Decade: 1930s

Although known for its work in science, medicine, and health, the Rockefeller Foundation supported a surprising number of performing arts activities.

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

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.

A massive program in nursing education extended to 53 schools across the globe. But it never became a top priority of the foundation that supported it.

The mid-20th century was an era influenced by mass communications, and a handful of philanthropic programs sought to tap into the possibilities of film and radio.

At midcentury, Rockefeller Foundation staffers hoped new technologies might find solutions to complex problems.

Programs designed to build public health infrastructure, eradicate disease, and increase access to healthcare have formed the core of more than a hundred years of one foundation’s strategy.

In the early 20th century, the General Education Board was devoted to the cause of improving education throughout the United States, without distinction of race, sex, or creed.

A foundation set on eradicating mosquito-born diseases had to accept that disease control was good enough.

Two decades of funding helped legitimize the study of psychiatry as a medical issue, not a problem of character.