OH-40; T-114Women in the Federal Government Oral History Project. Interviews, 1981-1983: A Finding Aid
Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
![[link]](http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.OIS:radcliffe_shield)
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University
© 2006 President and Fellows of Harvard College
Call No.: OH-40; T-114
Repository: Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute
Title: Women in the Federal Government Oral History Project. Interviewees, 1981-1983
Abstract: Tapes and transcripts of oral histories and supporting documentation from the Women in the Federal Government Oral History Project, an oral history project of the Schlesinger Library.
Women in the Federal Government Oral History Project. Interviews, 1981-1983; item description, dates. OH-40, folder #. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
-
1. Mary Anderson Bain, 1911- Washington, D.C. Director for the National Youth Administration in the Midwest during the Roosevelt years, Mary Bain's career evolved with the New Deal. During World War II, she worked for the War Manpower Commission in Illinois and the Illinois Employment Service. After government service, she began her own advertising and public relations business. Involvement in the presidential campaign for Adlai Stevenson later prompted her to assist Congressman Sidney Yates, for whom she currently works as administrative assistant.
-
2. Lucy Wilson Benson, 1927- Amherst, Massachusetts. In her career as a public servant, Lucy Benson has been a member of numerous boards and commissions at local, state and national levels. She was national president of the League of Women Voters from 1968 to 1974, and secretary of human services for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1975. She was undersecretary of state for security assistance, science and technology from 1977 to 1980, the highest position ever held by a woman in the Department of State in the Carter administration.
AVAILABLE.
-
3. Bernice Lotwin Bernstein, 1908-1996 New York, New York.
Bernice Bernstein began her long career as a lawyer in government service with the National Recovery Administration in 1933. In 1934, she joined the legal staff of the newly created Social Security Board, where she worked to develop state laws for unemployment insurance. She became regional attorney for the Department of Health, Education and Welfare in 1947, and director for Region II of the Department in 1966. She has also been employed by various human service programs in the New York City area. Since retirement, she has been a consultant to the New York Department of Aging. She received a Federal Woman's Award in 1973.
AVAILABLE.
-
4. Clara Mortensen Beyer, 1892- Washington, D.C.
Beginning as executive assistant with the War Labor Policies Board in 1917, Clara Beyer was director of the Industrial Division of the Children's Bureau from 1931 to 1934. She also served as an associate director of the Bureau of Labor Standards from 1934 to 1957, and as acting director from 1957 to 1958. After retirement, Ms. Beyer began a second career which spanned nearly twenty years, as advisor to the International Cooperation Administration and the Agency for International Development.
-
5. Virginia S. Butler, 1926- Washington, D.C.
Beginning at the age of 16, with an entry-level job in the State Department in 1943, Virginia Butler climbed the career ladder to become director of publication distribution for the Department in 1971. Her professional affiliations include active membership in the Business and Professional Women's Club and involvement in the advancement of women and minorities in professional spheres.
-
6. Antonia Handler Chayes, 1929- Cambridge, Massachusetts.
As a lawyer, Antonia Chayes was a member of the White House staff from 1961 to 1962, and assistant secretary and undersecretary for manpower, research affairs and installations of the Air Force from 1977 to 1981. She is presently a partner in the firm of Csaplar & Bok in Boston.
-
7. Lucile Atcherson Curtis, 1894- Columbus, Ohio.
As the first woman in the Foreign Service, Lucile Curtis served in the Division of Latin American Affairs in the Department of State from 1922 to 1925, and in the American legation in Berne and Panama City from 1925 to 1927.
-
8. Bernice Deutrich, 1919- Aptos, California.
Beginning as a junior stenographer in the Internal Revenue Service in 1940, Bernice Deurich served in several departments and advanced to become budget analyst in the Bureau of Aeronautics in the Department of the Navy and the Federal Aviation Administration before retirement in 1979. A member of various social and professional organizations, Ms. Deutrich received the Secretary's Award for Meritorious Achievement from the Department of Transportation in 1975.
AVAILABLE.
-
9. Mabel E. Deutrich, 1915- Aptos, California.
Entering government service in 1942 as a clerk in the Mail and Record Division in the Office of the Chief of Engineers, Mabel Deutrich began working in the National Archives and Records Service in 1950 as an archivist. She retired in 1979 as the assistant archivist for the United States, the highest ranking woman in the National Archives. She has demonstrated an active interest in the status of women, particularly in the archival profession.
AVAILABLE.
-
10. Catherine S. East, 1916- Arlington, Virginia.
Entering government service as a clerk with the Civil Service Commission in 1939, Catherine East rose through the ranks to become chief of the Career Service Division for the Bureau of Recruiting and Examining. In 1964 she transferred to the Labor Department as executive secretary of the Inter-Departmental Commission on the Status of Women and the Citizens' Advisory Council on the Status of Women. From 1975 to 1977, she worked with the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year.
