Subscribe to be the first to hear about new RE:source content and to receive the Rockefeller Archive Center’s quarterly newsletter.


Just Published

Arts & Culture

Timeline: Ford Foundation Support for Creativity

In this timeline, we will follow the path Ford Foundation programs took from the early beginnings to the end of the twentieth century. By no means comprehensive, this selection of grants, large and small, demonstrates the breadth and evolution of funding creativity over the decades. 


More on Philanthropy and the Arts

Arts & Culture

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.”

Arts & Culture

American Choreographers: Funding the Creative Process

Grant makers and grantees cooperated to craft a unique program in dance.

Arts & Culture

Rebuilding a Cathedral: The Media, American Money, and French Heritage

Stepping in to save French monuments without stepping on French pride.

Black and white photo of the MoMa during construction.
Arts & Culture

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.

Arts & Culture

An Overview of Rockefeller Foundation Support for the Performing Arts in the 20th Century

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

Arts & Culture

Photo Essay: “Masterpieces of Asian Art in American Collections,” a 1960 Exhibition of the Asia Society

Asia Society’s first public exhibition in 1960, “Masterpieces of Asian Art in American Collections,” launched decades of exhibitions aimed at bringing Asian arts and cultures to American audiences. Photos show the broad range of diverse media and geographical areas represented in the exhibition.

Race & Social Justice

“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.


In Case You Missed It

Stone art of the 8th Century Guatemala (image courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art). It appears to be the face of a dragon surrounded by uneven, geometric patterns.
Arts & Culture

Philanthropy, Art, and Cultural Diplomacy: Nelson Rockefeller and the Case of the Guatemalan Stela

In 1970, Governor Nelson Rockefeller and the Museum of Primitive Art found themselves at the center of a delicate diplomatic negotiation over an allegedly stolen piece of Mayan art.

A brochure advertisement for the Museum of Primitive Art's Masterpieces from the Americas exhibit in 1964.
Arts & Culture

“Opening Up New Worlds”: Nelson Rockefeller’s Quest to Redefine “Primitive” Art

Nelson Rockefeller’s personal collection of indigenous art – and the museum he founded to share it – would eventually become a vital addition to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “encyclopedic” collection.

A grayscale photograph of three distinct shells of snails found in gravel, mud, and sand.
Medicine & Public Health

Of Snails and Self-Infection: Claude Barlow’s Fight against Schistosomiasis during World War II

How one Rockefeller scientist walked the edge of ethics, endangered himself and offended colleagues to move research forward

Arts & Culture

Photo Essay: “Masterpieces of Asian Art in American Collections,” a 1960 Exhibition of the Asia Society

Asia Society’s first public exhibition in 1960, “Masterpieces of Asian Art in American Collections,” launched decades of exhibitions aimed at bringing Asian arts and cultures to American audiences. Photos show the broad range of diverse media and geographical areas represented in the exhibition.


Explore Photo Essays

Race & Social Justice

Photo Essay: Supporting Minority Enterprise in the late 1960s

In 1968, the Ford Foundation began to make social investments using a new tool borrowed from the for-profit world, the Program-Related Investment.

Environment

Photo Essay: The Rockefellers, National Parks, and Public Lands

The nation’s parks, perhaps our most remarkable public resource, have a history of development through private giving.

City Housing Corporation published material, "Radburn Garden Homes". This colorful pamphlet depicts community members playing in a playground and other sports, as well as an illustrated map of the community lay out.
Issues in Philanthropy

Photo Essay: Radburn, New Jersey – the Town for the Motor Age

Philanthropy helped architects and planners create a new kind of suburban community in the 1920s.

Black and white image of "agronomistos", harvesting rice in a field.
Environment

Photo Essay: Mexico and the Launch of the Green Revolution

One foundation’s program in Mexico created the blueprint for ending hunger worldwide.


RE:source is a publication of the Rockefeller Archive Center. We share stories, photo essays, timelines, educational resources, and updates on new research in our archival collections.