Topic: Funding Individuals

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

Understanding the Business Cycle: Funding Economics Research

In nearly a century of activity in the field of economics, the Foundation initiated new research centers and training programs around the world.

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

Rockefeller Foundation Funding for Literature

Supporting American writers and the journals that publish their work.

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.

1960s 1970s

The Rockefeller Foundation Makes its First Foray into Environmentalism

A short-lived environmental research program in the 1970s was an early foray into climate change funding.

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.

1920s 1930s 1940s

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.

The Rockefeller Foundation’s Refugee Scholar Program

Saving scholars threatened by Nazis was not easy, but choosing which ones to save was even more difficult.

1960s

“Highest Standards”: Elite Philanthropy and Literary Black Voices during the Civil Rights Era

Against a backdrop of white, establishment concepts of literary excellence, one foundation struggled to appreciate Black voices.

1970s

The Fairy Godmothers of Women’s Studies

Moving scholarship by and about women from margin to center.

1950s 1960s

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

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