AVAILABLE.
-
11. Mary Harrover Ferguson, 1912- Haymarket, Virginia.
Mary Ferguson began her career at grade 1 in the Farm Credit Administration in 1933. By 1944, she had entered the field of financial management, and rose in the Department of the Navy to become budget analyst and comptroller, until her retirement as grade 17 from the Office of Naval Research.
AVAILABLE.
-
12. Daisy Bresley Fields, 1915- Silver Spring, Maryland.
Daisy Fields entered government service as a personnel officer for the U.S. Air Force in 1942. Other positions have included assistant director of personnel at the Smithsonian Institution from 1954 to 1960, chief of special programs at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration from 1960 to 1967, and special assistant in Federal Women's Programs at the Veterans' Administration from 1967 to 1970. She was executive director of Federally Employed Women from 1975 to 1977, and in 1978 became president of Fields Associates.
AVAILABLE.
-
13. Kathryn G. Heath, 1910- Washington, D.C.
From 1943 to 1949, Kathryn Heath was chief of employee relations and training in the Office of the Quartermaster General in Frankfurt, Germany. She later served as senior staff officer for international relations in the Office of the Secretary in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. From 1956 to 1975, she was an assistant for special studies in the Office of Education. Her affiliations include the Business and Professional Women's Club and the National Organization of Women (NOW).
-
14. Grace Murray Hopper, 1906- Washington, D.C.
A mathematician and educator, who entered the Naval Reserve in 1943 and retired in 1966, Grace Hopper was recalled to active duty in 1967. Since 1977, she has been assigned to active duty with the Naval Commission. Inventor of the COBOL language, she is a leader in the computer field and serves as a captain in the Naval Data Automation Command in the Department of the Navy.
-
15. Mildred McAfee Horton, 1900- Randolph, New Hampshire.
An educator and president of Wellesley College from 1936 to 1949, Mildred Horton served as director of the Women's Reserve of the U.S. Naval Reserve from 1942 to 1946. She was the first woman to receive a naval commission and retired as captain in 1946. She was a member of the committee on the White House Conference on Education in 1955, and a United States delegate to UNESCO's 12th General Conference in 1962. A self-described professional volunteer for over twenty-five years, Ms. Horton has served on numerous commissions and committees which reflect her special interests in education and social issues.
AVAILABLE.
-
16. Charlotte Moton Hubbard, 1911- Chevy Chase, Maryland
A health and physical education instructor at Hampton Institute in 1941, Charlotte Hubbard later worked for the Office of Community War Services as national recreation representative for service personnel. In 1945 she became a national community relations advisor for the Girl Scouts of America, and in 1950, director of field relations in the commercial dietetics department at Tuskegee Institute. After a two-year involvement with the Political Action Committee of the CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations), she became director of community services at WTOP-TV in Washington, D.C. Appointed Foreign Service reserve officer in charge of community meetings for the Bureau of Public Affairs in the Department of State in 1963, Ms. Hubbard became deputy assistant secretary of state for public affairs in 1964.
AVAILABLE.
-
18. Mary Dublin Keyserling, 1910- Washington, D.C.
An economist, Mary Keyserling has alternated periods of government service with work in the private sector. Beginning in the Foreign Economics Administration, she became director of the International Economic Analysis Division in the Department of Commerce from 1950 to 1953. She and her husband founded the Conference on Economic Progress, while she served on the President's Commission on the Status of Women. Appointed director of the Women's Bureau in 1964, she concurrently served on the Interdepartmental Committee on the Status of Women for civil rights legislation. After leaving the Women's Bureau in 1969, Ms. Keyserling continued her work as a consulting economist.
AVAILABLE.
-
19. Florence K. Kirlin, 1903- Washington, D.C.
A special assistant to the assistant secretary for congressional relations in the State Department from 1945 to 1946, Florence Kirlin became a special assistant to the undersecretary of state in 1946. As a congressional relations specialist, she was responsible for seeing the entire legislative procedure through Congress. In the 1960s she acted as liaison between the State Department and the newly formed Peace Corps. She worked as the United Nations advisor to the Bureau of Economic Affairs until her retirement in 1965.
AVAILABLE.
-
20. Carol C. Laise, 1917- Washington, D.C.
Beginning her government career with the U.S. Civil Service Commission in 1940, Carol Laise served as international relations officer with the State Department in Indian and South Asian affairs from 1948 to 1956, and as Ambassador to Nepal from 1966 to 1973. She was also liaison to several United Nations commissions during this time. In 1975, she became the first woman director general of the Foreign Service. She was the recipient of a Federal Woman's Award in 1965.
