Penelope Hartland-Thunberg papers (Ms.2013.012)

Biographical / Historical

Penelope Hartland-Thunberg was an expert on international trade and finance and one-time member of the United Stat's Tariff Commission (1965-1969). Born on June 19, 1918 in Everett, Massachusetts to Mariah Louisa and William Hartland, she grew up in Cranston, Rhode Island. She graduated from Pembroke College in 1940, where as a student she studied Economics, served as President of the Student Government Association, and was Editor of the school newspaper, The Pembroke Record. She received her PhD degree from Radcliffe College in 1946. She married Howard Thunberg that same year. It is unknown whether the two remained married and if they had any children.

After earning her PhD in 1946, Hartland-Thunberg taught economics at Wells and Mount Holyoke Colleges and Brown University but left Brown after learning that she would not be promoted to associate professor. She then moved to Washington D.C. where she served as the sole international economist on the staff of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, 1951-53. Hartland-Thunberg also served in several high-level positions at the Central Intelligence Agency from 1954 to 1966 and again from 1970 to 1978. From 1979 until her retirement, Hartland-Thunberg was Director of Economic Research at the Georgetown University Center for Economic and Strategic Studies where she specialized in the economy of East Asia. She was also the William M. School Fellow in International Business at Georgetown.

Her publications include "China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the World Trading System" (1990), "Banks, Petrodollars, and Sovereign Debtors" (1986), and ""Botswana: an African Growth Economy (1978). Dr. Hartland-Thunberg received the Federal Women's Award in 1965 and an Honorary Degree from Brown University in 1966. The last recognized both her intellectual distinction and her long service to Brown in various capacities including as a Trustee of its Corporation.

Hartland-Thunberg died on October 16, 2004, at the age of 86.