# Journal of the Optical Society of America/Volume 30/Issue 12/History of the Munsell Color System

History of the Munsell Color System and Its Scientific Application
Dorothy Nickerson
Agricultural Marketing Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.
Albert H. Munsell was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 6, 1858 (1). Following a public school education, he studied art at the Massachusetts Normal Art School, and won a fellowship for foreign study. In Paris he attended Julien Academy where his work qualified him to take the examination for the Beaux Arts. There he won second prize in his first yearly competition, and, later, the Catherine de Medici scholarship which gave him another year abroad, this time in Rome. After his return, and until 1917, he kept a studio in the Back Bay section of Boston and there he painted, chiefly portraits. For his exhibitions in Boston, New York, Pittsburgh, and Chicago he was highly praised. His painting the "Ascension of Elijah," so far as we know, still hangs in the Beaux Arts in Paris. During his entire life, boats and the open sea held an unusual interest for him, as is witnessed by his many seascapes.
From 1881 to 1918 he taught drawing and painting from the antique figure and living model, composition, and artistic anatomy (1) at the Massachusetts Normal Art School, now the Massachusetts School of Art. He was loved and respected by his students to an unusual degree— they never fail to speak of him with admiration and affection.
Except for a few publications, chiefly A Color Notation (2) and the Atlas of the Munsell Color System (3), it is to a color diary (4) kept by Mr. Munsell from 1900 to 1918 that we owe most of our knowledge of the development of the Munsell system during its early history.
It is important to recognize that Mr. Munsell's purpose in developing a system of color notation, illustrated by charts of measured colors, was to make the recording of color easy and convenient in order to provide a real aid in teaching color, particularly in teaching color to children. Because he believed that proper color training should begin with children, he spent much time in writing outlines for primary school grades and in conferences with art teachers and supervisors. It is evident that he felt that if children were properly taught, color would have more meaning and use for them all through life, and this became more important than ever to him when the early phases of development of his system were completed. The preface to the first edition of A Color Notation indicates that "'the gist of these pages has been given in the form of lectures to students of the Normal Art School, the Art Teachers' Association, and the Twentieth Century Club .. and... before the Society of Arts of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology." In the preface to the third edition in 1913, he adds: "Brewster's mistaken theory of color . . . still . . . gives children a false start with Froebel balls and a three-color box . . . but a fine color sense may be trained by decorative studies whose simple color relations permit the student to realize in what way and by how much he falls short of a definite standard. Plates II and III reproduce children's studies with measured intervals of color-light and color-strength, which so discipline their feeling for color balance that they may then be trusted to use even the strongest pigments with discretion." An introduction to the system, prepared as an aid in teaching children, was separately published as Color Balance, Illustrated. There is record also of several other articles written by Mr. Munsell (5).
In his introduction to A Color Notation, Professor H. E. Clifford, then Gordon McKay Professor of Electrical Engineering at Harvard University, states, “In the determination of his (Munsell's) relationships he has made use of distinctly scientific methods.” In the same paragraph he acknowledges the chief purpose for which the system was built by stating that we ​all appreciate the necessity for improvement in our ideas of color, and “the natural inference is that the training should begin in early youth.” The subtitle of A Color Notation, as published by A. H. Munsell in the “fourth edition, revised and enlarged,” 1916, is “an illustrated system defining all colors and their relations by measured scales of hue, value, and chroma made in solid paint for the accompanying Color Atlas”, the Atlas having been published in full in 1915.
Because they may help in understanding Mr. Munsell's exposition of his system and notation, the following definitions which he gave in A Color Notation are listed. These definitions appear in a glossary which accompanied the first seven editions of the book. This glossary is omitted in the 1936 edition (the definitions that still seemed applicable being incorporated in the text). In his book Mr. Munsell refers all discussion of hue, value, and chroma to these definitions.
Color.—Objectively that quality of a thing or appearance which is perceived by the eye alone, independently of the form of the thing; subjectively, a sensation peculiar to the organ of view, and arising from the optic nerve (p. 108).
Hue.—Specifically and technically, distinctive quality of coloring in an object or on a surface; the respect in which red, yellow, green, blue, etc., differ one from another; that in which colors of equal luminosity and chroma may differ (p. 109).
Value.—In painting and the allied arts, relation of one object, part, or atmospheric plane of a picture to the others, with reference to light and shade, the idea of hue being abstracted (p. 112).
Chroma.—The degree of departure of a color sensation from that of white or gray; the intensity of distinctive hue, color intensity.
Scale.—A graded system, by reference to which the degree, intensity, or quality of a sense perception may be estimated.
Highlights from the Color Diary
The first entry in the A. H. Munsell color diary goes back to 1879: “Studied Rood's Modern Chromatics—made twirling model of two triangular pyramids. . . .” There is an entry dated 1892 when he and Denman Ross were sketching together in Venice. It says they talked over a "systematic color scheme for painters, so as to determine mentally on some sequence before laying the palette." In 1898 Munsell worked with rotary color mixture, having bought a child's globe for that purpose. It was about this time that the Munsell daylight photometer was built, a cat's eye shutter being used to cut down the amount of light entering the standard side of the instrument. Several of these instruments were built in 1900-1902. From the diary, it is evident that Munsell was quite familiar with the Fechner law, for there are many references to it during this period. The names of Rood, Bailey, Pickering, Cross (A. K. and C. R.), Clifford, Dolbeare, Ross, Pritchard, Abney, and Bowditch appear during this time, and with most of them he discussed his ideas and to most of them showed his sphere. It was in this early period that Mr. Wm. Filene asked to have the sphere shown to the Shopkeepers' Association in Boston.
