General Education Board records, 1902-1969

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Collection context

Summary

Creator:
General Education Board (New York, N.Y.)
Extent:
343.19 Cubic Feet
Language:
English .

Background

Scope and content:

The collection includes correspondence, surveys, reports, studies, diaries, publications, minutes, and administrative records.

Important subjects include Negro education, general education, education in the south, rural education, teacher education, agriculture and agricultural economics, farm demonstrations, medical education and nursing, accounting, development of public school systems, state departments of education and education associations.

Biographical / historical:

The General Education Board (GEB) was established in 1903 by John D. Rockefeller Sr. to support education in the United States "without distinction of race, sex, or creed." The program included grants for endowment and general budgetary support of colleges and universities, support for special programs, fellowship and scholarship assistance to state school systems at all levels, and development of social and economic resources as a route to improved educational systems. Major colleges and universities across the country, as well as many small institutions in every state, received aid from the Board. The emphasis, however, was on the South and the education of Blacks. Offices were established in Richmond, Virginia, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to give GEB agents closer contact with southern communities. The Board was especially active in promoting the public school movement in the early part of the twentieth century. After 1940, programs other than those for southern education were closed down; funds were nearly exhausted by the 1950s, and the last appropriation was made in 1964.

For a short history of the Board, see Raymond B. Fosdick's "Adventures in Giving."

Acquisition information:
The papers of the General Education Board were deposited with The Rockefeller Foundation Archives in 1964 by the Trustees of the General Education Board.
Arrangement:

The General Education Board (GEB) Archives are arranged in fourteen series, as follows:

Series 1: Appropriations

Series 2: Financial Offices

Series 3: Minutes and Dockets

Series 4: Officers Actions

Series 5: Officers Conferences

Series 6: Charts

Series 7: Reports

Series 8: Annual Reports

Series 9: Trustee Bulletin

Series 10: Authorizations and Appropriations

Series 11: Occasional Papers

Series 12: Diaries

Series 13: Accession 1984:097

Series 1054: Photographs

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for research with select materials restricted are noted. Brittle or damaged items are available at the discretion of RAC.

RAC is unable to provide access to obsolete media and original digital media. In addition separated media may not yet have undergone stabilization procedures. When feasible, a digital surrogate may be created via special order. All applicable charges will apply.

Terms of access:

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:
15 Dayton Avenue
Sleepy Hollow, NY 10591, United States
Contact: