News HomePage  The Psycograph at work on Florence Klingensmith, noted Twin City Aviatrix. Taken from a Psycograph Company brochure, dated December 14, 1932.

Now, among our many prized possessions, we have a PSYCOGRAPH. With only minor repairs to electrical cords, etc., we expect to have our "automated phrenology machine" in working order very soon. The machine arrived at AHAP fully assembled from Seattle-donated by Guenter Risse, M.D., Ph.D, Professor Emeritus of the History of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco. We were informed of the existence of this rare piece of apparatus by a long-time friend of AHAP, Dr. Peter van Drunen of the Archives of Dutch Psychology. He had communicated with Dr. Risse requesting reprints of photos from Risse's 1976 JHBS article about phrenology. Risse mentioned to van Drunen that he had a working psycograph which was displayed in his home. The psycograph had been given to Risse in 1970 by the grandson of the man who had financed the invention. The machine had moved with Risse from Minneapolis to Madison, Wisconsin and later to San Francisco. When Dr. Risse retired from academia he moved the machine to his home in Seattle. We feel fortunate indeed to have been introduced to Dr. Risse who made it possible for us to provide a permanent home for this psycograph. With the apparatus we received photographs, copies of newspaper and magazine articles about the design and use of the machine, patent information, and copies of correspondence among proponents and opponents of phrenology. The inventor was Henry C. Lavery (1870-1954) of Superior, Wisconsin. He was a hotel manager and a creator of gadgets, many of which were patented. In 1905 Lavery was granted a patent for the "Lavery Phrenologist" but he could not muster financial support to perfect and produce the machines which he felt would revolutionize the field of vocational guidance. In 1928, People waiting in line at a Publix in Chicago to get a psycograph reading. Undated. on a train, Lavery met Frank P. White, an entrepreneur from Minneapolis. The two men formed a partnership based on the mutual interest in phrenology. By late 1930 White held the exclusive license for the manufacture, sale and use of a new version of the "Lavery Phrenologist." Dr. Risse's 1976 JHBS article tells us more about these two men, their interests in phrenology, and the evolution of the psycograph from its intended use as a scientific tool to a diversion set up in department stores and hotel lobbies where passersby with spare change could print out a reading of the strengths and weaknesses of their character. A maximum of 45 psycographs were manufactured. There are perhaps two or three intact, working machines still in existence. It is exciting that one is right here in Akron.