LUDWIG REINHOLD GEISSLER AND THE FOUNDING OF THE JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY

A significant number of earlier (1929–1987) and more recent (1991–2009) history of psychology textbooks have reported on the 1917 founding of the Journal of Applied Psychology (JAP). Although only G. Stanley Hall (1844–1924) was mentioned as the founder, the JAP had three financial founders: Hall, John Wallace Baird (1869–1919), and Ludwig Reinhold Geissler (1879–1932). They also served as co-editors for Volumes 1 and 2, and Hall and Geissler continued as co-editors for Volumes 3 and 4. Geissler’s contributions to Volumes 1–4 far exceeded Hall’s and Baird’s. In unpublished autobiographical notes written in 1920, Geissler described himself as having "founded" and "established" the JAP with Hall’s and Baird’s aid; the evidence is consistent with that claim.