Elsie Murray (September 17, 1878 – September 30, 1965) was an American psychologist and college professor. Her research involved

color perception Color vision, a feature of visual perception, is an ability to perceive differences between light composed of different wavelengths (i.e., different spectral power distributions) independently of light intensity. Color perception is a part of ...

, memory, and

color blindness Color blindness or color vision deficiency (CVD) is the decreased ability to color vision, see color or differences in color. It can impair tasks such as selecting ripe fruit, choosing clothing, and reading traffic lights. Color blindness may ...

. She was also director of the historic sites at

French Azilum French Azilum (french: Asile français) was a planned settlement built in 1793 in Bradford County, Pennsylvania for French refugees fleeing the French Revolution and slave uprisings in Saint-Domingue. Several influential Philadelphians, including ...

and Tioga Point Museum in Pennsylvania.

Early life

Elsie Murray was born in

Athens, Pennsylvania Athens is a borough in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania and is located south of the New York (state), New York state line on the Susquehanna River, Susquehanna and Chemung River, Chemung river ...

, the daughter of Millard P. Murray and Louise Shipman Welles Murray. Her mother was the first director of the Tioga Point Museum. She attended

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...

in 1896 and 1897, graduated from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

in 1904, and completed doctoral studies there in 1907, with a dissertation titled "Organic Sensation". Murray took further coursework at Columbia University in 1914 and 1915.

Career

Research and teaching

Murray taught psychology courses at

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...

(1907 to 1909), Wilson College (1909 to 1919), Sweet Briar College (1919 to 1922), Wells College (1922 to 1923), the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

(1924 to 1926). She became a research associate at Cornell University in 1927. She was a member of the

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...

and the International Society of Color Council. Murray's research involved color vision, memory, and other mental tasks, including spelling. Her work was published in the ''

Journal of the Optical Society of America The ''Journal of the Optical Society of America'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal of optics, published by Optica. It was established in 1917 and in 1984 was split into two parts, A and B. ''Journal of the Optical Society of America A'' P ...

'' (JOSA), the ''

Journal of Applied Psychology The ''Journal of Applied Psychology'' is a monthly, peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Psychological Association. The journal emphasizes the publication of original investigations that contribute new knowledge and understandin ...

,'' and the ''

Journal of Educational Psychology The ''Journal of Educational Psychology'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that was established in 1910 and covers educational psychology. It is published by the American Psychological Association. The current editor-in-chief is Steve Graham (A ...

''. She also contributed to ''The Dictionary of Psychology'' (1935), edited by

Howard C. Warren Howard Crosby Warren (1867 – 1934) was an American psychologist and the first chairman of the Princeton University Psychology department. He was also president of the American Psychological Association in 1913. The Society of Experimental Psy ...

Local history

Murray succeeded her sister Jessie as director of the Tioga Point Museum in

Bradford County, Pennsylvania Bradford County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, its population was 59,967. Its county seat is Towanda. The county was created on February 21, 1810, from parts ...

, from 1935 to 1955; she was also named director of the nearby French Azilum historic site in 1954. In connection with this work, Murray was a member of the

Daughters of the American Revolution The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States' efforts towards independence. A non-profit group, they promote ...

, the

Historical Society of Pennsylvania The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a long-established research facility, based in Philadelphia. It is a repository for millions of historic items ranging across rare books, scholarly monographs, family chronicles, maps, press reports and v ...

, the

Wyoming HIstorical and Geological Society The Luzerne County Historical Society is one of the oldest continually operating local historical societies in America. It was founded on February 11, 1858, in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the first successful burning of anthracite coa ...

, and the Bradford County Historical Society. She wrote books and pamphlets about Bradford County history, including ''French Exiles of 1793 in Northern Pennsylvania'' (1935), ''Azilum: The Story of a French Royalist Colony of 1793'' (1937), ''Franco-Americana in Tioga Point Museum'' (1938), ''Te-a-o-ga: Annals of a Valley'' (1939), ''Stephen C. Foster at Athens: His First Composition'' (1940), ''New World or Old? A Tale of the French Refugees and their Azilum on the Susquehanna'' (1945), ''Carantouan, Old Spanish Hill; Étienne Brulé, explorer of the Susquehanna'' (1948), ''Early land companies and titles of Northumberland County'' (1954), and ''A Frontier Trianon: The True Story of Azilum Village'' (1955).

Personal life

Murray died at a nursing home in Athens, Pennsylvania in 1965, aged 87 years. She left her entire estate, about $20,000, to the French Azilum. Murray's papers are in the collection of

Cornell University Library The Cornell University Library is the library system of Cornell University. As of 2014, it holds over 8 million printed volumes and over a million ebooks. More than 90 percent of its current 120,000 Periodical literature, periodical titles are ...

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Murray Elsie 1878 births 1965 deaths People from Bradford County, Pennsylvania Cornell University alumni Sweet Briar College faculty Wilson College (Pennsylvania) faculty Vassar College faculty 20th-century American psychologists Local historians American women writers American women academics