Records of the Radcliffe College Office of the Graduate Dean, 1879-1971
Overview
Records of the Office of the Graduate Dean at Radcliffe College document the administration of the graduate programs at the college.
Dates
- Creation: 1879-1971
Language of Materials
Materials in English.
Access Restrictions:
Access. Records are closed for 50 years from the date of creation except with the permission of the Dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Student records are closed for 80 years from the time of separation. Records must be screened by archivist before research use. Appointment may be required. Series IV, 16v., is closed for 80 years from the date of the student's separation from Radcliffe College.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright. Copyright in the records created by the Radcliffe College Office of the Graduate Dean is held by the President and Fellows of Harvard College for the Schlesinger Library. Copyright in other papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns.
Copying. Records may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.
Extent
13.89 linear feet (30 file boxes, 1 folio+ box)Office files of the Graduate Dean's Office were received ca.1968. Although Radcliffe included graduates among its student body from the time of its foundation in 1879, the office of Dean of Graduates was not created until 1934. Bernice Brown Cronkhite was Dean from 1934-1960 and Wilma Kerby-Miller, Dean from 1960-1963. The Radcliffe Graduate School closed as a separate admitting and degree granting institution in 1962. Dean Kerby-Miller maintained the Graduate Dean's Office at Radcliffe until 1963 and continued, as Radcliffe Dean for Graduate and Professional Women Students in Harvard University, to counsel and advise women graduates from 1963-1967.
Records of the office of the Graduate Dean represent the working papers of that office from 1934-1968. They consist of correspondence with graduates and departments, information on financial aid offered to graduate students in the form of fellowships, scholarships and loans; graduate housing (including the Cronkhite Graduate Center), discussion of the reasons for the merger of the Radcliffe and Harvard graduate schools in 1962. Individual student folders to 1962 have been interfiled with those of undergraduates in RG XXI. Folders on graduate students from 1963 are found in the records of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Ph.D. theses prior to 1962 have been removed to Harvard University archives.
HISTORY
Radcliffe College's Office of the Dean, established in 1894, was responsible for undergraduate and graduate academic and extracurricular life. In 1934 a separate Office of the Graduate Dean was created. Bernice Brown Cronkhite was Dean from 1934 to 1960 and Wilma Kerby-Miller was Dean from 1960 to 1963. The Radcliffe Graduate School closed as a separate admitting and degree granting institution in 1962. Dean Kerby-Miller maintained the Office of the Graduate Dean at Radcliffe until 1963 and continued, as Radcliffe Dean for Graduate and Professional Women Students at Harvard University, to counsel and advise women graduates from 1963 to 1967.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in four series:
- Series 1. Card file on graduate students arranged by college of origin, 1879-1962. 1 card file box.
- Series 2. Office files, arranged alphabetically by subject, 1934-1968. 23 file boxes.
- Series 3. Card file on Ph.Ds, arranged alphabetically by name of student 1902-1962. 1 card file box.
- Series 4. Office files of Wilma Kerby-Miller, Dean of Radcliffe Graduates, 1959-1963 and Dean of Harvard Graduate Women, 1963-1967, 1959-1971. Some files restricted. See inventory. 5 file boxes.
Physical Location
Collection stored off site: researchers must request access 36 hours before use.
Processing Information
Processed: December 1979, January 1991
By: Jane S. Knowles
Subject
- Cronkhite, Bernice Brown, 1893-1983 (Person)
- Keller, Helen, 1880-1968 (Person)
- Harvard University--Graduate students (Organization)
- Title
- Radcliffe College. Office of the Graduate Dean. Records of the Radcliffe College Office of the Graduate Dean, 1879-1971: A Finding Aid
- Author
- Radcliffe College Archives, Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- sch01127
Repository Details
Part of the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute Repository
The preeminent research library on the history of women in the United States, the Schlesinger Library documents women's lives from the past and present for the future. In addition to its traditional strengths in the history of feminisms, women’s health, and women’s activism, the Schlesinger collections document the intersectional workings of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class in American history.