The Nieman Foundation last Thursday announced its 37th class of Nieman Fellows, which includes four women and two blacks.

The Nieman Fellows will come to Harvard for the next academic year and may study in any area of the University.

James C. Thomson Jr., curator of the Nieman Fellowships, said Friday that the nominating board made no attempt to select either women or blacks.

"There was a decided effort to put together a group of people who will take advantage of the program," he said.

The fellowships were established through a bequest by Agnes Wahl Nieman in memory of her husband, Lucius W. Nieman, founder of The Milwaukee Journal.

One of the Nieman Fellows is Curtis Matthews Jr., Washington correspondent for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, who covers mainly judicial news.

Matthews began as a night reporter in East St. Louis, then took five years off from journalism before beginning again.

Matthews said Friday he plans "to take as many courses at the Law School as possible" and is now preparing a reading list, in consultation partly with Supreme Court justices.

The oldest of the Nieman Fellows at 39, Matthews said his biggest scoop was the first major ITT story in August 1971. The article linked an antitrust settlement in favor of the ITT with conferences ITT executives had with Nixon administration officials.

Dee Wedemeyer, a woman correspondent for the Associated Press in New York and one of the new Nieman Fellows, said Friday she writes on "changing lifestyles." She worked her way up on The Knickerbocker News, then sold an inside piece on the Soviet Union to the A.P. before signing a contract with the wire service.

Wedemeyer said Friday that she is most proud of a profile she did of a Brandeis graduate of June 1973 who six months later was on the FBI's most-wanted list.

"It took a lot of hard work," she explained. "Considering that I never met the girl, it was all right."

Labor Reporter

Labor reporter Frank W.A. Swoboda, who writes for Business Week in Washington, said Friday he is one of the "original college dropouts," because he failed to graduate from Virginia Military Institute.

Swoboda rose through the ranks of the United Press International. He described his job as "one of the few beats in Washington that goes into everybody else's area."

He said he plans to study labor law and economics.

The other newly-appointed Nieman Fellow are:

John P. Corr, columnist and feature writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer; Thomas J. Dolan, investigative reporter for The Chicago Sun-Times; Sheryl A. Fitzgerald, features editor, The Journal and Guide, Norfolk, Va.; David V. Hawpe, associate editor and editorial writer, The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.

Also, Wendy L. Moonan, editor of Juris Doctor Magazine; E. Eugene Pell '59, chief of Foreign News Service, Westinghouse Broadcasting Company in London; James R. Scudder, assistant city editor of The Arkansas Democrat, Little Rock, Ark.; Elaane Shannon, Washington correspondent for The Nashville Tennessean; and Joseph D. Whitaker, reporter for The Washington Post.

Both Whitaker and Fitzgerald are black. Whitaker is the youngest fellow at 26 year old.