Avatar photo

Rachel Wimpee

Rachel Wimpee is Associate Director for Research & Engagement at the Rockefeller Archive Center. She holds an interdisciplinary PhD in French literature and French studies, with research interests in gender, cultural representation, and the role private giving plays in social change.

Related Articles

1960s 1970s

“Distasteful Regimes”: Authoritarianism, the Ford Foundation, and Social Sciences in Brazil

When the restrictive military regime that had taken power in Brazil in 1964 became even more repressive by 1969, staffers at the Ford Foundation found themselves facing a conundrum.

Profiles of Women in Philanthropy

In honor of Women’s History Month, we highlight thirteen individuals from our collections to show the range of contributions women have made in the field of philanthropy and in the world at large.

Timeline: A Century of American Philanthropy’s Engagement with Race and Racism

Delving into a century of philanthropic engagement with race, from Reconstruction to the Civil Rights era.

Black-and-white image of an American Red Cross sanitation vehicle

Timeline: American Foundations and the History of Public Health

Key points in the history of American foundations’ engagement with public health.

1950s 1960s 1970s

Funding a Social Movement: The Ford Foundation and Civil Rights, 1965-1970

A story recounting many accusations, from rigged elections to the meddling of big private money in grassroots organizing.

1970s

The Fairy Godmothers of Women’s Studies

Moving scholarship by and about women from margin to center.

1950s

In Brief: The South African Institute of Race Relations

How did a US foundation manage to work under apartheid?

In Brief: The 1995 Beijing Women’s Conference

The global conversation about women’s issues takes a big step forward.

1950s 1960s

In Brief: James Baldwin’s Creative Writer’s Fellowship

How a foundation provided the final ingredient to an era-defining novel.

1910s

Philanthropy’s Fight Against Tuberculosis in World War I France

What does it take to control the outbreak of a deadly disease?