Company A: Br, 1962

The John H. Cornehlsen Papers consists of three series: Psychological Profiles, Sample Tests, and Office Files. The psychological profiles are two-thirds of the collection, consisting of over 2,000 profiles of middle managers done by Dr. Cornehlsen for several major corporations to aid in hiring or promotion decisions. Also included are psychological profiles done for individuals wanting to position themselves better in the job market. They usually consist of handwritten interview notes, a type assessment of the individual's psychological profile, and a battery of personality and cognitive tests. Typically the battery of tests includes: a personality inventory, a temperament survey, a study of values, an interest profile, and Dr. Cornehlsen's own sentence completion test. Depending on the profile, other tests may be included, while some of the aforementioned may be absent. The profiles are grouped by company then alphabetically within the company by last name. The tests done for individuals themselves are arranged separately in alphabetical order by last name. For reasons of privacy the folder titles do not include either the name of the company the profile was done for, or the name of the individual profiled. Most of these profiles were done in the late 1950s and early 1960s, with most of the individuals being men in their 40s and 50s.

The second series, Sample Tests, consists of blank samples for over 250 different tests. Not all samples included are complete, some consist only of the manual of directions or only of the blank question form. The samples are arranged alphabetically by title or by publisher, then title, where appropriate. The tests included in this sample set are designed to measure intelligence, cognitive ability, personality, personal preferences, language ability, math ability, sales ability, clerical ability, judgment, employee attitude, vocational interest, art and music appreciation, and many other aspects of a person's psychological/personality makeup.

The third series, Office Files, consists of files pertaining to Dr. Cornehlsen's work as a consulting psychologist or psychology professor. This includes memos, correspondence, and other files from Mahler and Associates; correspondence, reports, resumes, and other files from Richardson, Bellows, Henry, and Company; correspondence, notes, and other material for creating and updating a "Career Guidance" pamphlet for the New York Life Insurance Company; and correspondence from Cornehlsen and Associates. There is also material from several courses Dr. Cornehlsen taught, mostly at C. W. Post College. The course files consist of notes, syllabi, bibliographies, exams, and course evaluation forms filled out by students. A few article reprints, mostly concerning executive training and evaluation are also a part of this section, as are a few folders of Dr. Cornehlsen's personal correspondence and papers.