In 1901 Munsell was still wondering whether to base his hue circuit on ten or on three colors. The decimal system was finally decided upon, and five principal hues were then determined by selecting colors which, when they appeared to have equal chroma, with values equal as determined by luminosity readings on the photometer, would spin together in equal proportions to give a neutral gray. As early as 1901 (April 11) he quotes Mr. Filene as saying "The retailers want a standard system fixed at all times—charts with numbers." In 1901 (April 29) appears the first mention of contact with the Bureau of Standards; Mr. Munsell wrote to Dr. Stratton "tasking about color."
By January of 1902 A Color Notation and a Color Atlas were already being discussed and described. In 1903, on November 7, he describes the spinning of disks in the photometer, with value equalized by adjustments in illumination, in order to measure chroma. However, this method was dropped as unsatisfactory, for chroma scales were not finally decided upon until 1912, although charts were painted by visual estimates as early as 1901-02 in his studio by a Mr. Lyon who (evidently) prepared the original charts under Mr. Munsell's direction.
In 1904 Mr. Munsell met and talked with Jay Hambidge and notes that he was struck with points common to investigators of color and design. He lectured before many audiences, a number of them at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where during this early period he kept in close touch with Professor C. R. Cross ​and Professor Clifford, as well as with Professor Bowditch of Harvard.
During 1905 first mention is made of Arthur Howland who came to the studio and saw “all system but charts.”’ Mention is also made of Arthur S. Allen, and of Wilhelm Ostwald. Dr. Ostwald was in Boston that year, with his son and daughter, to give a series of lectures at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Munsell and Ostwald had many conversations. Ostwald visited Munsell’s studio, and at one of Ostwald’s M.I.T. lectures he showed the Munsell color sphere and referred to the Munsell book. About this time a first contract to supply enamels, charts, and crayons for school supplies to be used in teaching the Munsell system was made with Wadsworth-Howland & Company of Malden, Massachusetts.
A Color Notation (2) was published in 1905, and during that year first contacts were made with Favor, Ruhl and Company through Charles W. Bidwell, manager of the Chicago branch.
In 1908 Christine Ladd-Franklin and her husband returned from abroad on the same ship with Mr. Munsell. They had several color discussions on shipboard, and later at the Munsell studio in Boston. In 1908 there was also discussed the matter of an understudy for Otto Anderson, who was in charge of painting papers for Munsell charts at Wadsworth-Howland & Company, and F. A. Carlson was decided upon. (We understand from Mr. Carlson that from the beginning he did all of the painting, Anderson being the shop supervisor.)
From 1908 to 1911 there were many lectures and talks, a series at Columbia, one in Boston for art supervisors, a lecture at the Harvard Psychological Laboratory. During this period the names of Professor Dow, Professor Yerkes, of Miss Patrick, and Professor Titchener, appear among those of a number of people Mr. Munsell met and talked or worked with in relation to his system and its application in the teaching field. In 1909 there is mention that in Mr. Drisco’s laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, spectrophotometric measurements of his five middle colors were tried—“by daylight and tungsten.” No figures were given. In 1910 there is mention of receiving two copies of the new Color Atlas while cruising on his boat, the Ahmed II. These charts were evidently published first as a forerunner of the more complete Atlas, for a note from the Boston Journal, December 22, 1910, describes this Atlas as containing at present two charts, chart A, the value scale, and chart B, chroma scales for 5 hues. In 1911 there is mention of meeting E. C. Andrews of Chicago when he and Arthur S. Allen visited the Ahmed off Annisquam, Massachusetts. Though they went sailing, the diary reads “discuss ‘sequences’ and E. C. A.’s color form.”
In December of 1911 Mr. Munsell read a paper in Washington by invitation of the American Psychological Association, in which he described his system as “an experimental system built up with the aid of a new photometer, Maxwell disks, and the trained capacity of the painter using a consensus of many individual decisions to gain the mean of color discrimination.” At that meeting he met many of this country’s leading psychologists, and they received his paper so well that he was asked to repeat it before the meeting was over. During this visit to Washington, Mr. Munsell visited the Bureau of Standards and met Dr. Nutting, in charge of colorimetry, where he left a Munsell photometer for test. On January 18, 1912 Dr. S. W. Stratton wrote that he would be pleased to examine a full set of the Munsell elementary color samples and look over the system of scales. A series of the five middle colors, and a sixth sample intended to be a neutral 5/ were sent to the Bureau, and the diary notes that report No. 10696, dated February 28, 1912, signed by P. G. Nutting, was received from the Bureau of Standards. It contained the information given in Table I.
There is no reference in the diary to the fact that Mr. Munsell was invited to present a paper on his system before the Physiological Congress held at Gröningen in 1913 (5). But it is recorded that he sailed on June 23, 1913, and that on August 30 he went to Gröningen. No mention is made of his report, but he does list about two dozen persons whom he met at the conference, ​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.” 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 | 62 | 0.19 |
| Yellow | 585 | 50 | 0.23 |
| Green | 508 | 78 | 0.25 |
| Blue | 488 | 80 | 0.20 |
| Lt. Purple | 568$^a$ | 31$^b$ | 0.22 |
| Dk. Purple* | 568$^a$ | 31$^b$ | 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/.
The last entry in the diary is dated February 16, 1918.
Late Period in Life of A. H. Munsell
The color diary contains items that concern chiefly the development and use of the Munsell system and notation, and we do not realize from it that, after the 1914 trip, Mr. Munsell returned home more or less an invalid, unable to continue the active life he had previously led.
