Walter Van Dyke Bingham Papers

Walter Van Dyke Bingham (1880-1952) pioneered in psychological research at Carnegie Institute of Technology during the early decades of the twentieth century. Born in Swan Lake City, Iowa, Bingham graduated from Beloit College in 1901. He received a Masters degree in 1907 from Harvard and doctorates from both Harvard, and the University of Chicago the next year. Bingham began working at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1915 as founder and director of the Division of Applied Psychology. The Division was responsible for entrance testing and vocational guidance, as well as providing courses in psychology and education. Bingham recognized that the business community had similar needs that the Division could address, from standard methods of personnel selection to research and training in several vocationally oriented fields.

During World War I, the U.S. Army requested the assistance of Bingham and other psychologists involved in vocational education and research on intelligence testing. These psychologists worked for the War Department as the Committee for Classification of Personnel in the Army, of which Bingham was executive secretary. The Committee developed and revised a series of tests to determine rank and assignment for enlisted men and recruits. These intelligence and personality tests are forerunners of the familiar Scholastic Aptitude Tests. Having served the army as a psychologist in the first World War, Dr. Bingham was recalled by the War Department when World War II broke out to serve on the Army's National Research Council on Classification of Military Personnel. At the same time he served the Adjutant General's office as chief psychologist.

The testing methods developed during World War I were also adapted for use in business by the Division of Applied Psychology. The schools and bureaus worked with business leaders to determine the ideal traits for workers and managers, leading to standardization of retail training and testing methods used by personnel departments. This research reflected the growing support for the field of industrial psychology. Bingham's interest in industrial psychology continued after his departure from Carnegie Institute in 1924 and in his directorship of the Personnel Research Federation in New York City.

From 1946 to 1948, Bingham was chairman of the Council of Advisers to the Director of Personnel and Administration of the Army's General Staff. Since 1949, he had served the Secretary of Defense as a consultant on personnel policies. Dr. Bingham was past president of the American Association of Applied Psychology and past secretary of the American Psychological Association.