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.

Types of records include: officers' files.

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.

The records of the Harkness Fellowships reflect the close personal relationship the Fund Instituted with over 1,800 fellows.

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.

Types of records include: meeting minutes and reports.

Types of records include: manuscripts and library records.

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.

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.

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.