Towards a new science of man rockefeller philanthropy and the renovation of the human sciences in the United States

Abstract

In recent decades, scholars have examined in some detail the immense influence exerted on American intellectual life—and especially on the human sciences—by philanthropic foundations during the 20th century.1This paper represents a revised and expanded version of a paper I gave at the 24th Annual Conference of the European Society for the History of the Human Sciences, Moscow Sept 2005. I thank the audience of the panel which I participated for its perceptive comments and criticisms.View all notes Scholars as diverse as Olivier Zunz, Lily Kay, Donald Fisher, Judith Sealander, Martin Bulmer, and John M. Jordan have explored the impact of the foundations on the social and life sciences in the U.S. In doing so, they have demonstrated that the Rockefeller philanthropies—particularly the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial, the General Education Board, and the Rockefeller Foundation—played an especially significant role with regard to the elaboration and promotion of the human sciences.