A technique is presented for the direct measurement of the cross‐correlation function of two mechanical quantities—at least one of which is measured with a passive‐type transducer. The technique obtains measurements of the cross‐correlation function without the sophisticated instrumentation normally utilized. Except for a suitable time delay unit, the necessary instrumentation is found in even the most basically equipped research laboratory. The paper describes the theoretical basis for the technique and discusses data resulting from application to measurement of the cross‐correlation of the motion at two points on a slender beam. The beam is driven by sinusoidal and by bandlimited random excitation. Additional applications such as measurement of the cross‐correlation between a sound field and the motion of an interacting structure are presented.