Despite physical handicaps, he was intensely interested in plans for A Grammar of Color (6) which was being prepared for publication by the Strathmore Paper Company. Through Mr. Allen, Mr. Munsell kept closely in touch with this work, he wrote an ‘Introduction to the Munsell Color System”’ for it (6), and approved the manuscript and much of the illustrative work that appeared later in this volume. It was for this volume that T. M. Cleland wrote A Practical Description of the Munsell Color System (7), which has been reprinted since and distributed widely, having become better known to many students as a description of the Munsell system than Mr. Munsell’s own book.
In 1918 the Bureau of Standards was requested to make a spectrophotometric analysis of the Munsell Color System and for that purpose samples of the neutrals, and of the 3/5, 5/5, and 7/5 colors in five hues were supplied by the Munsell company. Whether this request was made for the company by Mr. Munsell, or by Mr. Allen is not entirely clear, but it certainly was with Mr. Munsell’s complete approval. He speaks several times, particularly in letters to Mr. Allen, of hoping to meet Mr. Priest. Mr. Allen had already met Mr. Priest and had discussed the Munsell charts with him.
Mr. Munsell died on June 28, 1918.
1918-1921
From the diary, as well as other records, some of which have been made available by Mr. Allen from his old files of Munsell correspondence, a picture of the early period of the Munsell Color Company emerges. The company was formed to carry on the business of handling publications of books and charts, of crayons, water colors, color spheres, colored papers, and other school supplies which had been developed for use in teaching the Munsell system.
Care was taken when forming the company to have the industrial and educational phases separated. The chief stockholders were Munsell (51 percent), Allen, and Greenleaf. All educational development was at first left in the hands of Wadsworth-Howland & Company, the western representatives for educational supplies continuing to be Favor, Ruhl and Company where Miss Harriet Taylor became associated with them about this time in order to handle Munsell work. The Munsell company opened an office in New York City on the same floor with the Ruxton Ink Company showroom. The company in New York, under Mr. Allen and Mr. Green leaf, was to promote and handle industrial applications of the Munsell system. After Mr. Munsell’s death D. E. Kennedy became president of the Munsell Color Company, and he opened an office in Boston to handle Munsell supplies for the educational field, work which had previously been handled by Wadsworth-Howland & Company. For a time both offices continued to function, but that did not prove very satisfactory and the company was finally reorganized as the Munsell Color Company, with complete control in the hands of Mr. Munsell’s family.
In 1919, during this period, the Bureau of Standards made its report, “An examination of the Munsell Color System,” published in 1920 as Technologic Paper No. 167 (8). In that report it was stated that “A revised edition of the Atlas and A Color Notation, based upon the best present-day methods of measurement and specification, would be a most important contribution to the science and art of chromatics generally.” Five proposals were made. They are briefly summarized as follows: (a) Standardization should be made of the value scale; (b) each color should be specified in terms of physical measurement; (c) colorimetric and photometric specifications should accompany the Atlas; (d) value measurements should be made with reference to a standard white; and (e) general agreement in nomenclature should be obtained before issuing a revised publication.
​Shortly after this, another and fundamentally important report on a comparison of the Fechner and Munsell scales of luminous sensation value was made by Elliot Q. Adams (9).
1921-1930
In July 1921, A. E. O. Munsell, son of A. H. Munsell, after one year of medical school and just out of the U. S. Army, encouraged by his father’s friends, took over the active presidency of the Munsell Color Company. Headquarters were then at 220 Tremont Street in Boston. A few months later, J. J. Roy became business manager of the company. In October of 1921 the writer became associated with the company, and in November of 1921, F. A. Carlson joined the group in Boston.
Because New York seemed to be a center of educational activities, and because a program of expansion in the educational field was expected, the company, including on the staff the three mentioned above, moved to the Printing Crafts Building in New York City. There Milton E. Bond, artist, of Rochester, New York, was added to the permanent staff.
At this time, the business of the company consisted chiefly of sales of school supplies such as those already mentioned. Mr. Carlson’s work was to copy those sheets of Atlas papers in which supplies ran low. There were, for example, more calls for the “maxima” and “middle” colors than for any others, so extra copies of these particular papers had to be made up so as to fill orders for the complete series of papers in the Atlas. The color chips were pasted on the charts by hand—in fact, they still are, the papers being painted in large sheets, then cut to the required size.
From his earliest days with the company, A. E. O. Munsell was influenced in his thinking by Irwin G. Priest, then chief of the colorimetry section of the Bureau of Standards. Mr. Munsell was neither a businessman nor an artist. His interests lay rather in scientific fields, and, from the beginning, he left the handling of much of the business of the company to others, while he concentrated on the scientific aspects of the Munsell work. The writer’s first memory of A. E. O. Munsell is that of his enthusiasm upon his return from the 1921 meeting of the Optical Society of America where he had met and talked with I. G. Priest. It was at that meeting that he first heard of Carl W. Keuffel’s development of a direct-reading spectrophotometer, later described before the Optical Society by Mr. Keuffel. One was ordered on the spot and was delivered in New York to the Munsell Research Laboratory during the next year.
During 1922, artist tempera colors were produced for a brief period for the company by Martini, well-known maker of high grade artist tempera colors.
More and more, the burden of handling the details of a school supply business irked Mr. Munsell. There were no profits, so there was little interest and incentive for keeping on a business manager. Therefore, during the spring of 1923, arrangements were completed whereby the making and handling of Munsell crayons was turned over to the Binney and Smith Company, and the purchase and sale of all other Munsell school supplies, water colors, drawing papers, etc., was turned over to Favor, Ruhl and Company. The entire stock of such materials was cleared out of the Munsell stock room in New York City. The only things that the Munsell company itself intended to continue handling were the production and sale of Atlas papers, charts, disks, and Munsell publications.