AVAILABLE.
-
21. Esther Christian Lawton, 1910- Washington, D.C.
An expert on position classification and salary administration in the Treasury Department, Esther Lawton began as a grade 2 clerk in the Public Relations Office in 1936. She retired at a grade 16 in 1980, after serving as a deputy director and acting director of personnel. Her forty-two year government service career ran concurrently with a teaching position at The George Washington University. Ms. Lawton became coordinator for the Decade of Women in 1970 and has participated in various groups concerned with discrimination in the workplace and equal pay for women. Since retirement, she has established her own management consulting firm. She was recipient of a Federal Woman's Award in 1969.
AVAILABLE.
-
22. Virginia Wood McLaughlin, 1915- Alderson, West Virginia.
A stenographer and secretary at the Federal Reformatory for Women in Alderson, West Virginia, from 1939 to 1955, Virginia McLaughlin became a correctional officer in 1955, and warden in 1969. Retiring as warden in 1976, she maintains her concern for the welfare of the institutionalized, and is active in community affairs.
-
23. Eleanor L. Makel, 1914- Washington, D.C.
A physician and medical officer at St. Elizabeth's Hospital from 1953 to 1962, Eleanor Makel was accreditation officer of medicine and surgery from 1962 to 1970, and became physician chief of staff and administration in 1970. She is also assistant clinical professor of medicine at The George Washington University School of Medicine. Cited by the Department of Labor in 1962 as one of the highest ranking Black woman in government, she was one of the 1963 recipients of the Federal Woman's Award.
AVAILABLE.
-
24. Mildred Kester Marcy, 1913- Washington, D.C.
A senior advisor for educational and cultural affairs in the International Communications Agency (formerly USIS), Mildred Marcy drafted the Percy Amendment on women in development under the U.S. foreign aid programs. She also served as the U.S. coordinator of International Women's Year in Mexico City. She has been active on the local and national levels of the League of Women Voters.
-
25. Elizabeth Stoffregen May, 1907- Harvard, Massachusetts.
An economist and educator, Elizabeth May was principal fiscal analyst for the U.S. Bureau of the Budget from 1941 to 1947. After a year as a consultant to the American Mission Aid to Greece, she served as dean of Wheaton College from 1949 to 1964, and as acting president in 1961 and 1962. She was the first woman member of the Board of the Export-Import Bank from 1964 to 1969, and traveled through the Pacific Orient in this capacity.
AVAILABLE.
-
26. Ida Craven Merriam, 1904- Washington, D.C.
Economist Ida Merriam joined the Social Security Administration in 1936, and was assistant director and director of the Division of Research and Statistics from 1956 to 1965, and assistant commissioner for research and statistics from 1965 to 1972. She became special assistant to the commissioner in 1972. Ms. Merriam's expertise in the field of social security research led to her participation in many international conferences. A recipient of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare's Distinguished Service Award, she also received a 1966 Federal Woman's Award.
AVAILABLE.
-
27. Helen A. Miller, 1919- Alexandria, Virginia.
Beginning her government career in the Legislative Reference Service in 1949, Helen Miller became chief of the Education Section in the Education and Public Welfare Division of the Congressional Research staff of the Library of Congress in 1967. During this time, she headed research for Senate and House Committees on education. Upon retirement from federal service, she was paid tribute in the Congressional Record.
-
28. Alice Angus Morrison, 1903- Alexandria, Virginia
A lawyer, Alice Morrison became a field agent for the Women's Bureau of the Department of Labor in 1932. She served as an industrial economist from 1940 to 1951, and was chief of the Division of Legislation and Standards from 1950 to 1966. She worked on a variety of New Deal legislation as well as the minimum wage and equal pay for women in the 1960s. Since 1952 she has been a member and advisor of the U.S. delegations to the United Nations Status of Women Commission.
-
29. Katherine Brownell Oettinger, 1903- Carmel, California.
A social worker, mental health consultant, and educator, Katherine Oettinger was dean of the School of Social Work at Boston University from 1954 to 1957. She became chief of the Children's Bureau from 1956 to 1968, and then served as deputy assistant secretary for population and family planning in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare from 1968 to 1970. She was the first vice-chairman of the Interdepartmental Committee on Children and Youth (ICCY), and was a delegate to other national and international conferences on children and youth.
AVAILABLE.
-
30. Mary S. Olmsted, 1919- Washington, D.C.
Beginning her government service career as a research assistant in the National Bureau of Economic Research in 1943, Mary Olmsted joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1945, and served in Canada, Europe, and India as a vice-consul, secretary, and economic officer. She was the first woman appointed deputy director of personnel for management and services in the Department of State, and in 1966 became senior economic officer for India, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, Department of State.
