathaway (b. 1903). He received his PhD in 1932 at the University of Minnesota where he later became a professor and clinical psychologist. His name is forever linked with the development of one of the most widely used objective personality measures, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI).
     I should also mention the secretary of the Council, Frederick H. Lewis, who was the cofounder of the society. In 1930, Lewis became an assistant professor at Bates College in Maine where he stayed for five years. In 1939, he received another master's degree, this time from Harvard University. After World War II, he became the executive director for the Herald Tribune Fresh Air Fund, a position that he retained for many years. Lewis was only 21 years old when he conceived the idea of Psi Chi. He continued a close association with the organization, acting as its historian until 1950. I spoke with him several times in the late 1980s when he attended Psi Chi programs at the APA national convention. He was a charming and energetic man, open and accessible, and pleased to talk about the origins of Psi Chi.

     When the charter that established Psi Chi was signed at Yale University on September 4, 1929, 14 colleges and universities were represented, three of them by proxy. Seven additional institutions were granted charter status in the organization by accepting membership by January 1, 1930. One more university was later added to the charter group, bringing the total to 22.
     Who were the 11 individuals present to sign the Psi Chi charter? They, too, were an interesting and varied group. Two of them were students. George G. Killinger (b. 1908), representing Wittenberg College, received a PhD from the University of North Carolina in 1933. He worked with delinquents and was, for a time, the assistant warden of the Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, Ga. Later he worked for the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. Francis T. Perkins (b. 1909) represented the University of Kansas and, at 20 years of age, was the youngest signer of the charter. He became a professor in the graduate school of Claremont College. His major interest areas were learning theory, visual recall, and field and organismic theory.
     Additional signatories included George H. Mount (b. 1879), representing the University of Southern California, who received his PhD from the University of Iowa in 1910. He taught at Dubuque University and Duke University before coming to the University of Southern California as a professor in 1924. Carl I. Erickson (b. 1887), representing the State College of Washington, received his PhD from the University of Iowa in 1917. He began teaching at the College of Washington in 1921 and spent his entire career there. His areas of interest were orientation in directions and illusions. Henry E. Starr (b. 1893), representing Rutgers University, received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1922. He became professor of psychology and director of the Psychological and Mental Hygiene Clinic at Rutgers in 1928.
     The oldest signatory of the charter, at age 64, was Daniel E. Phillips (b. 1865), representing the University of Denver. He received his PhD in 1898 from Clark University, and was head of the Department of Education and Psychology at the University of Denver from 1898-1929. At the time of the charter signing, his title had just been changed to director of the Division of Education and Psychology. James P. Porter (b. 1873), representing Ohio University, received his PhD from Clark University in 1905. He was dean of the college at Clark University from 1909-22. He left Clark to become a professor at Ohio University in 1922 in the reorganization that followed the retirement of G. Stanley Hall, the first president of Clark University Those who are familiar with the efforts of Jonas Clark, the founder of the university, to keep G. Stanley Hall from assuming power in the undergraduate college there, can appreciate some of the difficulties that Porter must have endured as dean.
     Of the 11 signatories, the one in whom I have the most personal interest is John E. Evans (b. 1882), representing Iowa State College. Evans received his PhD from Columbia University in 1916 under James McKeen Cattell, a student of Wundt. In 1921 he came from Ohio State to Iowa State where he organized their first department of psychology. He was a generalist, as were many psychologists of his day, and he was equally comfortable in working in such disparate areas as personnel selection, developmental disability, or emotional disturbance. I was inducted into Psi Chi at Iowa State while working on my master's degree. Evans, though retired, was a familiar figure on campus. It seemed he was always demonstrating some piece of equipment to the graduate students or showing us a psychological test that was used in the early days of psychology. He was also present at my Psi Chi induction. I had no idea at the time that he was one of the founders of the organization.
     Two of the signatories remain elusive. Harold A. Swenson, representing the University of Chicago, completed his PhD there in 1931, with a dissertation on accommodation and convergence in the judgment of distance. There is evidence that he went into a field completely different from psychology shortly thereafter. However, I cannot be absolutely certain that I have located the same Harold Swenson. Mary Haven, representing the University of California at Los Angeles, is the most elusive of all. She was also the only woman represented among the members of the National Council or the charter signatories. I have tried a dozen different ways to track her down and have come up with nothing. "Mary" is a common first name, and it was probably even more common earlier in the century. Mary Haven may also have changed her last name with marriage. Is there anyone out there with some clever thoughts on how to gather information on her? I have run out of ideas.
     The signatory with the most illustrious career was almost certainly J(oy) P(aul) Guilford (b. 1897), representing the University of Nebraska. Guilford received his PhD from Cornell University in 1927 where his mentor was Edward B. Titchener. He taught at the University of Nebraska until 1940 when he left to teach at the University of Southern California. He became very well known for his work in statistics and creativity. He was president of several organizations in psychology and, in 1950, became president of the American Psychological Association. His wife, Ruth Guilford, became secretary-treasurer of Psi Chi in 1930, and was also an important force in the early development of the organization. She returned to Psi Chi later as a temporary secretary-treasurer and as historian. She earned a master's degree at Northwestern University and worked in personality testing, and in counseling and guidance.

