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Selected Digital Historical Resources



  1. Something of the Course, 1958

    "This one year course has changed our lives and our attitudes—our attitudes toward ourselves and toward the world and our place in it."

    This film, produced by the Harvard-Radcliffe Program in Business Administration, Radcliffe College documents the likely experiences of new program students through the eyes of one potential candidate, Nancy Reinert. The film records Nancy's introduction to the HRPBA program from a meeting with the program director to the classroom experience to an informal group discussion of a case study. The project also details the social life of a student, including dormitory life, homework, and a conversation over dinner about marriage. The film concludes with the admissions committee reviewing the candidate strengths and weaknesses and Nancy learning of her acceptance into the program.

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  2. [Harvard-Radcliffe Program in Business Administration]. Radcliffe College Training Course in Personnel Administration. Catalogue, 1940-1941. Cambridge, Mass: Radcliffe College. [1941].

    Full text available as a networked resource

    This catalogue describes the academic program as a combination of sound education, an understanding of human relationships through analytical study of behavior, and practical experience through courses from the Harvard University Summer School and the Radcliffe College Graduate School, special seminars, and fieldwork. In addition to a partial list of course offerings, information is also given on admission requirements, tuition, fellowships, registration, and living arrangements.

  3. Winifred Redden Quick. “Graduate Training in Personnel Administration,” Personnel Journal, vol. 16, no. 9, March 1938.

    Full text available as a networked resource (valid Harvard ID required).

    While still a student, Winifred Quick, a member of the first class to attend the Radcliffe College Training Course in Personnel Administration, wrote this article describing the backgrounds of her four classmates, listing her professors, and explaining the curriculum and fieldwork in detail. She concludes that the program has made her “infinitely better qualified to apply the proper principles of personnel administration.”

  4. Frances M. Fuller and Mary B. Batchelder. Opportunities for Women at the Administrative Level. Reprinted from Harvard Business Review vol. 31, no. 1, January-February 1953.

    Full text available as a networked resource

    This article, printed in Harvard Business Review (January-February, 1953), summarizes the findings of the study conducted by Frances M. Fuller and Mary B. Batchelder for the Harvard Business School Division of Research on behalf of the committee studying the Radcliffe Management Training Program. The study focused on the level of demand for women in administrative positions as well as an appraisal of the role for educational institutions in training women to take those positions. Topics explored include: the expanding roles of women in the workplace, jobs currently held and potential openings, barriers women face - including pay differentials and common preconceptions such as “women are more emotional than men” - as well as an evaluation of training given to women.

  5. Frances M. Fuller and Mary B. Batchelder. A Report on Job Opportunities for Women at the Administrative Level of Organization. [Boston: Harvard University, Graduate School of Business Administration, Division of Research], 1952.

    Full text available as a networked resource

    At the request of the Radcliffe Committee on the Management Training Program, the Harvard Business School Division of Research’s Frances M. Fuller and Mary B. Batchelder conducted this study to explore the demands in business and non-business enterprises for women trained to take administrative responsibilities. The study was also meant to examine the role of educational institutions such as Radcliffe in business education. Described as a “market analysis,” the six month study interviewed 175 people in 95 different organizations, seeking facts and opinions from women in industry and commerce in positions of responsibility, employers who offered opportunities for women, and graduates of the Radcliffe Management Training Program. The question of opening the Harvard M.B.A. program to women was also discussed with executives.

  6. [Harvard-Radcliffe Program in Business Administration]. Is Graduate Training in Business Worthwhile? A Job Study of Graduates of the Harvard-Radcliffe Program in Business Administration, 1928-1958. [Cambridge, Mass.]: ca. 1956.

    Full text available as a networked resource

    Posing the “troublesome” question facing many young women of the time—will graduate study in business be worth the time, money, and effort? – this article examines the experiences of the 664 graduates of the Harvard-Radcliffe Program in Business Administration. The definition of “worthwhile” is discussed, and charts and tables analyze the employment trends of recent graduates, the number of graduates employed by class, and the relationship between employment and marital status. Non-job principles learned in the program are considered, including experience in working with others, training in analysis and decision making, use and interpretation of figures, broader knowledge of the problems of administration, understanding of personal finance, and the ability to adjust to new situations. The answer to the posed question is “yes”, particularly if an applicant emphasizes values which are not task specific.

  7. Radcliffe College. Committee on the Management Training Program. Report of the Radcliffe College Committee on the Management Training Program. [Cambridge, Mass.]: The College, 1952.

    Full text available as a networked resource

    This June 1, 1952 report evaluates the fifteen year Management Training Program “experiment” of Radcliffe College after enrollment dropped to twenty seven students, the deficit increased, and a review of “the whole curriculum, the philosophy, and the administration of the course” was necessary. The report summarizes a study to determine the demand for a Management Training Program for women, evaluate the present program, and make recommendations for the future after meeting with program graduates’ employers and alumnae. The program’s administrative, organizational, and financial structures were also examined, and a tentative budget proposed. Determining that the current name was too “narrowly vocational” and did not “give the idea of broad educational goals,” the committee recommended changing the program name to “The Radcliffe School of Business Administration.” The report concludes that this program did indeed belong at Radcliffe, but not at the Harvard Business School “at this time.”

  8. Dana Wechsler Linden, “The Class of ’65,” Forbes, vol. 154, no. 1, July 4, 1994.

    Full text available as a networked resource (valid Harvard ID required).

    In its July 1994 cover story, Forbes magazine followed up with the first eight women to attend both years of the Harvard Business School MBA program during a time of transition when opportunities for women were limited. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Forbes discovered that while only a few followed a traditional career path, all used their MBA skills in many alternative ways: volunteering, working part time, becoming self-employed consultants, or pursuing a PhD. The article ends with musing about a new generation of business-minded women. “So the barriers have mostly fallen, but that doesn’t mean that the choices facing women have become easier.”

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