-
31. Mina S. Rees, 1902- New York, New York.
Mina Rees worked as a mathematician during World War II, and served as head of the Mathematics Branch of the Office of Naval Research from 1946 to 1949, and deputy science director from 1952 through 1953. In 1953, she became dean of the faculty at Hunter College. When the City University of New York was established, she organized the Graduate School and University Center, and has served successively as instructor, professor, dean, and provost. She is currently president emeritus of the Graduate Division. She has served on numerous government advisory panels and commissions throughout her career.
-
32. Madge Skelly 1903- Cleveland, Ohio.
A member of the Iroquois Onondaga Tribe, Madge Skelly has been a professional actress and is the author of more than twenty full-length plays. In 1962 she earned a Ph.D. degree in speech pathology, and became chief in the Audiology and Speech Pathology Service at the Veterans' Administration Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. Her unique contribution to the field is the modernization of Indian hand sign for the mute. She was a recipient of the Federal Woman's Award in 1974.
-
33. Lucile F. Stickel, 1915-, Franklin, North Carolina. A wildlife research biologist with the Department of the Interior, Lucile Stickel's primary identification is with the pioneering field of pesticide research. She became a biologist with Patuxent Wildlife Research Center at Laurel, Maryland, in 1956, and was director from 1972 until her retirement in 1982. She received a Federal Woman's Award in 1968. INTERVIEW NEVER DONE.
-
34. Margaret Joy Tibbetts, 1919- Bethel, Maine.
A Foreign Service officer with the Department of State beginning in 1945, Margaret Tibbetts served in Europe and Africa as attache, secretary, and consul, and as ambassador to Norway from 1965 to 1969. She became deputy assistant secretary of state for European affairs in 1969, retiring in 1971. She received a Federal Woman's Award in 1970.
AVAILABLE.
-
36. Wilma L. Victor, 1919- Idabel, Oklahoma.
Beginning with the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1941, Wilma Victor was academic supervisor of the Intermountain Indian School from 1940 to 1960, and 1964 to 1970, and principal of the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe from 1961 to 1964. The recipient of a Federal Woman's Award in 1967, she became advisor to the secretary on Indian affairs in 1971. A member of the Choctaw Indian Tribe, she is involved in local Indian affairs and various professional organizations.
AVAILABLE.
-
37. Caroline F. Ware, 1899- Vienna, Virginia.
An historian, social scientist, educator, and author, Caroline Ware is an expert in consumer affairs. She is associated with a variety of New Deal legislation, including the Consumers Advisory Board of the National Recovery Administration from 1934 to 1935, the National Defense Advisory Commission from 1940 to 1941, and the Office of Price Administration from 1941 to 1942. She chaired the Consumer Advisory Committee of the Council for Economic Advisors from 1947 to 1952. Dr. Ware has been active on numerous boards and panels for consumers throughout her career.
AVAILABLE.
-
38. Bennetta B. Washington, 1918- Washington, D.C.
Bennetta Washington began her career as an educator in the Baltimore public school system in 1941, and transferred to the Washington, D.C., public school system as a teacher, counselor, and principal from 1946 to 1964. She became director of the Women's Centers, of the Job Corps, Washington, D.C., in 1964, and headed the Cardozo Project in Urban Teaching. She has been honored for her dedication and achievement in many areas, including service to the YWCA.
-
39. Aryness Joy Wickens, 1901- Vienna, Virginia.
A labor economic analyst and statistician, Aryness Wickens began her career as a research assistant for the Federal Reserve Board in 1924, and continued to work in various New Deal programs through the 1930s. She worked for the secretary of labor, as a deputy assistant from 1956 to 1959, and then as an economic advisor from 1959 to 1962. She has served as a special assistant to the assistant secretary for manpower since 1967. Ms. Wickens received the Distinguished Service Award from the Department of Labor in 1955, and a Federal Woman's Award in 1961.
AVAILABLE.
-
40. Ellen Black Winston, 1903-1984 Raleigh, North Carolina.
A social welfare policy consultant, Ellen Winston served as North Carolina's commissioner of public welfare from 1944 to 1962. In 1962, she joined the Social Security Administration as the U.S. commissioner of welfare, implementing the 1962 social service amendments and facilitating the administration of Medicaid in 1965. She returned to develop state-level social welfare policy, and later went to Washington again to serve on the National Council for Homemaker-Home Health Aides Services from 1970 to 1974. She was a chairperson of the North Carolina committees for the 1961, 1971, 1981 White House Conferences on Aging, and a member of the President's Citizens Advisory Council on the Status of Women in 1967.
AVAILABLE.
sch00981
![[OASIS]](../images/oasis/OASISshield50.gif){kind=small}