Two other individuals are identified as strong and early supporters of Psi Chi. They are Horace B. English (b. 1892) and June Etta Downey (b. 1875). English, who had encouraged the founding of the National Council, received his PhD from Yale University in 1916, and spent most of his career as a professor at Ohio State University. He served for three years on the Council of the APA in the early 1940s and was a productive writer and editor. Downey, who was the moderator of the Psi Chi chapter at the University of Wyoming from its charter status until shortly before her early death in 1932, was one of Psi Chi's earliest and strongest supporters. She received her PhD from the University of Chicago in 1907 under the mentorship of James Rowland Angell. Immediately after receiving her doctorate, she became the head of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Wyoming. In 1915, she was made head of the newly combined Department of Philosophy and Psychology, probably the first woman to head such a department at a state university. Although much of her work is unknown today, a personality test she devised, the Downey Will-Temperament Scale, was important in the development of early personality testing.
One last figure should be mentioned--Edwin B. Newman, the cofounder of Psi Chi, along with Fred Lewis. Newman was elected the first national president of Psi Chi in 1929. He was an undergraduate and only 19 years old when he and Lewis had their first conversation about founding Psi Chi. Newman received his PhD from Harvard University in 1934. He taught at Bryn Mawr and Swarthmore Colleges before returning to Harvard University as associate director of the psychological laboratory. In 1948, he became chairman of the Department of Psychology at Harvard.

     Looking over the life and careers of these early supporters of Psi Chi, I am struck by several things. The first is that so many people were involved in Psi Chi's success. The organization may have begun with a conversation between two people, but it soon became a topic of interest for dozens. Now its formal supporters number in the thousands.
     The early supporters represented a wide range of ages. Many of them were surprisingly young. Most of them earned doctorates and went on to work in psychology. Their careers were, for the most part, academic careers. But several of them became industrial psychologists, and a few of them dabbled in industrial psychology part time or after retirement. In looking at their backgrounds, many of them were linked with the founders of psychology, both in Europe and the U.S. Among the distinguished individuals that emerged as their teachers and associates were Wilhelm Wundt, G. Stanley Hall, James McKeen Cattell, and Edward B. Titchener.
     There were few women in this group of early supporters. In fact, Mary Haven was the only woman among the official early representatives. This is not surprising given the difficulty that women had in achieving access to equal education earlier in our history. And yet women have served as shepherds for the organization from the beginning. Ruth Guilford guided Psi Chi through some of the early difficult years, and returned later to give it support again. Ruth Cousins, the executive director for 33 years, played an important role in structuring the organization that we have today. Kay Wilson, the executive officer for most of the last decade, has overseen other remarkable changes in the purpose and direction of the organization.
     The cofounders, Newman and Lewis, lived to see their organization prosper. Both attended the 50th anniversary celebration of Psi Chi in 1979. They admitted they hadn't realized the potential of the organization that they founded, but they were enormously pleased at the result. Psi Chi has now touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of students, and it has reached untold numbers of other people through its local and national programs. It stands as a remarkable tribute to the efforts of two young students who simply wanted to identify and honor successful students of psychology.

¹ Further "sleuthing" since the initial writing of this article has uncovered the following information about Martin. Paul E. Martin was the president of Phi Sigma Rho (predecessor to the Psi Chi chapter) at the University of Southern California during the 1927-28 school year. At the 1929 Yale meeting at which Psi Chi was founded, Martin was elected as Psi Chi's first national secretary-treasurer. He held that office until December 1930, and then served as Psi Chi's Western regional vice-president from 1930-36. Following his graduation from USC, he took a position at Compton-Union High School and Junior College in Compton, Calif. (now Compton Community College), and was listed in a 1954 Psi Chi Newsletter as that institution's president.

	[left] Edwin B. Newman

	[left] Frederick H. Lewis

[right] Paul E. Martin

[right] J.P. Guilford

[right] June Etta Downey


[above] Frederick H. Lewis, Ruth Cousins, and Edwin B. Newman, pictured at the 1979 celebration of Psi Chi's 50th anniversary

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: John D. Hogan received his PhD from Ohio State University in developmental psychology. He is a professor at St. John's University (NY), where he is moderator of the local Psi Chi chapter. He is also the vice-president of Psi Chi's Eastern Region. His areas of special interest are the history of psychology, international psychology, and developmental psychology. He is the author/editor of two books and more than 100 chapters, articles, and book reviews. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association.
John has been active in a number of psychology organizations, including the New York State Psychological Association (NYSPA) and the Eastern Psychological Association (EPA). He has been president of two divisions of NYSPA and currently chairs their Ethics Committee and their Awards Committee. He recently began a five-year term as EPA historian, the primary duty of which is to present a lecture on the history of psychology at the annual convention. In 2000, he received the university-wide "Excellence in Teaching and Scholarship Award" from St. John's University.

Winter 2001 issue of Eye on Psi Chi (Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 9-11), published by Psi Chi, The National Honor Society in Psychology (Chattanooga, TN). Copyright, 2001, Psi Chi, The National Honor Society in Psychology. All rights reserved.