Unheralded Women Hold Key Jobs in University, Account for Smooth-Functioning Administration

From maids to file clerks, from the dining hall checkers to Dean's office secretaries, women play an integral but unheralded part in University affairs. Harvard's unsung heroines fill the countless jobs without which the University could not function but "most students almost never become aware of them ... in the work they do and in their existence as people," says John U. Munro '34, Assistant to the Provost. "I think that the most important and least appreciated element of the University are the women who go on planning and putting these things together day by day. They are some of the most devoted and effective people at Harvard."

Personnel office figures show that of the 4217 University employees with non-corporation appointments last January, over 2300 were women. In the University Administration and business offices there are 167 female employees out of a total of 219, 84 out of 36 in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and a total of 723 in the Graduate School. On an overall basis, women hold their jobs longer than men. At present there are one hundred and forty women who have held University positions for over twenty-five years.

Top-Flight Positions

The University has a number of top fight positions with good pay held by women. "We've got some wonderful career women at Harvard," says Nicholas F. Wessell, Associate Director of Personnel. "They are the key to what goes on in the University."

One of them, Mrs Allce Beicher, secretary to David M. Little, Secretary to the University, has been here since the Tercentenary. She makes all the arrangements for taking care of Foreign visitors to the University. During this month alone, she has received eight Japanese educators, a secretary of the British Ministry of Education, the Philippine delegate to the UN, and a retired French admiral. She speaks eight languages fluently.

Most students don't realize that the smooth-running service in the dining halls served by the central kitchen is due to one person, Mrs. Florence Preble. Gray-haired, twinkling-eyed Mrs. Preble has been chief supervisor for the College Dining Halls ever since the House System started.

"Except for illness I've never missed a meal since Mr. Lowell was alive." She loves her work, especially running the Society of Fellows Dining Hall, which is her "baby."

The President's Secretary

One of the important secretarial jobs at Harvard belongs to Miss Virginia Proctor. As President Conant's secretary, she make all his appointments, types his speeches, keeps a schedule calendar three months in advance, and handles between fifty and a hundred letters every day. She has been on President Conant's staff for the past five years.

"One day someone called up to ask how much the average-sized hippopotamus weighed," says Mrs. Beatrice Pitcher, head of the Information Office. And this is only one of the strange requests she gets. Other questioners want answers to newspaper contests, types of rocks, and bugs.

Unaddressed Mail

Her office has copies of all the records of the University, faculty, students, and personnel; one of her biggest headaches is handling the five-to-seven hundred pieces of mail that come to her each day un-addressed.

Miss Clara R. Ludwig, executive secretary of the Commission on admissions, handles all Admissions Office correspondence, works over incomplete applications, and sets up schedules for Admissions Committee meetings. Part of her work is talking to prospective applicants.

In the Student Employment Office, Mrs. Gladys M. Fales not only handles the Student Porter system, dining hall, clerical, and typing employment, but also solicits jobs for students from the libraries and other departments of the University.

"You get such a wonderful feeling of accomplishment when you put a boy who wants to work in a job comparable to his skill," she says.

As secretary to Provost Buck, Miss Verna C. Johnson supervises the work of the office and acts as a liaison between the Provost and the departments for Mr. makes all the arrangements for Mr. Buck's schedule and supervises the records of corporation actions and faculty appointments.

Every students sees Mrs. Marian Prindle at least three times a year. She checks all the study cards and handles the four-to-five hundred changes in courses and concentration that come through every fall. Mrs. Preble also keeps complete statistics on students in every field for the President's reports.

Keeping Down Red Tape

"I try to keep the red tape down in this office," says Mrs. Martha P. Robinson of the History-Government-Economics tutorial board, "but a lot of the boys don't think I do." This department handles 1/2 of the College enrollment; Mrs. Robinson contends "you can't help having forms with our numbers." During the fall she assigns advisees, makes up lists of tutors, and organizes Government 1 and Economics 1.

Mrs. Mabel Baker takes care of over two thousand Harvard Wives, finding them jobs, getting them housing accommodations, and answering questions like "What is the most economical way to have a baby?"

In the Comptroller's office, Miss Mabel Spear and Miss Louise Schlesinger, both long-term employees, are in charge of two of the most important aspects of the University. Miss Spear does all the work on the hundreds of student loans; Miss Schlesinger handles the room contracts for the College and the Law School.

Blank Checks

"Once the Veterans' Administration made a mistake with its check-writing machine, and all the amounts were left blank," relates Miss Margaret Witt of the Counselor For Veterans Office, "and a horde of students swooped down to find out what was wrong." She routinely set the eager students right as part of her job as a liaison between the Veterans Administration, the departments of the University and the some 1300 University veterans.

The one person who knows all these women well is Miss Carolyn Thanisch, Assistant Director of Personnel. She has been in the personnel office for ten years and is in charge of interviewing all applicants for jobs in the University. Her office sees about fifty to sixty people a day, and it screened over 1000 after the Labor Day weekend.

She, here-self, is a dynamic person who is well aware of the role women play on the University scene. She says, "Certainly the University is very lucky to have the women it does."