Scope and Contents
Materials in the collection range in date from 1946 to 1972, but the bulk of the materials were created between 1951 and 1967. The largest component of the collection consists of Professor Glover’s interview notes and other background materials compiled in the course of research on problems of corporations and executive decision making, some of which was used in the preparation of HBS cases. These materials have detailed observations of and comments about companies and the individuals working at them. Candid remarks made by executives, foremen, secretaries, blue collar workers, and others about operations and individuals are included. As such, they are a valuable resource for information about the strategies used by large businesses in the middle years of the 20th century, and about problems and attempts to solve them in the corporate world. The drug production, hotel, insurance, and manufacturing industries are well represented among the documents currently available for research.
Another significant component of the collection pertains to the activities of Management Education Associates, Inc., a Cambridge-based consulting firm, of which Glover was a member, in helping the government of Tunisia establish an educational program in cooperation with the U.S. State Department’s Agency for International Development. The bulk of this effort related to the activities of the Center for Advanced Management Studies and Education of Tunisia (CAMSED).
Professor Glover’s writings and speeches are also in the collection, including case studies of high level administration, discussion of decision making, and reflections on human motivation and its relationship to business administration. Also included is Glover’s Ph.D. dissertation (Harvard, 1948) on public financing for private businesses. The collection also includes interviews and reports prepared by Glover as part of a study of the success of HBS’s Advanced Management Program, as well as memos discussing other HBS policies and programs. A small quantity of teaching materials are also present as well as embossed personalized bound volumes of Glover's work and achievements, including cases written by Glover, awards including the Distinguished Service and Alumni Achievement Awards, Glover's Honors Theses, manuals, and final reports for Congress and various clients.
Dates
- Creation: 1946-1972
Creator
- Glover, John Desmond (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research. Materials stored offsite; access requires advance notice. Contact specialcollectionsref@hbs.edu for more information. HBS Archives collections require a secondary registration form, please contact specialcollectionsref@hbs.edu for more information.
Extent
11.25 linear feet (9 cartons, 10 boxes)Biographical / Historical
John Desmond Glover was born in Brisbane, Australia, in 1915 and died in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1981. He received a Ph.B. (Bachelor of Philosophy) from Brown University in 1936, a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration (HBS) in 1939, a Master of Arts from Harvard University in 1943, and a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1948. He worked as a research assistant and executive for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce from 1937-1939, helped conduct the Army Air Forces Statistical School (AAFSS) at HBS during World War II, and was a consultant to the Air Force on the effects of allied bombing in Europe in 1945. He was an instructor and tutor in economics at Harvard from 1939-1942; a research assistant in statistics at HBS from 1942-1943; Assistant Professor at HBS from 1943-1949; Associate Professor at HBS from 1949-1954; and full professor from 1954-1957, also at HBS, occupying the Lovett-Learned Chair after 1969. He was Chairman of the Business, Government, and Society area in 1968; of the Advanced Management Program, 1961-1963; and of the Environmental Analysis and Corporate Planning special field. His teaching activities included instruction in Administrative Practices; Business Policy; and Planning and the Business Environment at HBS. He also taught Advanced Management Seminars at Tel-Aviv University from 1965-1968. He chaired the Symposium on Corporations and the Future at Rotterdam in 1965, and was the Director and Chairman of the Board of Cambridge Research Institute, Inc., (a consulting firm) after 1977.
Professor Glover’s special field was Environmental Analysis and Corporate Planning. He was an expert on problems of top management in business and government organizations. The concept of “management information systems” (commonly applied to the administration of large corporations and military and governmental bodies) was an outgrowth of his work with the AAFSS at HBS during World War II.
Arrangement
There are 4 series in the collection: Course notes; Management Education Associates, Tunisian Project; Writings and speeches; and Writings: interview and field notes from corporations.
Physical Location
ARCFA
Processing Information
Processed: November 1996 By: Jeff Mifflin. Addition processd October 2018 by Mary Samouelian.
- Title
- Glover, John Desmond. John D. Glover Papers, 1946-1972: A Finding Aid
- Author
- Baker Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- bak00620
Repository Details
Part of the Baker Library Special Collections and Archives, Harvard Business School Repository
Baker Library Special Collections and Archives holds unique resources that focus on the evolution of business and industry, as well as the records of the Harvard Business School, documenting the institution's development over the last century. These rich and varied collections support research in a diverse range of fields such as business, economic, social and cultural history as well as the history of science and technology.
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