About this time, the Munsell Research Laboratory came into being, supported by funds contributed by A. E. O. Munsell, his mother, Mrs. J. E. O. Munsell, and his sister, then Margaret Munsell. It was founded as a memorial to A. H. Munsell to carry forward the application of his particular contribution, namely; “a simple and practical notation, or method of writing color.” The employment of Milton E. Bond to produce posters, paintings, and other examples of Munsell-inspired works that could be used in art educational work, the purchase of a spectrophotometer, and of artificial daylighting, and the development of a small laboratory darkroom were all part of the research laboratory work. This work had only its beginning in New York City, for while there, all work that might be classified as “laboratory” was done by Mr. Munsell himself and by the writer, who, by way of being his secretary, was also his laboratory assistant.
​Soon, however, a move to Baltimore was effected, to quarters that would afford space for laboratory work, within a reasonable distance from the Bureau of Standards, and near to The Johns Hopkins University where Mr. Munsell intended to do such graduate work in physics and psychology as might help to carry out and incandescent illuminants by the method of the very general laboratory plans he was developing under Mr. Priest’s guidance. This move was made in June of 1923, Munsell, Nickerson, Carlson, and Bond making the move with the company. The headquarters of the Munsell Color Company have been at 10 East Franklin Street in Baltimore since that time.
Not long after this move Blanche Robertson (Bellamy), in August 1924, and Genevieve Becker (Reimann), in January 1925, were employed by the company. Mrs. Reimann left the company in 1929 but has continued with work that has included color specification. Mrs. Bellamy at the present writing is manager of the Munsell Color Company.
Under the advice and inspiration of Irwin G. Priest, the Munsell Research Laboratory broadened its activities. During a year period, it supported considerable research activity in its own laboratory, and in those of the Bureau of Standards.
Mr. Priest advised that a standard for ““white light” must be adopted before color measurements, of Munsell or any other system, could be made most useful, and data for setting a standard were not available. Therefore, one of the first projects supported by the Munsell Research Laboratory at the Bureau of Standards aided in procuring fundamental data. In fact, a considerable part of the data used by Mr. Priest at the 1931 I.C.I. meeting, when a standard observer and standard illuminants were adopted, had been obtained during the course of work partially or wholly supported by the Munsell Research Laboratory.
Little of the work done either at the Bureau of Standards or at the Munsell Research Laboratory in Baltimore has been published, but the following reports of work supported by funds of the Munsell Research Laboratory have been read before the Optical Society (A designates abstract):
I. G. Priest, “Progress on the determination of normal gray light”, (Oct., 1922, Meeting), J. Opt. Soc. Am. and Rev. Sci. Inst. 7, 72A (1923).
I. G. Priest and C. L. Cottrell, “The effect of various conditions upon the determination of the normal stimulus of gray,” (Oct., 1922, Meeting), J. Opt. Soc. Am. and Rev. Sci. Inst. 7, 73A (1923).
I. G. Priest, “The colorimetry and photometry of daylight rotatory dispersion,’’ (Oct., 1922, Meeting), J. Opt. Soc. Am. and Rev. Sci. Inst. 7, 75A (1923); 7, 1175 (1923); Trans. I. E. S. 18, 861 (1928).
I. G. Priest, “Preliminary data on the color of daylight at Washington,” (Oct., 1922, Meeting), J. Opt. Soc. Am. and Rev. Sci. Inst. 7, 78A (1923).
I. G. Priest, “Apparatus for the determination of color in terms of dominant wavelength, purity and brightness,” (Oct., 1923, Meeting), J. Opt. Soc. Am. and Rev. Sci. Inst. 8, 28A (1924); 8, 173 (1924).
Priest, Gibson and Munsell, “A comparison of experimental values of dominant wavelength and purity with their values computed from the spectral distribution of the stimulus,”’ (Oct., 1923, Meeting), J. Opt. Soc. Am. and Rev. Sci. Inst. 8, 28A (1924).
Priest, McNicholas and Frehafer, “Some tests of the precision and reliability of measurements of spectral transmission by the Konig-Martens spectrophotometer,”’ (Oct., 1923, Meeting), J. Opt. Soc. Am. and Rev. Sci. Inst. 8, 30A (1924); 8, 201 (1924).
Munsell, Priest and Gibson, “Specification of color in terms three to four of dominant wavelength, purity and brightness,” (Oct., 1924, Meeting), J. Opt. Soc. Am. and Rev. Sci. Inst. 10, 291A (1925).
I. G. Priest, “Gray skies and white snow,” (Feb., 1925, Meeting), J. Opt. Soc. Am. and Rev. Sci. Inst. 11, 133A (1925); J. Wash. Acad. Sci. 15, 306 (1925).
K. S. Gibson and F. K. Harris, “A spectrophotometric analysis of the Lovibond color system,” (Oct. 1925, Meeting), J. Opt. Soc. Am. and Rev. Sci. Inst. 12, 481A (1926); Sci. Pap. Bur. Stand. 22, 1 (1927-28); S547.
I. G. Priest, “Standard artificial sunlight for colorimetric purposes,’’ (Oct., 1925, Meeting), J. Opt. Soc. Am. and Rev. Sci. Inst. 12, 479A (1926).
A. E. O. Munsell and P. Reeves, “Value sensitivity and value scales,” (Oct., 1925, Meeting), J. Opt. Soc. Am. and Rev. Sci. Inst. 12, 481A (1926).
