Dudley Harmon papers

Dudley Harmon, Wesleyan Class of 1909, was born November 18, 1886 in Meriden, CT. Upon graduation he joined the editorial staff of The Washington (D.C.) Herald, and was a reporter for The Washington Times, 1909-10. He married fellow reporter Selene Ayer Armstrong, of Washington, Georgia on September 20, 1910.

In 1911 he joined the Washington Bureau of The Sun, (New York), and became the Washington editor for The Ladies Home Journal in 1915. In 1918 he returned to Connecticut as assistant to the president of the Manufacturers Association of Connecticut.

In 1925 the governors of the six New England states established the New England Council to work on regional economic cooperation and development. Harmon was appointed vice president the following year. He retired from this organization in 1951.

After his retirement from the Council, Harmon continued writing a weekly column for New England newspapers on the region, its economic problems and progress. In 1956, Gov. Christian Herter of Massachusetts called him out of semiretirement to head the state Higher Education Assistance Corporation and run its pioneer student loan program, the Higher Education Loan Plan (HELP). He retired from this position in 1968.

Dudley Harmon was awarded two honorary degrees: Brown (June 4, 1951) and Worcester Polytechnic Institute (June 6, 1959)

Harmon died on December 8, 1976. He was survived by third wife, Edith Chase Hall and 3 daughters, Carolyn Harmon Scott, Rose Terry Harmon Talbot, and Selene Harmon Howe. He was pre-deceased by his eldest daughter, eponymously named Dudley Harmon.