"If I had a boxful of these books, I could sell them for $5 apiece to every Harvard man I know."

The document guaranteed to jolt even jaded upperclassmen is old stuff to every Radcliffe girl. It's a small, red, non-profit booklet issued once a year to every Annex student, and the title page keynotes the book. From top to bottom, it reads: "The Red Book, Student's Handbook of Radcliffe College," and "Each student is held responsible for all information contained herein."

Fact-Packed Booklet

Information in the Red Book starts fast and gains speed. Immediately beyond the first page, which lists 27 college officers and dormitory heads, is a single-page history of the Radcliffe from 1643 to 1948. Greetings from college officials, and rules on fire drills, chaperonage, library, ad gymnasium behavior follow closely.

Every Annex club is pigeonholed in the next section, which lists their officers, aims, social activities, and usually includes a crisp, come-on message addressed to freshmen.

Past the meat of the book come college customs--"Each year the junior class gives a luncheon for the senior class, in honor of their graduation from Radcliffe; at the luncheon, each engaged senior is given a ring of pink rosebuds," and college informatio--"By the first week of college, every new student should have met her 'senior sister', to whom she may go for information and advice during her first year."

Something New

Tucked in the rear of the book is a 1948 innovation -- a section headed "Strictly Extra-Curricular" and full of tips on appearance--"We know that beauty is only skin deep, but you don't have to look as though you lived only for things of the mind,"--and activities--"Eat where people don't mind your eating. In the far reaches of the library, potato chips sound like static on a 1932 radio."