Scope and Contents

The Elmer Gates Papers contain documents about Gates's scientific pursuits and his personal life. Included are six series: Personal Papers (1879, 1922, 1981-1988), Correspondence (1894-1924, 1970s), Photographs (1890s-1910), Patents (1896-1928), Articles and Clippings (1894-1910, 1923, undated), and Writings, 1893-1916, 1971, undated. The majority of papers date from Elmer Gates's most active period, 1894-1910. The papers are arranged into six series.

Arrangement

This collection is divided into six series.

Subseries 1, United States Patents (issued), 1896-1928

Subseries 2, United States Patent Applications, 1896

Subseries 3, British Patent, 1901

Subseries 1, Articles by Elmer Gates, 1895-1906, undated

Subseries 2, Notes, 1911

Subseries 3, Diary, 1911

Subseries 4, The Concept of Omnicosm (notes), 1893

Subseries 5, "Originality and Invention Applied to Livelihood and Business," 1981

Subseries 6, Periodicals, 1896, 1903

Subseries 7, Books, 1905-1916, 1971, undated

Biographical / Historical

Elmer Gates (1859-1923) was an experimental psychologist and inventor active at the turn of the twentieth century. Having worked independently from a personal laboratory, Gates remains a largely obscure figure in the history of science. In his day, however, Gates was known for his original ideas linked to experimental psychology, as well as his numerous and eclectic inventions for which he received more than forty patents. A sampling of Gates's inventions and innovations include a foam fire-extinguisher, an improved electric iron, methods for magnetic separation, and educational toys. In the field of psychology, Gates promoted a concept that he termed psychurgy, or the "art of more efficiently using the mind."1

Elmer Gates was born near Dayton, Ohio, in 1859, to Jacob and Phebe Gates. At an early age, Elmer displayed a marked curiosity for the sciences. While in school, he was also taught by private tutors and his parents (his father was a teacher). By the late 1870s, Elmer had begun to develop ideas about experimental psychology. He believed that scientific experiments should be applied to the processes of the mind. The purpose of "psychurgy" would be to use the mind more effectively and efficiently. By training the mind through intense introspection and concentration and by attempting to observe corresponding physiological phenomena in the brain, Gates sought to demonstrate that the mind is in effect the body, and vice-versa. The ultimate aim—philosophical and moral—was to harness the mind's potential in order to advance new ideas and to improve emotional well-being and personal character.

1 Gates, Elmer. "Can Will Power Be Trained?" Success (March 1900): 93.