Radcliffe College

Vocational short courses and institutes were initiated by the Radcliffe Appointment Bureau to train students for careers after graduation. Among these courses were: the Institute on Historical and Archival Management, 1954-1960; Communications for the Volunteer, 1965-1968; Summer Secretarial Course, 1935-1955, and the Radcliffe Publishing Course (formerly Publishing Procedures Course), 1947-, which continues to offer a six-week summer course in publishing.

In 1946-1947, Radcliffe College carried out a survey of the income and occupations of parents of Radcliffe undergraduates. In 1948 Harvard carried out a similar study of Harvard undergraduates (class of 1951) and Harvard and Radcliffe graduate students.

The Radcliffe Publishing Course was initiated in 1947 to provide a six-week summer course in publishing for college graduates. The course has had five directors: Helen Everitt (1947-1952), Dudley Meek (1952-1954), Helen Venn (1954-1980), Frank Collins (1980-1988), and Lindy Hess (1988-). Helen Venn also taught the Franklin Book Program Seminar (1965), Communications for the Volunteer at Radcliffe College (1965-1968), and the Brazilian Seminar (1967-1969) for U.S. Agency for International Development. Venn was honored for her contributions to publishing, received the Dwiggins award (1978) and was inducted into the Publishing Hall of Fame (1984). She died in 1988.

The Radcliffe Publishing Course (earlier the Publishing Procedures Course) was founded by Edith Gratia Stedman in 1947 to provide hands-on training in publishing for Radcliffe graduates. The first director Helen Everitt, literary agent and writer, with extensive contacts in publishing, brought her friends and colleagues to teach. The course became co-ed in 1949 and was directed by Dudley Meek, from 1952 to 1954. Helen (Doyle) Venn who had worked at Conde Nast publications and was assistant to the director 1947-54, was director from 1954 until 1980. The course was administered by Radcliffe College except for the period from 1971 to 1975 when it was administered by the Harvard Summer School. Venn's successor Frank Collins directed the course from 1980 until 1988, and Lindy Hess was appointed director in 1988. In Jyuly 2000, the course was moved to Columbia University.

Venn was active in the publishing world: she taught the Franklin Book Program Seminar for publishers from developing countries (1965), led the Radcliffe seminar "Communications for the Volunteer (1965-68) in which volunteers learned how to conduct meetings, plan publicity and promotion, speak in public, and fund raise, and the Brazilian Seminar sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development, 1967-69. Venn was honored for her contributions to publishing: she received the Dwiggins Award from Bookbuilders of Boston (1978) was chosen one of Boston's 100 New Female Leaders by Boston Magazine (1980), inducted into the Publishing Hall of Fame (1984), and received a Women's National Book Association Book Women Award (1987.) Venn was married to Diggory Venn, writer and editor who died in 1987; she died in 1993.