D. B. Judd, “The computation of colorimetric purity,” (Oct., 1925, Meeting), J. Opt. Soc. Am. and Rev. Sci. Inst. 12, 482A (1926); 13, 133 (1926).
I. G. Priest, “An experiment bearing on the adoption of a standard neutral stimulus in colorimetry: the choice as between ‘sun’ and ‘equal energy’,” (Feb., 1926, Meeting), J. Opt. Soc. Am. and Rev. Sci. Inst. 13, 306A (1926).
I. G. Priest and F. G. Brickwedde, “The minimum per ceptible colorimetric purity as a function of dominant wavelength with sunlight as neutral standard,” (Feb., 1926, Meeting), J. Opt. Soc. Am. and Rev. Sci. Inst. 13, 306A (1926); J. Opt. Soc. Am. 28, 133 (1938).
​I. G. Priest, “Blue sky and white snow, a note on sensation and perception,” (Feb., 1926, Meeting), J. Opt. Soc. Am. and Rev. Sci. Inst. 13, 308A (1926).
I. G. Priest and K. S. Gibson, “Apparatus for the determination of the visibility of energy and the fundamental scales of visual psychophysics,” (Oct., 1926, Meeting), J. Opt. Soc. Am. and Rev. Sci. Inst. 14, 136A (1927).
E. P. T. Tyndall, “Sensibility to wavelength difference as a function of purity,” (Oct., 1926, Meeting), J. Opt. Soc. Am. and Rev. Sci. Inst. 14, 137A (1927); J. Opt. Soc. Am. 23, 15 (1933).
I. G. Priest and D. B. Judd, “Sensibility to wavelength difference and the precision of measurement of dominant wavelength for yellow colors of high saturation,” (Oct., 1926, Meeting), J. Opt. Soc. Am. and Rev. Sci. Inst. 14, 137A (1927).
A. E. O. Munsell and I. H. Godlove, ‘‘White glass photometric standards,”’ (Oct., 1928, Meeting), J. Opt. Soc. Am. and Rev. Sci. Inst. 18, 167A (1929). I. H. Godlove, “Standardization of Munsell colors,” (Feb., 1932, Meeting), J. Opt. Soc. Am. 22, 429A (1932).
I. H. Godlove, “Comparison of Cobb’s and Munsell Research Laboratory’s data on neutral value scales and equations describing them,” (Oct., 1933, Meeting), J. Opt. Soc. Am. 24, 55A (1934).
I. H. Godlove, ‘Color blending computations in psychological terms,” (Oct., 1934, Meeting), J. Opt. Soc. Am. 25, 44A (1935).
As may be seen from the titles, and as might be expected by those who knew Mr. Priest and Mr. Munsell, there was no narrow restriction regarding what might be carried on as Munsell supported investigations. Yet it may be seen that they all point to the development of needed information if the Munsell, or any other, color system were to be critically studied.
Among unpublished reports of Munsell-supported work at the Bureau of Standards are certain letters and reports made to the Munsell Laboratory, or to Mr. Munsell. The following three are the most important of these:
“Report on spectral reflectance of 70 representative colored cards from the Munsell color system,” Bur. Stand. Test No. 46045 (September 14, 1926).
“Derivation of the trilinear coordinates specifying the colors of constant saturation,” letter to Munsell Laboratory (April 13, 1927).
“Data on least perceptible purity, including Priest’s memorandum on ‘Relation between the Munsell chroma scale and the data of Priest and Brickwedde on least perceptible purity,” and notes by Judd on the memorandum, transmitted to Mr. Munsell, (May 9, 1927).
Although the work supported by the Munsell Laboratory at the Bureau of Standards covered a wide field, most of the work in the Baltimore laboratory was aimed more directly toward the collection, under controlled conditions, of sufficient data to enable the Munsell Research Laboratory to specify an improved series of papers to represent, even more adequately than the Atlas papers, a psychologically sound series of equally stepped scales of hue, value, and chroma.
Experiments regarding value were prolonged and three partial reports of this work were later published in this Journal. (10), (11), (12).
Although many experiments were made regarding chroma and hue scales, there is no published material. But there are available, as a result of this work, certain valuable papers made for special experiments: 100 equally stepped hues painted to represent constant value and chroma (at 5/5), 50 hues at maximum chroma, a series of 60-value papers closely stepped from black to white, and certain chroma scales of very small steppings.
It may be of interest, and is important as a matter of record, to note that in addition to those already named as part of the Munsell staff, the following individuals have been employed at one time or another in the scientific work of the Munsell Research Laboratory.
| In Baltimore | At the Bureau of Standards |
| Miriam E. O’Brien (Underhill),1924-25 | Casper L. Cottrell |
| Louise L. Sloan (Rowland), 1925-26 | Irwin G. Priest |
| Geraldine Walker (Haupt), 1925-27 | Deane B. Judd |
| I. H. Godlove, 1926-33 | F. K. Harris |
| Carl Boechner (part time 1925) | F. G. Brickwedde |
| Prentice Reeves (summers of 1925, 1926) | E. P. T. Tyndall |
| Willard L. Valentine (summer of 1926) | W. Greenberg |
In 1927 the investigative work came practically to a stop. Funds had been contributed up to that time, but the contributors felt that by this time some practical use should be made of the data. The research laboratory had obtained the data for a purpose: the company should now use it for this purpose. Therefore, a studied revision of the standard color papers was made, to follow essentially the newly derived scales—a ​revision first suggested by the Priest, Gibson, McNicholas report (8).
