TYPED LETTER SIGNED BY AMERICAN EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGIST JOSEPH JASTROW.

Jastrow writes at length to James B. Pond of the Pond Lecture Bureau in New York City, explaining that his post at the University of Wisconsin, Madison limits the number of lectures he can give, and asking if a limited lecture schedule would earn him enough to make the time and travel worth his while. "During the time that there was such a strong interest in questions of spirit belief, I was receiving from seventy five to one hundred dollars for these special lectures. I find that in most cases the fees have been about fifty or sixty dollars, and as I have already indicated for some of the briefer talks, somewhat less...."

Joseph Jastrow [1863-1944] was a Polish-born American psychologist noted for inventions in experimental psychology, design of experiments and psychophysics. He also worked on the phenomena of optical illusions and discovered or popularized a number of well-known illusions. He was a founding member of the American Society for Psychical Research for study of the "mesmeric, psychical and spiritual". By 1890 he had resigned from the society and became an outspoken critic of parapsychology. His book "Fact and Fable in Psychology' [1900] debunked claims of occultism, including Spiritualism, Theosophy and Christian Science. One of his goals was to use the the scientific method to separate truth from error and to educate the layperson, which he did through speaking tours, popular print media and radio.