Frederick T. Gates papers, 1877-1939
Collection context
Summary
- Creator:
- Gates, Frederick Taylor (1853-1929) and Rockefeller Foundation
- Extent:
- 4.13 Cubic Feet 4 letter document boxes, 1 half-letter document box, and 1 oversize box
- Language:
- English .
Background
- Scope and content:
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Records consist of correspondence, clippings, pamphlets, memoranda, manuscript drafts, and a ledger.
Important subjects in the collection include religion, economy, medicine, philanthropy, labor, World War I, the China Medical Board, the General Education Board, The Rockefeller Institute, The University of Chicago, Consolidation Coal Co., the Merritt Case, education, homeopathy, agriculture, meningitis, diabetes, and theology.
Among the correspondents are: L. M. Bowers; Simon Flexner; J. J. Jesserand; Harry Pratt Judson; Frederick T. Gates; John D. Rockefeller, Sr.; John D. Rockefeller, Jr.; Charles W. Eliot; and Wallace Buttrick.
- Biographical / historical:
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Frederick T. Gates (1853-1929) was born in Broome County, New York. The son of a school teacher who read medicine and later became an ordained Baptist Minister, Gates spent the first fourteen years of his life in small villages and towns in New York. In 1867 his father joined the American Baptist Home Mission Society and the family moved to Kansas where Gates attended Highland University, a preparatory school. At fifteen he taught school and for the next five years had such various jobs as selling harrows to farmers, clerking in a village dry goods store and later in a bank. In 1873, he was admitted to advanced standing in the classical course at the University of Rochester, a small Baptist school. Instead of remaining in Rochester, he returned to Kansas for two years of independent study before he rejoined his class in 1875. On graduation from Rochester, he enrolled in the Rochester Baptist Theological Seminary and graduated in 1880.
His first and only pastorate was the Fifth Avenue Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 1884 the church changed its name to the Central Baptist Church and moved to new buildings. Gates remained until 1888, when he became the fund raiser in a campaign to support the Baptist school, Owatonna Academy in Minnesota. After a successful campaign he was influential in the formation of the American Baptist Education Society and became its first Secretary. He moved to Racine, Wisconsin, and then to Morgan Park, Illinois, to carry on further fund raising activities, this time for a college which would grow into the University of Chicago.
It was in this capacity that he became acquainted with John D. Rockefeller, who invited him in 1891 to assist with his charities and investigate his appeals. This grew in time into a dual function of investigating and then managing some of Mr. Rockefeller, Sr.'s business interests.
Trustee of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, Trustee of the General Education Board, 1902-1928, and Chairman of the Board 1907-1917, Chairman of the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission for the Eradication of Hookworm Disease, 1909-1914, Trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation, 1913-1923, and member of the International Health Commission, the China Medical Board and the Peking Medical College, Gates resigned from business activities in 1912 and devoted himself to these philanthropies until 1928.
- Acquisition information:
- The papers of Frederick T. Gates were deposited with the Rockefeller Foundation Archives in 1955 and 1961 by Russell C. Gates and Dorothy Gates Elsmith.
- Processing information:
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Processing was completed as of February 2, 1970. Processing Level 3: Standard Processing. All material is available in acid free manuscript boxes and folders.
- Arrangement:
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This collection is arranged alphabetically up until box 4. The alphabetical files are followed by three folders of abstracts, and an autobiography, scrapbook, and ledger. Gates' s own system has been retained.
Letters are frequently filed by correspondent.
Access and use
- Restrictions:
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Open for research. Brittle or damaged items are available at the discretion of RAC. Researchers interested in accessing digital media (floppy disks, CDs, DVDs, etc.) or audiovisual material (audio cassettes, VHS, etc.) in this collection must use an access surrogate. The original items may not be accessed because of preservation concerns. To request an access surrogate be made, or if you are unsure if there is an access surrogate, please contact an archivist.
- Terms of access:
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Rockefeller Foundation has title, copyright, and literary rights in the collection, in so far as it holds them. Rockefeller Archive Center has authority to grant permission to cite and publish archival material from the collection.
- Location of this collection:
- Contact: