The Harkness Family Papers are the private records of Edward S. and Mary S. Harkness. These documents are concerned with their donations to universities, schools, institutions and individuals. There is a great quantity of information on donations to schools and universities like Phillips Exeter Academy, Columbia, Harvard, Yale and others. There is a book on the residential halls of Yale University in the Harkness Family Volumes. The Harkness Family provided funds for organizations like the Pilgrim Trust in which further information can be found in the Harkness Family Volumes. There are other institutions which the Harkness family contributed to like Presbyterian Hospital, New York Public Library and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Gifts and donations for servants, friends and family are documented. Members of the family include the Russels, the Stillmans and the Taylors. There are records of the Harkness family. These are mostly concerned with Edward S. Harkness' Estate and Trust after his death. The Harkness Family Volumes contains condolences offered at his death. The Harkness Family papers were examined by Malcolm P. Aldrich, Trustee of the Edward S. Harkness Estate. These documents consist mostly of correspondence, financial data, legal documents and reports.
Search Results
Commonwealth Fund records, President, Margaret E. Mahoney, SG 2, Series 1, 1966-1999, bulk 1979-1989 27.73 Cubic Feet
Types of records include: meeting minutes, correspondence, speeches, and reports.
Prior to 1925 the Commonwealth Fund granted only limited monies for the building or enlargement of hospitals, i.e., to Yale University for improvements to the New Haven Hospital, to the Grenfell Association for small hospitals in Newfoundland, to the Presbyterian Board of Missions for a hospital at Point Barrow, Alaska, and to Memorial Hospital in New York City to aid in the construction of a new building. The Fund's experiences with the Child Health Demonstrations included more than just child health services and brought the realization of the need for improved medical and surgical facilities in rural America. In June 1925 Henry C. Wright, hospital consultant, studied the possibilities of improving rural hospital services. Wright's study led to the establishment of the Division of Rural Hospitals and the appointment, in March 1926, of a director, Henry J. Southmayd, who served in that capacity throughout the division's existence.
Commonwealth Fund records, Treasurer, SG 1, Series 32, 1925-1982 13.84 Cubic Feet
Types of records include: financial material and general files.
Types of records include: meeting minutes, financial statements, and reports.
Types of records include: grant files and applications.
Commonwealth Fund records, Division of Community Clinics, SG 1, Series 10, 1927-1949 1.52 Cubic Feet
The work of the Division on Community Clinics continued the efforts of Division II of the Program for the Prevention of Delinquency. Division II began its first demonstration child guidance clinic at St. Louis on May 10, 1922. With the expiration of the CF's five year program, the Cleveland Clinic's (December 31, 1926) and the Philadelphia Clinic's (June 30, 1927), demonstration nature ended, and they became permanent independent bodies. The entire Division II program was revised to stress increased use of the supervisory and consulting functions of the Division's field consultant staff, and promoted 1) continued contact with and supervision of the permanent clinics, and 2) additional field service to cities requesting assistance and advice regarding mental hygiene problems and programs.
Types of records include: blueprints, photographs, and maps. Images document the Harkness Family, Harkness House, Harkness Fellows. This series also contains a variety of material separated from the body of the early Commonwealth Fund grant records including grants in public health, rural hositals and disease research (FA290 Commonwealth Fund Grants, SG 1, Series 18.1) as well as the Division of Publications (FA285 SG 1, Series 13).
Series 4 contains annual reports from 1919-2002. A complete run of bound reports is available in the RAC Library. Individual soft cover reports are available in the archival collection. The Annual Report for 1986 is not available in the archival collection, but it is accessible in the RAC Library. Series 4 also contains a small selection of other reports and pamphlets spanning the mid-1980's through 1994.
The Commonwealth Fund announced its Child Health Program on June 29, 1922. The goals of the five year program were "safe-guarding the health of the mother-to-be, laying a good health foundation for children in the early sensitive and formative period of their growth and health supervision and the formation of the essential health habits in school children." The responsibility for the conduct of the demonstrations rested with the American Child Health Association, which had been recently formed through the merger of the American Child Hygiene Association and the Child Health Organization of America. The Child Health Demonstration Committee of the Commonwealth Fund oversaw the program, with Barry C. Smith chairman and Courtenay Dinwiddie executive director. Other notable participants in the program include Philip Van Ingen, Richard A. Bolt, L. Emmett Holt, Sally Lucas Jean, Livingston Farrand, Donald B. Armstrong, and Barbara S. Quin.
Commonwealth Fund records, Vertical File (Reginald H. Fitz), SG 1, Series 34, 1953-1979 1.52 Cubic Feet
This series is a vertical file created by Reginald H. Fitz consisting of articles, reports, studies, reprints and other associated subject matter.
Only two files from the Commonwealth Fund's Educational Research Program remain. The rest were destroyed on February 25, 1949, under Barry C. Smith's instructions. The first file, The Survey of Rural Education in New York State, was appeal #287 and received the Commonwealth code designation 1225-S. This survey, begun in 1920, represents one of the earliest projects funded by the CF. A "Committee of Twenty One" comprised of noted New York educators oversaw the survey project. Members from the Dairyman's League, The New York State Department of Education, the Farm Bureau Federation, the State Grange, the State College of Agriculture, the New York State Teachers Association, and the New York State Federation of Home Bureaus actively participated in the survey. Samuel C. Fairley, assistant director of the Commonwealth Fund, George M. Wiley of the University of the State of New York, and John H. Finley, New York State Commissioner of Education, directed the survey.
The Commonwealth Fund announced in late 1929 a new project that began operation on January 1, 1930, and promoted rural health and medical service in the United States. The new program, instead of emphasizing child care, comprised all health services in rural communities. Initially the project was limited to two states, Tennessee (1930-1945) and Massachusetts (1930-1945), and to two counties or districts in each state. Later the program was also active in Mississippi (1931-1947), Oklahoma (1938-1949), Alabama (1938-1942), Arkansas (1945-1947), California, Florida (1945-1947), Kentucky (1945-1947), Louisiana (1946), Maine, New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia, and Washington. Dr. William J. French, the first director of the CF's child-health demonstration in Fargo, North Dakota, and former head of the CF's Austrian Program, was named director. French resigned his post on April 4, 1931, and on May 15, 1931, Clarence L. Scamman became the new director of the Division.
Fellowships are an integral part of the Commonwealth Fund's history, and continually supported the varied public health, mental hygiene, and rural hospital programs of the CF. The advanced medical fellowships were first awarded in 1937, and although they primarily aided medical school teachers and research workers, individuals in other areas of health work also received financial assistance. About twenty fellowships per year were granted during 1950-1959, many of which entailed interdisciplinary studies, and by 1965 well over sixty fellowships were awarded yearly.
The Commonwealth Fund's Division of Publications series is concerned with the publishing of books, journals, articles, and pamphlets. This series consists of correspondence, reports, financial papers, and a few pamphlets and books. The documents are mostly concerned with the financing and publishing of books, and the relationship of the Division with the authors and publishing companies.
The majority of the Institute's surviving records consist of financial statements, audits and correspondence relating to fiscal or budget matters. The minutes of the Institute detail the activities of the Board of Directors, the incorporators, the annual corporation meetings, and the committee dividing the assets of the Institute. In late 1937 the Commonwealth Fund decided that all case files pertaining to the treatment of children at the Institute should be destroyed. Therefore, in February of 1938 these records, as well as the index to these cases, were burned. Other folders in this series contain sensitive material.
Types of records include: correspondence, meeting minutes, proposals, and financial material.
The records of the Harkness Fellowships reflect the close personal relationship the Fund Instituted with over 1,800 fellows. A typical file in Series 20.2 contains a fellow's application, his curriculum vitae and letters of recommendation, his fellowship report, and photographs. It was not unusual for fellows and officials at the Commonwealth Fund to maintain correspondence for more than twenty years, and files often contain family photographs, professional writings, and newspaper clippings from fellows who succeeded in a wide variety of fields. Such files clearly demonstrate that close and personal relationships were maintained by the Fund and the Harkness fellows.
Commonwealth Fund records, Pilgrim Trust, SG 1, Series 28, 1930-1977, bulk 1930-1950 2.47 Cubic Feet
Pilgrim Trust records primarily consist of Annual Reports, Minutes, and a variety of newspaper clippings.
Types of records include: administrative and grant files.
Types of records include: budgets, correspondence, and meeting minutes.
Commonwealth Fund records, Harkness Fellowships, Fellows Reports, SG 1, Series 20.2A, 1918-1988 6 Cubic Feet
The records of the Harkness Fellowships reflect the close personal relationship the Fund Instituted with over 1,800 fellows.
The Commonwealth Fund established the Division of Health Studies as a separate division on April 1, 1931. The purposes of the organization were 1) to make periodic studies of the health conditions in the various communities in which the Commonwealth Fund worked, 2) assist in the development of division programs through the planning of administrative records and the appraisal of results, 3) conduct special studies in the field of health as from time to time seemed important in the development of the work of the Fund or would be of broad application.
An outgrowth of the Commonwealth Fund's relief activities in Eastern and Central Europe after World War I, the Austrian Program provided vital help in improving the health of children in Austria. From 1923 until 1929 the CF maintained an office in Vienna, and conducted a program of health and preventive medicine for children. Child health demonstrations were conducted in Salzburg, and similar activities transpired in Vienna, Klagenfurt, Graz, and elsewhere.
Types of records include: meeting minutes and reports.
Types of records include: manuscripts and library records.
Commonwealth Fund records, Administration - Historical Files, SG 1, Series 1, 1935-1981 36.81 Cubic Feet
The Commonwealth Fund office used these files as a cross reference system for the grants. The files concentrate from the 1950s to 1981. The folders consist of cross reference sheets and correspondence. There are some reports and photographs. Original boxes 317, 325, 326, 332, 333, 341, and 342 were not sent to the Archives; consequently files from D, E, P, and W are missing. Folders for The Johns Hopkins University and Massachusetts General Hospital are also missing.
Types of records include: administrative and grant files.
Commonwealth Fund records, Program for the Prevention of Delinquency, SG 1, Series 29, 1921-1927 1.52 Cubic Feet
Commonwealth Fund records, Grants, SG 1, Series 18, 1918-2003 233.3 Cubic Feet
Grant actions comprise the largest series of the Commonwealth Fund records. The earliest grants funded a broad range of projects and associations and reflected the diverse and varied program of the Fund's beginning years. In many cases the grants were parallel or ancillary to existing Commonwealth Fund projects. Often, however, unrelated or special short-term grants were awarded. When the Commonwealth Fund's program became more oriented toward medical education and research, the grant actions mirrored this policy alteration. The records found in the Grants Series are the combination of the unprocessed Grants and Expired Grants Series.
Commonwealth Fund records, Reference Files, SG 1, Series 30, 1922-1982, bulk 1945-1970 7.6 Cubic Feet
The Reference Files consist of ready-reference materials, primarily publications and articles, orginally compiled for the Commonwealth Fund Library.
Throughout the 1930s and 1940s the Commonwealth Fund provided financial support for several unique projects concerning psychiatry, pediatrics, and the teaching/training of psychiatrists. Public and private institutions, as well as individuals, were recipients of these grants, with the majority going to universities and colleges. The records for the special studies consist mainly of correspondence and general files relating to a specific grant. Financial records are also found in the folders titled "General Files and Correspondence." A list of the original Commonwealth Fund code assigned to the grants is available in the print version of the finding aid.
Commonwealth Fund records, Reports of the General Director/President, SG 1, Series 31, 1919-1985, 1987-1995 14.99 Cubic Feet
Barry C. Smith served as General Director of the Commonwealth Fund, 1920-1947. During this period the reports were officially titled as Report of the General Director to the Directors of the Commonwealth Fund. Beginning in 1948, the offical title became known as Report of the President and Staff to Directors of the Commonwealth Fund.
Commonwealth Fund records, Administration - Officers Files, SG 1, Series 2, 1918-1980 9.31 Cubic Feet
Types of records include: officers' files.