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.

Types of records include: correspondence, grants, meeting minutes, publications, and personnel files.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

Types of records include: budgets, correspondence, and meeting minutes.