Decade: 1920s




The Rockefeller Foundation’s Role in Creating the Atomic Bomb
In the aftermath, Foundation staff struggled to rectify their organization’s involvement with this weapon of mass destruction.


Philanthropy and Oceanography: An Episode in Field-Building
Funding on levels large and small helped this new area of scientific research grow and evolve.

Photo Essay: A Mother, a Son, and Modern Art
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller’s passion for modern art influenced her children, especially her son Nelson Rockefeller, and continues to reach the public through the museum she co-founded.

Photo Essay: John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and the Design of The Met Cloisters
How an American philanthropist’s love of medieval art created an immersive Old World experience at The Cloisters museum in New York City.

The Met Cloisters: An Unlikely Pair Makes a Home for Medieval Art in New York City
Does philanthropy always require a perfect partnership to create something great? Peering behind the facade of The Met Cloisters museum reveals that the answer is sometimes “no.”

Public Health: How the Fight Against Hookworm Helped Build a System
A hundred years ago, hookworm disease was an epidemic across the US South. Northern philanthropy tried to help.