APA Psychological Test Collection

The administration of the Stanford-Binet Test. Sourced from Tyler, Leona E. "Tests and Measurements" New Jersey: Prentice Hall (1963), pg. 43., Figure 10 (City College of New York Educational Clinic).

The APA Psychological Test Collection was established in 1998, soon after Wade Pickren arrived to become Director of Archives. As APA members inquired about donating their book collections to the APA Classics Library, some of them also inquired about donating their collections of tests. Since then, numerous tests have been received, providing documentation about one of the most important historical roles of American psychologists: psychological assessment.

The collection spans nearly the whole spectrum of psychological tests that have been developed and used in the United States. There are important early examples of intelligence tests:

• Wechsler-Bellevue
• Pintner Primary Mental Test
• 1937 Terman-Merrill Revision of the Stanford-Binet
• Detroit Beginning First Grade Intelligence Test
• Arthur Point Scale of Performance
• Peabody Individual Achievement Test

and the various editions of the Wechsler Scales for adults and children.

Personality tests are also well-represented:

• Healy Picture Completion I and II
• Rorschach Projective Technique
• Thematic Apperception Test
• Blacky Pictures
• Szondi Test
• House-Tree-Person
• Lowenfeld Mosaic
• the Hand Test

and several other more obscure tests.

Tests of Vocation and Business are also included: Strong's Vocational Interest Blank (1938) and the Occupational Interest Inventory. Tests of aphasia, motor skills, and various other psychological or behavioral abilities are also included, as are manuals for administration and scoring.

This is an important collection of psychological testing materials, and we work to preserve it and to make it available to qualified scholars and researchers. As a result we can more fully understand this critical aspect of the history of American psychology.