THE SERENUS PRESS
Publication: Enterprise & History | The Serenus Press
The Serenus Press, founded by Robert W. Pomeroy, promotes the study and use of history, making explicit its many applications in nonacademic settings. Our primary audience is made up of undergraduate students and teachers of history. By 2007 over 370,000 of our print publications were used by nearly half the colleges in every state of the Union as well as schools, libraries, and historical and preservation associations. In 2008 we introduced a new series of freely downloadable publications on our website www.SerenusPress.com.
Pomeroy, a history graduate (Stanford ’57), began his career in international finance. As Advisor to the Inter-American Development Bank—the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean,—he introduced the personal computer for project analysis. Under his direction, the bank’s first financial projection models were developed, produced, and documented. Economic sectors represented included industry, banking, agriculture, infrastructure, education.
Using computers for analysis presented one serious problem: lack of keyboarding experience on the part of executives and professionals. Qualified secretaries were trained forthwith in the use of spreadsheets, then teamed with users for data input and personal computer support. This led to a bank-wide career path that for the first-time enabled secretaries’ transition to professional positions.
At that time, Pomeroy also served as a volu5nteer with the American Historical Society and the Organization of American Historians (OAH), promoting the use of history and historians in nonacademic fields. He was one of the founding directors, and first Treasurer, of the National Council on Public History. Among other related articles, he co-edited The Craft of Public History (with David Trask, Greenwood Press, 1983), “Business and History” (The Public Historian, 1981), and “Educating Historians for Business” (OAH, 1983).