The result was the publication in 1929 of a book of charts known as the Munsell Book of Color (13), to distinguish it from the Atlas of the Munsell Color System (3) which it was intended to replace. The work of producing the charts was completed under the direction of Walter M. Scott, service director of the Munsell Color Company, 1928-30. For the Book of Color, F. G. Cooper wrote a foreword and explanation of color which has been reprinted separately as a Manual of Color (14).
Except to those who used Munsell papers for purposes of color measurement, the new papers were not different enough from the old ones to cause any difficulty. In general, teachers liked the form of the new charts (made available in a pocket-size edition as well as the larger 8½×12 charts of the standard edition), and since the charts were used by them for teaching the relation of colors, rather than for matching colors, they were well satisfied.
The Munsell company, particularly during the period of research activity, had developed a certain amount of consulting business, chiefly in relation to the preparation of standard colors, and color scales for specific purposes. Thus there were prepared the Flagg-haemoglobinometer, and meat-grading scales for the Department of Agriculture, both washable, made on a clear celluloid base. The preparation of a color chart for use in advisory work by the Clothing Information Bureau of the Filene Company in Boston is another example. Applications of the Munsell system to the textile industry were made while Dr. Scott was with the company (15). Standards for soap colors, for scales to measure detergent power, to measure smoke deposit—all such problems, and many more, were handled during the 1921-30 period.
Although the trend of thinking in the company during those years was along scientific rather than art educational lines, the actual business of the company (it never has made a profit, nor has it ever employed a salesman) was in supplying art educational materials for teaching the Munsell system. And this field was not entirely neglected by the research activities of the laboratory, for Milton E. Bond, while he was with the company, produced many pieces of illustrative work; Byron G. Culver of the Rochester Art Institute completed the manuscript of a book for teaching color; a summer school session was held under the leadership of Royal B. Farnum and Byron G. Culver in 1926; and Color News was published by the Research Laboratory for three years, 1924-27 (16).
After the publication of the Book of Color in 1929, Mr. Munsell, who felt that the chief object of the laboratory had now been accomplished, began to devote himself to other interests. Thus he withdrew more and more from color activities, until in 1933 a complete break was made of all formal connection with the company. Whenever near enough, he has been available for consultation by whomever has been in charge of the company, for he is still interested in the work although he prefers that it be a side line rather than a lifework.
In 1930 the Munsell Color Company attempted, for a time, to turn over the distribution of supplies to Universal Color Standards, Inc., a Baltimore company formed for that purpose. But the attempt was not successful, and the Munsell company soon resumed the handling of those supplies which they make or publish themselves.
About 1929 a new Munsell universal photometer was developed, and in the early 1930's, during the time that the late Walter T. Spry was manager of the company (1933-1938), new types of school charts were produced (17). Arrangements also were made to handle the sale of the Pfund instruments, thus adding color and paint measuring instruments to the color publications and special charts which previously had been the greater part of the Munsell business.
Since Mr. Spry’s death in 1938, Blanche R. Bellamy has been manager of the company where she is continuing its scientific tradition by sup-​plying assistance and material for use in studies of scientific color interest. She has continued the assistance given by Mr. Spry to the subcommittee of the Colorimetry Committee of this society on the smoothing of the Munsell data. And Mr. Carlson, without whose steady eye and hand it would be hard to imagine a satisfactory supply of all of the regular and special Munsell colors that have been made since 1912, is still painting Munsell colors, although from 1931 to 1939 he was not regularly employed for full time by the company. At the present time, Mrs. J. E. O. Munsell is making provision for the development of special colors which is helping to keep Mr. Carlson with the company. Only Mrs. Bellamy and Mr. Carlson now remain of the earlier group. But the fact should be noted that a large proportion of the others connected at one time or another with the Munsell work are now employed in a wide variety of color activities. Working with the Munsell company never narrowed oneto the confines of a single “system”; rather it encouraged a broad outlook on the entire color field.
Developments Outside Munsell Headquarters
Applications of the Munsell system in scientific work have been made to a greater extent from outside the Munsell laboratories than from within.
In March, 1927, the writer was employed by the United States Department of Agriculture to develop and carry on certain adaptations of the Munsell system for purposes of color measurement that had been started in connection with hay standards and color scales for meat grading. The development of a disk type colorimeter followed, the actual spinning of disks being eliminated by spinning an optical rhomb or wedge in one side of the viewing beam. The first instrument, suggested by one made by Carl W. Keuffel as the answer to an early discussion by Priest, Munsell, and Keuffel as to whether a spinning optical part could be used for mixing colors (18), was developed for the Department of Agriculture through the cooperation of Mr. Keuffel, and a commercial model (19) of this instrument was made and sold by the Keuffel and Esser Company. About the same time an eyepiece for the observation of spinning disks in comparison with a sample such as cotton or hay was developed for work in the Department of Agriculture laboratories by the Bausch and Lomb Optical Company. In 1933 this was followed by the manufacture of a simplified form of disk colorimeter, the Bausch and Lomb HSB Color Analyzer—HSB for 1922 Optical Society terms hue, saturation, and brilliance (20). When this instrument appeared, the Keuffel and Esser Company stopped making the larger type. A revised model of the Bausch and Lomb disk colorimeter is now completed, and it is hoped that the rush of optical work due to the present defense program will not unduly delay its commercial production.
