Dr. Edridge-Green among them. A few weeks later he spent some time with Sir William Abney in his studio, and records meeting Dr. Parsons and his assistants. Then back to Paris, and on to Naples, Capri and Palermo, before sailing for home on December 3. There is evidence that during this time there were numerous lectures and discussions regarding the Munsell color system.
In 1914 he returned to Europe at the request of persons who had been interested by his reports during the previous year, and again he spent about six months abroad, lecturing several times in Paris and Berlin. He was ill in London, yet he notes that the doctor permitted him to go by sea to Berlin, where his lecture was given before an audience of 300. From there he returned to London, where the notes say he was operated on by Dr. Heil on July 4, and that (I am) “remaining in Dr. Rowland’s nursing home until I sail.” In the early fall he was again at the Wadsworth-Howland factory, and resumed his teaching duties at the Normal Art School.
In 1915 the complete Atlas of the Munsell Color System (3) was published by Wadsworth Howland & Company. From the diary it seems evident that the original charts were made by Lyon in the Munsell studio, and that the papers for the published Atlas charts were made at the Wadsworth-Howland factory, all colors being checked by Mr. Munsell. Disk mixture was used as a check for chroma and hue and all colors were measured for value in the Munsell photometer.
In 1915 suggestions regarding commercial developments of the Munsell idea became numerous, the Wadsworth-Howland representative reporting that “charts have been ordered by the Rockefeller Foundation, the Carnegie Institute, Heintz of Chicago, Dartmouth College, and others.” There was much discussion during this year and the next regarding school supplies to teach the Munsell system, and of the means of producing and publicizing them by commercial groups.
In October, 1915, Cleland, Greenleaf, and Allen lunched with Mr. Munsell, then called on Miss Helen Dryden, indicating perhaps, that plans for A Grammar of Color (6) were then being formed. On November 6 of 1915 there is a record of “3 colors telegraphed (by Cooper) from California to New York, this is Cooper’s answer to Stevenson’s difficulty.” In the summer of 1916 a summer school course was held at Boothbay Harbor, Mr. Munsell delivering 12 lectures from July 25 to August 19. He returned in the fall to take up school duties again. In the winter of 1916-17 the notes say “confined to house by rheumatism.”
On March 27 of 1917 there is the first mention of the Munsell Color Company, suggested to Mr. Munsell by Messrs. Allen and Greenleaf. In May he had an appendicitis operation, “not expected to survive, two nurses all summer.” As a result of this illness, the studio at 221 Columbus Avenue, which he had occupied since 1901 was vacated. (It was taken over a few months later by John Singer Sargent.)
In February there is a brief note that papers for the A. H. Munsell Color Company, Inc., were “rewritten”, and evidently filed at the State House, Boston, February 6, 1918.
As time went on, Mr. Munsell became somewhat dissatisfied with the handling of his materials by Wadsworth-Howland. One of the very last entries in the diary, dated February 13, 1918, tells of meeting with Judge Perkins (his lawyer) and Arthur Howland: “Discuss latter’s interest in his photometer and possibility of avoiding unfair attitude toward my system. He tells of his belief in the scientific nature of his work—although I show that it ignores the fundamental law of sensation.”[1] As a result the possibility was considered of having the New York office of the Munsell Color Company take over the educational interest as well as the industrial, leaving
Table I.
| Wave-Length Dom. Hue |
% White | Refl. Coef. | |
| Red | 612[2] | 62 | 0.19 |
| Yellow | 585 | 50 | 0.23 |
| Green | 508 | 78 | 0.25 |
| Blue | 488 | 80 | 0.20 |
| Lt. Purple | 568a | 31b | 0.22 |
| Dk. Purple* | 568a | 31b | 0.8 |
- a Wave-length of complementry hue.
- b Percent of added hue to match white.
- * In Mr. Munsell’s handwriting the following note is added to the report: “(Dark purple a neutral gray N 5/).” It seems probable that a sample of P 3/5 was submitted by mistake instead of the intended N 5/.
