Among the social sciences, guidance is relatively young, having evolved out of the American social experience with its concern for the welfare of the individual. As an independent discipline, guidance is about seventy years old. However, the foundations for guidance are imbedded in the nation's historical past. Beginning with seventeenth-century New Englanders, who stressed religious and economic reasoning, a systematic approach to occupational selection began. By the close of the colonial period, the precedent of freedom of choice of vocation and educational opportunity was well established.

This research provides a historical account of the American Personnel and Guidance Association and provides a continuation of McDaniels’ 1964 study of the Association’s first eleven years. The purpose of this study is to describe the major years of diversification and redefinition within the Association between April 1963 and July 1983. The foci of this research consist of the major trends and issues throughout the period under study and include: membership trends, governance/leadership, professional issues, legislative activities, and Associational responses to societal issues. Data for this study comes directly from Association archival records of meetings, reports, documents, and Association correspondences and interviews with Association employees and leaders. Information is collected, synthesized and presented in a straight forward manner. The process involves organization of information followed by narration of explanations and conclusions. Data is organized chronologically. Recently renamed the American Counseling Association in July 1992, the Association remains the major national professional organization for counselors in the United States. This historical account incorporates fragmented information into one document so that a more accurate picture of the development of the Association and its role in relation to the counseling profession will be preserved. / Ed. D.