The Religious Interests series reflects the Rockefeller family's interest in and contributions to various churches and religious organizations. The files contain correspondence between members of the family and the family office, as well as officials and members of the various religious institutions. In some cases, the files include financial information on the appealing institutions. The miscellaneous files generally contain unsolicited appeals for donations. The series illustrates family contributions to religious organizations up to 1962. The contributions were made to a wide spectrum of organizations and activities, such as missionary movements, interdenominational cooperation, and religious education.

The Boards represented in this series are the most important philanthropies that have been developed from the Rockefeller fortune: the Bureau of Social Hygiene; the China Medical Board of the Rockefeller Foundation and its successor, the China Medical Board, Inc.; the Davison Fund; the General Education Board; the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial; the Rockefeller Brothers Fund; the Rockefeller Foundation; the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (now known as Rockefeller University); the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission; the Sealantic Fund; and the Spelman Fund of New York.

The materials in this series represent the Rockefeller family's involvement over the course of more than half a century with mainstream charitable and philanthropic organizations. With certain important exceptions, these papers focus on maintenance organizations, i.e., groups handling the chronic problems of the disabled, alcoholics, juvenile delinquents, orphans, the elderly, and the sick. For this reason, much of the correspondence and other material contained here is of a routine nature and constitutes what was once called the "citizenship" obligations of the Rockefeller family.

This series contains 47 boxes of documents covering the years 1897 to 1961. This is a companion series to the Welfare General material and reflects the interest of the Rockefeller family, in particular John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and John D. Rockefeller 3rd, with issues and organizations specifically focused on American youth. The involvement of Mr. Rockefeller Jr. with the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) and Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) dominates this series, accounting for 27 of the 47 boxes. The substantial material on these two organizations reflects both Mr. Rockefeller's strong Christian background and his choice of these agencies as the philanthropic vehicle for a variety of activities--missionary outreach, settlement work, sex education lectures, urban recreation, and the Training Camp activities during the World War I. However, most of the material in this series describes the support given to local Ys in the United States and abroad. The strong interest of Laurance S. Rockefeller and Mary French Rockefeller in the work of the YMCA and YWCA also is evident from these documents.

The World Affairs series reflects the Rockefeller family's contributions toward national defense and international relations. The series is divided into seven sections: Foreign Policy, including the Foreign Policy Association and the Council on Foreign Relations; Institute of Pacific Relations; National Defense, which includes material on war preparedness, veteran's organizations, civil defense, the Commander Byrd expeditions and the New York City Airport Authority; Post-War Reconstruction; Peace Plans, which contains material on peace organizations, the League of Nations and the United Nations (including material on John D. Rockefeller, Jr.'s gift of the site for the United Nations headquarters); War Relief; and National War Fund.

The records of the Population Council document its day-to-day operation as an organization that, among other activities, evaluated and administered grants, sponsored conferences of scholars in the field of demography, and provided advice to individuals, private institutions, and governments concerned with population. There is some material relating to major policy decisions of the Council. There are also letters and reports from scientists involved in medical research and from Council staff members and representatives involved in family planning activities abroad.

Register kept by Assistant Surgeon George B. McKnight, U.S.N. (died 1857) aboard the U.S. Schooner Experiment.

Correspondence of The Rockefeller Foundation consists principally of material not directly connected with an institutional grant. It includes: inter-office memoranda, correspondence between field officers and the home office, extracts from officers' diaries, forms and other material relating to fellowships; casual requests for information, employment, or aid; printed matter and letters of abuse received by the Foundation. As such, the General Correspondence provides insight into the day-to-day workings of the Foundation.

Correspondence of The Rockefeller Foundation consists principally of material not directly connected with an institutional grant. It includes: inter-office memoranda, correspondence between field officers and the home office, extracts from officers' diaries, forms and other material relating to fellowships; casual requests for information, employment, or aid; printed matter and letters of abuse received by the Foundation. As such, the General Correspondence provides insight into the day-to-day workings of the Foundation.

Rockefeller Foundation general correspondence: