Papers of Mary V. Ahern, 1940-2011 (inclusive), 1940-1990 (bulk)

Mary Virginia Ahern was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1922, the daughter of Thomas and Nora Ahern. Her mother was a teacher and her father worked in real estate and insurance. She graduated from Radcliffe College in 1942 and served in the United States Army's Chemical Warfare Service during World War II, supervising the inspection of gas masks, among other duties. She then enrolled in the Harvard Radcliffe Program in Business Administration, which offered management training to women. (Harvard Business School did not admit women until 1962.) As part of the program, Ahern had an internship at the American Broadcasting Company's public affairs office, which was headed by Robert Saudek. She collaborated with Saudek on radio documentaries and in the early 1950s worked with him to develop Omnibus, a television program which aired from 1952 to 1961. Ahern was a producer of the program, a role few women played in television at that time, and also wrote scripts and conducted research. The program was hosted by Alistair Cooke and featured appearances by Orson Welles, Ethel Barrymore and other actors. Most episodes were broadcast live and programming ranged from performances of new and classic plays to segments on children's toys and x-rays. Composer Leonard Bernstein was a frequent guest on Omnibus and Ahern's association with him continued into the 1970s, when she produced a popular series of lectures he presented on PBS. In the 1970s, William Paley established the Museum of Broadcasting (now the Paley Center for Media), with Saudek as president and Ahern as curator. Her work involved identifying and preserving notable television programs and commercials. She later did similar work for the Library of Congress, again in association with Saudek; her efforts greatly enhanced the library's radio and television holdings. Ahern died in 2021.