 |
The Rockefeller Archive Center was established as a division of The Rockefeller University on January 15, 1974 by members of the Rockefeller Family, the Rockefeller University (RU), the Rockefeller Foundation (RF), and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF). Planning had begun in 1965 for a single facility to bring together under one roof the archival collections of the various institutions founded by members of the Rockefeller family. The family had employed an archivist since 1954; the RF began an archival program in 1967, and the University in 1969. Opened to researchers in 1975, the Rockefeller Archive Center now serves about 250 on-site researchers each year and provides reference services for its donor organizations and hundreds more off-site researchers. The Archive Center became an independent institution in 2008.
The major collections located at the Rockefeller Archive Center are those of the Center's founders: the Rockefeller family, the Rockefeller University, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Most notable in the Rockefeller Family Archives are the papers of John D. Rockefeller, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and John D. Rockefeller 3rd; the General Files of the Office of the Messrs Rockefeller; and the papers of Nelson A. Rockefeller, whose long and varied career included service as the governor of New York State and as vice president of the United States.
In 1984 the Center shifted focus slightly to the general history of philanthropy and began to acquire the records of non-Rockefeller foundations, starting with the records of the Russell Sage Foundation and the Commonwealth Fund. Other significant non-Rockefeller collections now include the records of the Social Science Research Council, the John and Mary Markle Foundation, the Culpeper Foundation, the Foundation for Child Development, and the Lucille P. Markey Charitable Trust.
The Center's 66 million pages of documents, 500,000 photographs, 2,000 films and 4,500 reels of microfilm provide unique insights into worldwide developments and issues of the 19th and 20th centuries. More than 3,000 scholars have conducted research at the Center, and many of them have produced books, articles, dissertations and films based on the Center's collections. Major subjects researched at the Center include agriculture, the arts, African-American history, education, international relations and economic development, labor, medicine, philanthropy, politics, population, religion, science, the social sciences, social welfare, and women's history.
In 1974 the Center's Governing Council adopted a statement of purpose for the Archive Center that included six objectives:
- To preserve the papers of The Rockefeller University, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Rockefeller family, and other appropriate organizations and individuals;
- To provide proper, scientific, permanent storage space for these records;
- To provide finding aids so that the records can be used by responsible scholars;
- To promote research in the records by providing intellectual and financial assistance to qualified students and scholars;
- To sponsor and promote seminar conferences based on the subject resources of the archives;
- To publish selected documents or series of documents from the archives.
As the Archive Center evolved over time, members of the staff collaboratively elaborated their vision of the Center's goals in 1988:
The mission of the Rockefeller Archive Center is to encourage and promote the academic and applied uses of history in the diverse areas related to its collections. The staff distinguishes several complementary goals and activities that, in practice, define this mission.
- To facilitate access to archival material held at the Center through processing and storage of records, by conveying information in the records to scholars and the staffs of depositor organizations and by delineating the historical and institutional contexts of these records.
- To serve as a center for research in the history of philanthropy through the promotion and expansion of the Center's collections, through various publication and outreach programs, and through the continuing and increasing participation in the scholarly community.
- To become a primary source of information about other archives relating to American philanthropy and philanthropic institutions. . . .
The staff recognizes and welcomes the evolving nature of the Center's mission and the expanding scope of its activities. The staff expects the Center to continue its participation in the archival and research communities interested in the preservation, availability, and interpretation of materials documenting nineteenth- and twentieth-century history.
The Archive Center is located in Hillcrest, a home of Westchester County field stone built for Martha Baird Rockefeller (1895-1971), the second wife of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (1874-1960). The house was designed by Mott B. Schmidt and was completed in 1963. Mrs. Rockefeller personally planned the furnishings of the house, but advancing age and illness prevented her from living here beyond the first night that the house was open. After her death, the house was given to the Rockefeller Brothers Fund as part of her residual estate. In March 1974 the Rockefeller Brothers Fund gave the house and the surrounding 24 acres of grounds to The Rockefeller University for use as the Rockefeller Archive Center.
The house provides work space for both researchers and staff and includes a few rooms where Rockefeller memorabilia are on display. Researchers who visit the RAC work in the Reading Room on the second floor of the house and may use the researchers' lounge on the first floor.
Along with the house and grounds, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund's gift included $1.5 million for the construction of records storage space. In 1974-1975, archival storage vaults were built to provide adequate temperature and humidity controls for the reservation of records. The archival facility is composed of cinder block and concrete and was built below grade behind the house (on the east side) and joined to the house through hallways in the basement.
The Center's Reading Room is open to researchers on weekdays from 9:15 a.m. until 4:45 p.m.. Research appointments are required. The Reading Room can accommodate seven researchers at a time. Appointments must be made with, and confirmed by, a staff member in advance of a research visit. Photo identification is required. Researchers are advised to contact the Center to make an appointment before making travel plans. An information packet, which includes directions, a listing of the Center's holiday closings and local accommodations, is available at the Researcher Information section of this website. Researchers are invited to write to the Center's Executive Director, describing their projects in specific terms. The staff will respond with a description of the scope and content of relevant materials in the collections.
Complete finding aids for the collections listed in the Archival and Manuscript Collections are available at the Rockefeller Archive Center. The summaries provided on the website are designed to give researchers a brief introduction to the many collections maintained here at the Rockefeller Archive Center. If you need more specific assistance, please contact the Archive Center Staff.
|
|
|
