Visiting Prof. Enters University Annals

Professor of History Jean Harvey Baker took the podium yesterday, and with that move she became something of a pioneer.

"Harvard, in its 350-year history has never had a woman teach at the full-professorial rank in American history," said Warren Professor of American History David H. Donald, who introduced her as such at the beginning of the course he co-teaches with Baker, History 1653, "The American Civil War and Reconstruction Era."

Typically, an invitation to visit as a full professor carries an implied offer of a permanent post in the future. But Baker said that this spring she removed herself from consideration for a tenured post because she did not want to leave her current position at Goucher College. She is the author of the recently published "Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biographpy," and will be returning to the Baltimore-area school next semester.

But what would otherwise simply be an important footnote in Harvard history has taken on greater significance to some in light of two recent trends in the Harvard History department: the departure of a number of women faculty members, and the paucity of senior level appointees of the department's American wing.

The American wing, which is conducting a search for a senior level post, last hired a tenured faculty member in 1980.

This year, two women assistant professors--Judith G. Coffin and Paula A. Sanders--resigned their professorships in European history to accept other offers.

Last winter, Assistant Professor Catherine Clinton '73, an expert on Southern American women's history, was denied a promotion to the associate professor level.