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Nebraska History posts materials online for your personal use. Please remember that the contents of Nebraska History are copyrighted by the Nebraska State Historical Society (except for materials credited to other institutions). The NSHS retains its copyrights even to materials it posts on the web. For permission to re-use materials or for photo ordering information, please see: http://www.nebraskahistory.org/magazine/permission.htm Nebraska State Historical Society members receive four issues of Nebraska History and four issues of Nebraska History News annually. For membership information, see: http://nebraskahistory.org/admin/members/index.htm Article Title: Psychology at the University of Nebraska, 1889-1930 Full Citation: Ludy T Benjamin Jr, “Psychology at the University of Nebraska, 1889-1930,” Nebraska History 56 (1975): 375-387. URL of article: http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/full-text/NH1975UNPsych.pdf Date: 2/10/2016 Article Summary: The University of Nebraska produced numerous prominent psychologists, despite being a state whose population statistics should not merit such a number. This article presents the story of the growth of the Psychology Department between 1889 and 1930. Cataloging Information: Names: Harry Kirke Wolfe, Walter B Pillsbury, Madison Bentley, Frederick Kuhlman, Harry Levi Hollingworth, Leta Stetter Hollingsworth, Edwin Ray Guthrie, Frederick H Lund, Joy P Guilford, Arthur T Jersild, Joseph McVicker Hunt, C A Ruckmick, Ferdinand French, Burt G Miner, Louise Pound, S W Fernberger, C R Garvey, Albert Ross Hill, Winifred Hyde, J P Guilford Photographs / Images: University of Nebraska Professor Harry Kirk Wolfe, studying under William Wundt, portrait and Wundt’s laboratory in Leipzig, Germany, about 1912; the psychology laboratory located in Library Hall, built 1892 [now the College of Architecture; Hartley Burr Alexander; An instructor demonstrating the ergograph, a device for measuring muscular contraction; Appendix containing short biographies of 11 prominent Nebraska psychologists PSYCHOLOGY AT THE UN IVERSITY OF NEBRASKA, 1889- 1930 By LUDY T. BENJAMIN. JR. On Ap ril 7, 1891, Professor Harry Kirke Wolfe se nt a letter to the Board of Rege nts of t he Universi t y of Ncbr:lska reques t­ ing the esta blish men t of a Departmen t of Psychology independ ­ ent of the Depart me nt of Ph ilosophy.l Ap proximately a half century later that request fi nall y became a reality when in 1940 the regents announced Professor Art hur Jenness as chairman o f the newly formed psychology department. It might naturall y be assumed thaI the history of psychology at :\ university would begin with the es ta blish ment of the academic depart ment, but in the case of the Uni versit y of Nebraska such an assumption would be wrong. '"larry Kirke Wo lfe graduated with an A. B. degree from the Un iversity of Nebraska in 1880, when the university was only cleven years o ld . One year earlier and thous:lIlds o f miles away at the University of Leipzig in Gennany, Professor Wilhelm Wund t had founded a laboratory in experimental psychology. (Most psychologists today recognize Wundt's labo ratory as the formal begin ning of experimental psychology.) Wolfe traveled 10 Gennany in 1883 where three years later he and James McKeen Cattell became the first two Americans to ea rn thei r Ph.D. degrees in the "new psychology." In 1889 Wolfe joi ned the f:lculty at Nebr.tska as lecturer in philosophy. In addi tio n 10 the more trad it ional philosophy courses, Wolfe taught ge neral psychology, pedagogical psy· chology, and a course in ex perim ental psychology with labora­ tory experience. 2 This lalter course marked Ih e beginning of a psychology laboratory :I I Neb mska, o ne o f the earliest in the 375 Ullil,1ersity of Nebraska Professor /la" y Kirk Wo lfe (right, belo lll ) stllclied Imder e/ll inent psychologist William Will/cit (third from left, above) ill his laboratory ill Leipzig, GermallY, about 1912. 