Object Details
- University of Arkansas
- Description
- This instrument has an L- shaped wooden base with six rubber feet. The base supports a wooden framework which holds a hollow metal drum. A piece of paper with various words typed on it is taped to the drum. The drum has a metal cover with a slit that reveals one row of words. Two slides in the slit can cover some of these words. The drum is moved by a handle (which is at one end) or a motor (which is on the on the part of the L, and joined to the other end of the drum). A mark on the motor reads: E/ dison/ konowatt.
- Compare the memory drum with number 1979.3065.01. Both were acquired at the same time from the Psychology Department at the University of Arkansas.
- Joel S. Freund, an emeritus faculty member at the University of Arkansas psychology department who helped to arrange the donation, suggests that these memory drums may have been associated with research of psychologist John A. McGeoch, who was at the University of Arkansas from 1928 to 1930.
- References:
- Personal Communication, Joel S. Freund, December 5, 2019.
- John A. McGeoch, “The Influence of Degree of Learning upon Retroactive Inhibition,” American Journal of Psychology, vol. 41 #2 (April 1929), pp. 252-262. On p. 252, McGeoch refers to using a Chicago memory drum (a product of C. H. Stoelting Company of Chicago).
- John A. McGeoch and William T. McDonald, “Meaningful Relation and Retroactive Inhibition,“ American Journal of Psychology, vo. 43 #4 (October 1931), pp. 579-588. By this time McGeoch had moved to the University of Missouri, but he reports on work done at the University of Arkansas. He mentions an “electrically driven memory drum: on p. 581.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Gift of University of Arkansas, Department of Psychology
- ca 1928-1930
- ID Number
- 1979.0850.01
- accession number
- 1979.0850
- catalog number
- 1979.0850.01
- Object Name
- Memory Drum
- Physical Description
- metal (overall material)
- wood (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 27.6 cm x 54 cm x 45.8 cm; 10 7/8 in x 21 1/4 in x 18 1/16 in
- place made
- United States: Arkansas, Fayetteville
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Mathematics
- National Museum of American History
- Record ID
- nmah_1286665
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ab-a447-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
