The Career Development Quarterly: A Centennial Retrospective

The Career Development Quarterly has been the premier journal in the field of vocational guidance and career intervention since its inception 100 years ago. To celebrate its centennial, 3 former editors trace its evolution from a modest and occasional newsletter to its current status as a major professional journal. They recount its history of publishing foundational articles in vocational guidance practice and career development theory, commitment to improving counseling practice, leadership in public policy and social justice issues, and expansion to international audiences. The Career Development Quarterly ( CDQ) , the premier journal in the field of career counseling, began a century ago as a modest and occasional newsletter. To celebrate its centennial, this article traces its evolution beginning from The Vocational Guidance News-Letter through its transitions as The Vocational Guidance Bulletin; The National Vocational Guidance Association Bulletin; The Vocational Guidance Magazine; Occupations, The Vocational Guidance Magazine; and The Vocational Guidance Quarterly ( VGQ) to its current form as CDQ. The Vocational Guidance News-Letter The first issue of the professional periodical that has become CDQ was published by the Boston Vocational Bureau in 1911. Frederick J. Allen edited the four-page publication titled The Vocational Guidance News-Letter. F. J. Allen (1925) later wrote that "this little publication, which had scarcely more than a local circulation, was in a very real sense the precursor of our present publication, the Vocational Guidance Magazine" (p. 181). By 1915, what had begun as a special number of the Boston Home and School News-Letter had become The Vocational Guidance Bulletin, with advertising support from book publishers such as Ginn and Company; Century Company; Harvard University Press; and Little, Brown and Company. Beginning with the first issue of The Vocational Guidance Bulletin (April 1915), the National Vocational Guidance Association (NVGA) adopted the practice of having its national secretary serve as editor. Accordingly, W. Carson Ryan Jr. edited the Bulletin from 1915 to 1918. Ryan worked at the U.S. Bureau of Education where he published the Bulletin for NVGA using his brother's printing business. Appearing monthly in four pages, the Bulletin had an initial circulation of approximately 500. Ryan edited 22 issues before the new NVGA national secretary replaced him. A 23rd issue (April 1918, Vol. 4, No. 2) was edited by Roy W. Kelly, an instructor in vocational guidance in the Graduate School and director of the Bureau of Vocational Guidance at Harvard University (Brewer, 1942). The National Vocational Guidance Association Bulletin The 1919 NVGA convention failed to elect officers. Along with war work, this void in leadership caused a brief lapse in the activities of NVGA. In 1920, a group of guidance personnel led by John Brewer from Harvard University held a meeting in New York City to discuss forming a new vocational guidance organization. They proposed formation of the National Vocational Guidance Society (Brewer, 1942). In 1920, the group met in Chicago to launch the Society. At that meeting, Jesse B. Davis suggested that they retain the name NVGA. The group agreed (F. J. Allen, 1925). With NVGA reorganized, the Trustees resumed publication of The National Vocational Guidance Association Bulletin beginning in August 1921. Given the brief lapse in publication and the new name, they marked it as Volume 1, Number 1 (Lane, 1927). It was published in Chicago under the editorship of Anne S. Davis, secretary of NVGA. She edited four issues. In December 1922, at the annual meeting held in Detroit, NVGA decided to accept support from Harvard University and publish it there rather than in Chicago, The Trustees delegated publication of the Bulletin to the Bureau of Vocational Guidance, with Harvard University agreeing to subsidize half the cost. …