Documentation focuses on Africa Foundations Learning Group (AFLG).

The Asset Building and Community Development Program was established in October 1996 as part of a Foundation-wide program reorganization. The new program supported the work of a range of groups and individuals seeking to build the assets and capacities of poor communities through community-based activities, research, policy analysis, and advocacy. In 2009, the Asset Building and Community Development Program became the Economic Opportunity and Assets Program. Dr. Melvin L. Oliver joined the Ford Foundation in 1996. He served as the Foundation's first Vice President for Asset Building and Community Development and worked on issues relating to poverty, community economic development, and reproductive health. The Office Files of Melvin L. Oliver document his professional activities as Vice President of the Assets Program between 1996 and 2009. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence concerning such subjects as ongoing grant activity, potential grantees, and Foundation policy, and briefing books from meetings, conferences, and field visits. A couple of files pertaining to Dr. Oliver's pre-Ford research and writing in Sociology during the 1980s can also be found in the collection.

The Office Files of William McPeak provide a partial record of his activities as Associate Director and, later Vice President, at the Ford Foundation between 1950-1964. The files have been in the Foundation Archives since the 1970s. It was not possible to reconstruct the original order of the files because, at some point, the Office Files were reorganized. Evidence of this is the placement of items in folders bearing titles which are different from the notation written on the upper right-hand corner of the item. For example, letters marked "Consultants - Fels, Wm. C." were refiled under "CEEB." For this reason the processor imposed an artificial order and created series.

The Office Files of Robert M. Hutchins document the early development and implementation of Ford Foundation grant portfolios related to education, civil liberties, public television and refugee assistance during the years 1950-1956. The records provide insight into how Foundation staff and trustees acted on the programmatic recommendations of the Gaither Study Committee's Report of the Study for the Ford Foundation on Policy and Program (1949). They also offer a rare glimpse of the daily operation and administration of Foundation affairs under the leadership of President Paul G. Hoffman, when the institution was headquartered in Pasadena, California. The files contain correspondence with grant seekers, staff and trustees, reports by consultants and grantees, conference materials, staff memoranda, program planning information, meeting minutes, publications and clippings. The collection measures 4 linear feet and is contained in 12 archival boxes.

Comprised of film reels, video tapes, audio reels and cassettes and multimedia items.

Types of records include: film, audio, and video.

The collection contains the office files of Bernard Berelson who served as Director of the Behavioral Sciences Division at the Ford Foundation from 1951-1957 as well as materials related to programs that extended beyond Berelson's time at the Foundation. Materials within the collection include correspondence, reports, notes, and data tables that analyze the behavioral sciences as an academic discipline. There are also grant proposals, fellowship information, and notes and correspondence regarding the university presses program, a program that allocated $1,725,000 to 30 university presses over a period of five years to increase book publication in the humanities and social sciences.

The Office Files of Julius A. Stratton document Ford Foundation programs, administration and trustee concerns during the early years of McGeorge Bundy's Presidency. The files contain correspondence with grant seekers, grantees and Foundation staff, reports by consultants and grantees, staff memoranda, publications and news clippings. The collection measures 4 linear feet and is contained in 4 record cartons. The records document a wide range of Ford Foundation grant programs with an emphasis on fields of particular interest to Stratton, including education, science and environmental affairs.

The Board on Overseas Training and Research records span from 1952 to 1955 and comprise the office files of Mr. Gray, the first chairman of the Board on Overseas Training and Research. The Overseas Training and Research program was established in 1952 as a means of demystifying the cultures and communities overseas and improving the skills of social service professionals serving both in the United States and abroad. The program's board launched a fellowship to encourage college graduates, graduate students, and young professionals to pursue compelling research projects of cultural, educational, and historic value. The collection includes correspondence concerning the establishment of the Board on Overseas Training and Research, meeting minutes of the Board, reports regarding the development and expansion of the program and the grants offered, and statistical analyses of applicants and recipients of the foreign study fellowships. Gordon Gray, President of the University of North Carolina and former attorney, state senator, and Secretary of the Army, accepted the position of Chairman of the Board on Overseas Training and Research upon the program's inception in 1952. The collection spans from 1952 to 1955, when Mr. Gray left to become Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs.

Collection consists of photographs and associated materials that document the art collection the Ford Foundation acquired between 1966 and 1967 through the Art Purchase Program. The collection is comprised of one series of artwork photograph files. These files generally contain photographs, photograph negatives, and invoices that regard a piece of art (or a set of art) that the Foundation purchased for the New York City headquarters building it opened in 1967. The files provide photographic evidence of the artwork, information about the artist who created it, information about the material details and dimensions of the artwork, and information about the purchase of the item. They are organized by the name of the artist.