378 NEBRASKA III STORY rowed from t he biology and physics departments. The rClllain~ ing equipmerit and supplies were purchased with department funds and in some cases with Wolfe's own money. In 1896. informed that his departmental account was S75.86 overdrawn. he replied to the chance ll or and the Board of Regents: I do not consider tJl Cse C;"<I: penscs 3~ a "deficit" cven in the tcchni C:l 1 use of the turm. I am person31ly responsible ror them ~nd if Ihe University doesn't wish to buy the articles from me when it is able to do so [ sholl preserve the rerHai!!! as "heir. looms" in my family trC:lsure house, and the record thereof in the llI(: hi ves of th~ tribe. As long as r work thirty five houf) (35) pe r week wi th my students J shall Ilfovide any nceded inexpensive article for my wo rk withoul reference to the con­ dition of my departmentnl f:J nd.1 Thus through whatever means wen! available, Wolfe kept the psychology program and the accompanying laboratory going. In 189 1 ninetecn students were enroll ed and by 1893 tbe llum­ ber had in crcased to seventy-three. Principally this was due to Wo lfe 's popularity. As a teacher he was demanding, and his classes had a reputation of being "nolOriolisly difficult ." yet students n ocked to his courses.s Hartley B. Alexander, one of his students who wa s to become chailman of the philosophy department at Nebraska, desc ri bed Wo lfe as a teacher: There are few qUhlitic ~ wh ich a tcacher Shou!!1 posse'lS wh ich he did not own in exalted mca ~ ur e; kecnc ~s and kindm.:s~, unfuiling humor ~ n'l pa tience ~lI d generosity of soul, and thc powcr to inspire. allthesc Were hi ~; and he was loved by those under his influence as few men are loved. 9 Another of his students, Walter B. Pillsbury, wrole: lie was un indefatigable worker, but gU\'e so many courses and spcnt $0 much ent'rll)' on them that he had no time for publication. Wolfe's innuence was exerted per· so nally as ","'ell O~ in tlie classroom. He "as alw ays a ....dil~bh:: fo; oo m'crsution , as he usually S:lt in the rOOIll where the ,efclcnce works were .... 11i ~ vie"'point in psychol­ ogy was liberal. lie W.:IS mOle anxious that hi ~ stud ents should thi n ~ than that they should hold ~ny particular point of vi.:w. II ~ was J linn bcli ~ve r in c:o;pllri mcntJlion. and made a sess ion 11 wee k a requirement for e:lch .tud ellt in the ckmcnt:II Y cour se. 10 But in the spring of 1897. Wol fe's posi tion at Nebraska came to a sudden end. The Board o r Regents informed him lhat he was being discharged because of " intermeddling," non·cooperation with other faculty, and "general charges." Unable to discover the basis for the charges, Wolre found it di rticuit to dcrt;nd him­ self. When word or his dismissal sprc;td , student,> circulated pC'. li­ tions c:tlling for his retenlion. A mass tllccting in the chapel at night resulted in an overOow crowd which spent much of its time jeering lhe chancellor. 11 All was to no avnil as Wolfe was fo rced to leave. Although he h<ld numerous ofrers from o ther PSYCIIOLOGY AT NEBRASKA UN IVERS ITY 379 universities, he elected to remain in Nebr;lska for fiv e years as superintendent of the South Omaha public school system and for three years as principal of Lincoln HiJ!.h School. Wolfe's replacement at the University of Nebraska was Albert Ross 1·liIl, a Ca nadian , who had received his Ph.D. at Cornell in 1895. Although trained in ph ilosophy, Hill was also in terested in psychology and added two new courses to the curriculum ­ social psychology and mental pathology. Wh ile not as com­ mitted to the experim ental side of psychology as Wo lfe had been, he neverthcless continued th e existence of the psychology laboratory. Three years later Hill was joined by Thaddeus Lincoln Dolton, who had studied under G. Stanley Ha ll at Clark University (Hall founded the America n Psychological Associa­ tion and the Americu" JOllmal of Psychology, the fi rst psycho­ logica l journal published in this country).l 2 Bailon taught most of the psychology courses whi le Hill taught philosophy and social psychology. In addition, Dolton added two courses, one in animal psychology, the other in child psychology. In 1904 the department undenvent impo rtant changes when Hill left to la ke a position at the University of MissourL I 3 He was replaced by Ferdinand C. French, a philosophy-psychology proressor from Colgate. A few years ea rli er French had pub­ lished a reply in Psychological Rel1ielll to an article by Wolfe whi ch had stressed th e bcnefits of:l psychology laboratory :I t the undergraduate levcl. l4 French argued that as a disc ipline psychology was not well enough established to be offered 10 undergraduates as a laboratory sciencc. He felt that these slu­ dents would be investing a great deal of time in techniques that we re oi questionable value. In short hc fe lt it would detract from the liberal educ:uion which collegt! students should pursue. lS While French continued Hill's assignments, Bolt on ma in­ tained the psychology portion of the curriculum. That same year his title was changed from assistant professor of phil os. o ph y to professor of psychology, marking th e first lime the word '·psychology" appeared in any f'l culty mcmber's officia l title at Nebraska.

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