Collection ID: FA320

Collection context

Background

Scope and Content:

The 35 boxes in this series cover the years 1898-1961. The Messrs. Rockefeller, Sr. and Jr., Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, Abby Rockefeller Mauze, the five brothers, and their spouses are all represented in this series. Mr. Rockefeller, Jr., John D. 3rd, and Laurance S. Rockefeller are have the most connection to thse records.

The records reflect the Rockefeller family philanthropic policy toward public and private healthcare. Major subjects within the series include birth control and "social hygiene," cancer, health agencies, mental hygiene, polio, tuberculosis, and--the largest section--hospitals.

In the specific topics, such as cancer and polio, the policy on giving was generally based on personal interest or interest generated by the presentation of new lines of research. This sometimes involved expanding existing laboratories and sometimes establishing new laboratories. In either case, established and reputable committees or research facilities were supported and acted as overseers and distribution agents. Two examples of this are the American Cancer Society and the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis.

In the two broad categories of health agencies and hospitals, the policy was generally one of giving to umbrella organizations on the national, state and local level and letting those organizations distribute the funds. This policy was adopted, in general, to avoid dealing with the hundreds of individual requests and having to make the necessarily subjective decisions involved in each case. The family strongly also believed that the most good could be done with the available funds using this method of distribution.

Despite that established policy, the family was inundated with requests for support from individual hospitals. This part of the series is the largest. The established policy was generally followed except in cases of personal interest or when the family had a residence in the area of a specific hospital. As with specific diseases and health agencies, the hospitals given support were often those that demonstrated leadership in setting medical standards. Many hospitals did receive support by showing acute need, especially those in middle- and low-income areas.

The bulk of the material is composed of routine appeals and correspondence answering those appeals. There are many instances of an agency or hospital being put on the philanthropic program early in the century and routinely sending reports for years after. Declinations were usually based on policy but were sometimes based on a judgment of the personnel involved. In none of these situations was the discussion based on anything except analysis of what was best for the particular cause and not on personalities.

The family continually supported medical training for people of color and medical care in low-income and under-served communities.

The family's interest coincides with a significant period of medical growth and transformation. In many ways the family geared its medical philanthropy to supplement the national trend in modern scientific research that was helped by the opening of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (later Rockefeller University). Many new lines of research were supported at a time when new methods were in embryonic stages. The most significant files are those related to the "suppression of vice" and the social hygiene movement. These records shed light on the beginnings of one of the most important social movements of the 20th century.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Online content

Access

RESTRICTIONS:

Open for research with select materials restricted as noted. Brittle or damaged items are available at the discretion of RAC. Material in the Rockefeller family collections that provides the names, correspondence, or activities of living members of the Rockefeller family, and/or documents the net wealth of any Rockefeller family members, is restricted. Researchers interested in accessing digital media (floppy disks, CDs, DVDs, etc.) or audiovisual material (audio cassettes, VHS, etc.) in this collection must use an access surrogate. The original items may not be accessed because of preservation concerns. To request an access surrogate be made, or if you are unsure if there is an access surrogate, please contact an archivist.

LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
15 Dayton Avenue
Sleepy Hollow, NY 10591, United States
CONTACT: