The identification of talent, and the understanding of its development and origins in terms of biographical data were investigated. The three central objectives were: to construct separate empirical procedures for Anglos and Blacks to predict certain academic performance criteria; to construct an empirical scoring procedure that could predict estimated family income in order to provide information about the socio-economic and biographical correlates of such data; and finally, to conduct a separate analysis on the five most integrated schools in the sample to examine the interrelationships of the measures in this selected sample. The paper surveys the literature, discusses the procedure used to construct the Biographical Inventory (BI), presents reliability and validity data on the instrument, analyzes various aspects of the sample, and discusses the differential measures of some biographical corrleates of family income as indicated in the sample by the BI. The BI keys constructed were found to be substantially more valid in predicting academic performance and college attendance than IQ, College Boards or other non-biographical predictors. Keys built on Blacks were as valid for Anglos as keys constructed on Anglos. Blacks were equal or slightly superior to Anglos in academic performance and creativity when the family income variable was controlled; and Blacks scored significantly lower on intellectual tests even when the effects of family income were controlled. Statistical data and a bibliography are included. (AE)