Decade: 1920s

1920s

American Fabric: The Ukrainian Needlecraft Guild and “Americanization” in the Progressive Era

The People’s Institute and the Ukrainian Needlecraft Guild offer a lens through which to examine the entanglement of Progressive Era reform, immigration, labor, and early twentieth-century philanthropy.

Left side of the political poster reads "Éire" (Ireland), right side reads "West Britain". In between both images reads "Seachtain na Saoirse". Bottom of the print reads "On which side are you on? Language Collection Now On."
1920s

The Irish Language Debate: Nationalism and Rockefeller Foundation Medical Education Reform in the Irish Free State

Ireland’s independence revived the nationalist campaign for mandatory Irish language. The debate discouraged Rockefeller Foundation funders.

1910s 1920s

Legitimizing the Social Sciences: The Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial in the 1920s

What began as a philanthropic fund to honor its namesake became an early force in the social sciences.

1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s

History of the Social Science Research Council

A new organization played an important part in assisting the Rockefeller Foundation by assembling cooperative studies on the issues of the day.

1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s

Philanthropy and Good Government: The Rockefeller Foundation and Public Administration

Partnering with public agencies to encourage efficient administration in state, county, and local governments.

1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s

Early 20th Century Reforms of Medical Education Worldwide

Working to change US medical education was one of the Rockefeller Foundation’s biggest endeavors in the 1910s and 1920s, extending from Johns Hopkins in Baltimore to Beijing, China.

Illustration shows a woman wearing a red dress, holding money, standing between the "Health Department Bureau of Licences and Inspection" and an opening in a wall labeled "Graft". In a cut-away showing the scene behind the "Graft", the man (probably a plainclothes officer) who collects the money through the opening in the wall is passing money to a uniformed officer, who in turn passes the money to a large hand (probably that of a politician) entering the frame from above; it is a wild scene with a woman lying on a table, the body of a man stabbed to death beneath the table, a man rolling dice, others drinking, and a shooting taking place in the background. While the woman in red hesitates, the implication is that she has no choice, but to pay the graft.
1910s 1920s 1930s

Sex Problems as Social Problems: The Bureau of Social Hygiene, 1911-1934

When Dr. Katherine Bement Davis was named general secretary of the Bureau in 1917, her appointment transformed the organization to take into deeper account women’s sexuality.

1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s

“A Very Broad Field”: Building the Rockefeller Foundation’s Humanities Program

The Rockefeller Foundation evolved to bring the arts and humanities together, from classical archaeology to contemporary museums.

1920s 1930s 1940s

Building the Hale Telescope

A 20-year-long project, funded by Rockefeller philanthropies, took technologies enabling astronomy to an unprecedented scale.

1920s 1930s

“For Initiative and for Experiment”: The International Education Board, 1923-1938

Incorporated in 1923 with funding from John D. Rockefeller, Jr., the IEB built a major scientific network in Europe and the US in only five years.