In 1929 the disk method of color measurement, using Munsell disks as secondary standards, was described in a technical bulletin of the U. S. Department of Agriculture (21). Since that time, the method of disk colorimetry, using disks calibrated for measurement of particular products, has spread to many fields of work, sometimes with instruments, sometimes without. Three papers by the writer concerning this method have appeared in the Journal of the Optical Society (19), (22), (23) and other reports concerned with disk colorimetry have been published elsewhere (24). A technical paper to serve as a handbook on disk colorimetry is now in preparation by the Department of Agriculture.
Other developments outside of the Munsell laboratories consist chiefly of the 1935 Glenn Killian data on the Munsell papers (25); the work of a subcommittee of the Colorimetry Committee of this society in reviewing the spacing of the Munsell system (26); measurements by Granville, Nickerson, and Foss of the more than 400 special Munsell papers (in addition to those which appear on the regular charts) (27); a report by Tyler and Hardy at the October, 1939, O.S.A. meeting (28); a report by Nickerson and Granville in the April, 1940, Journal of the Optical Society (29); preparation of I.C.I. values for the ​Bureau of Standards 1926 measurements of Munsell papers (30); the adoption in 1939 of a system of standardized color designations by the Inter-Society Color Council, the limits being defined in terms of the Munsell notation (31); the measurement of a master set of Munsell papers at the National Bureau of Standards; the conversion of the colors of the Maerz and Paul Dictionary of Color, the color standards of The Textile Color Card Association of the United States, Inc., and of other standard color data, into Munsell notation. Certain of this work is already partially or wholly available, certain of it appears in the four reports which follow and the rest will be made available as it becomes ready for publication.
Final
From this review it is hoped that the reader will be able to recognize the vitality of a color system that has grown so much in usefulness since first proposed in the early 1900’s. That we should know in exact detail the various plans of the originator is now more interesting than important. His simple notation for color and the descriptions and charts made available for practical work, not only for teaching and understanding color, but for color measurement and coordination, have been an outstanding contribution to color knowledge. For this contribution the science of colorimetry is truly indebted to Albert H. Munsell, artist and art teacher.
Literature Cited
1. Who’s Who in America (A. N. Marquis & Company, Chicago, Vol. X, 1918-19) and National Cyclopedia of American Biography, Vol. 12, p. 316.
2. A. H. Munsell, A Color Notation (1st edition, 1905; 2nd edition, 1907; 3rd edition, with new preface, 1913; 4th edition, 1916; Geo. H. Ellis Co., Boston): (5th edition, 1919; 6th edition, 1923; 7th edition, 1926; 8th edition, edited and rearranged, 1936; Munsell Color Company).
3. A. H. Munsell, Atlas of the Munsell Color System (Wadsworth-Howland & Company, Malden, Massachusetts, 1915). (Preliminary charts A and B published 1910.)
4. A. H. Munsell, Color Diary. Bibliofilm Document No. 1307 ($2.50) obtainable from the American Documentation Institute, 2101 Constitution Avenue, Washington, D. C.
5. A. H. Munsell, “A new classification of color,” Trans. No. 78, New England Cotton Mfrs. Assn. (1905); “On a scale of color values and a new photometer,” Technology Quarterly (1905); ‘‘A new color system based on photometric measurement,” Eastern Assn. of Physics Teachers (1907); ‘Children’s studies in measured colors,” published by author (1907); “A new color system,’ Proc. Joint Report, Massachusetts Normal Art School (1907); “‘A measured training of the color sense,” Education (1909); “On the relation of the intensity of chromatic stimulus (physical saturation) to chromatic sensation,” Psychol. Bull. 6, 238 (1909); “Color and an eye to discern it,” Eastern Art & Manual Training Teachers Assn. (1912); “A pigment color system,” Psychol. Bull. 9, 68-69A (1912); “A pigment color system and notation,” Am. J. Psychol. 23, 236 (1912); Color Balance, Illustrated, published by author (1913); “A quantitative classification of color,” Archives Internationales de Physiologie, Vol. 14, p. 77 (Abstract of paper given at Groningen, 1913); “An introduction to the Munsell Color System,” from A Grammar of Color (1921)
6. A. H. Munsell, A Grammar of Color (Strathmore Paper Company, Mittineaque, Massachusetts, 1921).
7. T. M. Cleland, A Practical Description of the Munsell Color System (Munsell Color Company, 1921).
8. Priest, Gibson and McNicholas, “An examination of the Munsell Color System,” Bur. Stand. Technologic Paper No. 167 (September, 1920).
9. E. Q. Adams, “A comparison of the Fechner and Munsell scales of luminous sensation value,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. and Rev. Sci. Inst. 6, 9 (1922).
10. A. E. O. Munsell, and I. H. Godlove, “Colorimetry with reflection standards: a quasi-psychological method and data for the interconversion of physical and psychological color specification,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. 24, 267 (1934).
11. Munsell, Sloan and Godlove, “Neutral value scales. I. Munsell neutral value scale,”’ J. Opt. Soc. Am. '23 , 394(1933).
12. I. H. Godlove, “Neutral value scales. II. A comparison of results and equations describing value scales,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. 23, 419 (1933).
13. Munsell Book of Color (Munsell Color Company, standard edition, 1929; pocket-size edition, 1929).
14. F. G. Cooper, Munsell Manual of Color (Munsell Color Company, 1929).
15. Walter M. Scott, “Color specification—physical, physiological and psychological,” Am. Dyestuff Reporter 17, 775 (1928); “Color science applied to textiles”, ibid., 18, 60 (1929); “Practical matching and recording of colors,” Melliand, 1, 265 (1929); “The Munsell system of color specification,” paper presented at the conference on color, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, July 24, 1936. Reprinted in Modern Plastics (Feb. 1937); Rayon Textile Monthly (Dec. 1936); abstracted in Scientific American, p. 241 (Oct. 1936).
​16. Color News (Munsell Color Company, first 4 issues obtainable in Bibliofilm Document No. 1330 (50 cents) from the American Documentation Institute, 2101 Constitution Avenue, Washington, D. C.)
17. Munsell Color Company. Munsell Student Charts (in choice of either 10 or 20 blank charts, with colors provided to be pasted on).
18. C. W. Keuffel, “A trichromatic additive colorimeter,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. 12, 479A (1926).
19. Dorothy Nickerson, ‘‘Colorimeter for use with disk mixture,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. 21, 640 (1931).
20. Bausch & Lomb Optical Company, HSB Color Analyzer, special catalog (1935).
21. Dorothy Nickerson, “Color grading of agricultural products,” U. S. Dept. Agriculture Tech. Bull. 154 (1929).
22. Dorothy Nickerson, “Color measurement in psychological terms,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. 21, 643 (1931).
23. Dorothy Nickerson, “Disk colorimetry; including a comparison of methods for computing tristimulus values for certain disks,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. 25, 253 (1935).
24. J. H. MacGillivray, “Tomato color as related to quality in the tomato canning industry,’ Purdue University, Agricultural Experiment Station, Lafayette, Indiana. Bull. 350 (April, 1931).
    Marion Deyoe Sweetman, “Color of potato chips as influenced by storage temperatures of the tubers and other factors,” Maine Agricultural Experiment Station (October, 1930).
    B. H. Webb, and G. E. Holm, “Color of evaporated milks,” J. Dairy Sci. 13, 25 (Jan. 1930).
    Emily Grewe, “Effect of variation in ingredients on color of chocolate cake,” Cereal Chemistry 7, No. 1, 59 (1929).
    J. G. Hutton, et al. Report of soil color committee. Report of the 2nd Annual Meeting of the American Assn. of Soil Survey workers, Bull. 3 (1922); “Soil colors, their nomenclature and description.” Proc. Pap. 1st Internat. Cong. Soil Sci. Vol. 4, 164-172 (1927); Report of soil color committee. Report of the 7th Meeting of the American Soil Survey Assn., Bull. 8 (1927).
    U. S. Dept. Agriculture, S. R. A., F. D. No. 4, Rev. 2, (1932), superseded by Title 21, paragraphs 5-8, p. 3323-3324, Federal Register, vol. 4, No. 136 (July 18, 1939).
25. J. J. Glenn, and J. T. Killian, “Trichromatic analysis of the Munsell Book of Color,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. 30, 609 (1940).
26. S. M. Newhall, “Preliminary report of the O. S. A. subcommittee on the spacing of the Munsell colors,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. 30, 617 (1940).
27. Granville, Nickerson and Foss, “Measurements of all special Munsell papers,” mimeographed report available from authors (1939).
28. J. E. Tyler and A. C. Hardy, “An analysis of the original Munsell Color System,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. 30, 90A (1940); 30, 587 (1940).
29. Dorothy Nickerson and W. C. Granville, “Hue sensibility to dominant wave-length change and the relation between saturation and colorimetric purity,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. 30, 159 (1940).
30. K. S. Gibson and Dorothy Nickerson, “An analysis of the Munsell Color System based on measurements made in 1919 and 1926,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. 30, 591 (1940).
31. D. B. Judd, and K. L. Kelly, “Method of designating colors,” J. Research Nat. Bur. Stand. 23, 356 (1939).
* ↑ A typewritten copy from the diary in Mr. Munsell's handwriting was made in the early 1920's by the Munsell Color Company. For the most part, charts and graphs were traced so as to represent the originals accurately. In 1939,the Inter-Society Color Council obtained permission of the Munsell Color Company, Mr. A. E. O. Munsell, and Mrs. J. E. O. Munsell (son and wife of A. H. Munsell) to have a bibliofilm record made and deposited with the American Documentation Institute of the typed copy of this diary so that it might be made available to research students. The original diary is contained in six volumes. The typed copy is contained in two volumes of approximately 250 pages each.;
* ↑ These definitions are taken from the 4th edition, published in 1916.
* ↑ Arthur Howland later developed a system based completely on disk mixture, known as the Howland system. It was limited to as few disks as possible, using sector disks of very strong colors spun against a hole in a black box which provided his black. Mr. Howland’s Color Mixer was patented, and he was always on a search for new and stronger colors for his 4 to 7 standards that were used with a series of white sectors.
* ↑ See Asterisk footnote, page 577.
* ↑ This maybe a misprint, 612 is very orange whereas 642 is dead on for a red. (Wikisource contributor note)
* ↑ His family, who supported the laboratory for this purpose, considered this “a goal consistently striven for by Mr. Munsell.”
* ↑ All measured by Granville, Nickerson and Foss, reference 27.
* ↑ Publication of this manuscript was never made by the Munsell company, but a handbook based upon the Munsell system arranged by Mr. Culver on the same basic material was used for many years in his classes on color theory at the Department of Applied Art of the Rochester Athenæum and Mechanics Institute. (Mr. Bond now teaches the courses on color theory, using his own unpublished material, including a large number of effective teaching charts.) From Mr. Culver, now supervisor of the Institute’s newly established Department of Publishing and Printing, we understand that, in connection with the work on printing, a new handbook on color is about ready for publication.
* ↑ Members of the Optical Society might have been amused could they have been with W. B. Rayton and the writer in 1927 on a trip in downtown Rochester to find a hay dealer with enough hay in stock to demonstrate whether the idea of obtaining the average color of a hay sample by a series of out-of-focus lenses would work!