THE CARNEGIE CORPORATION OF NEW YORK-THE CARNEGIE FOUNDATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF TEACHING CARNEGIE CORPORATION OF NEW YORK ESTABLISHMENT, PURPOSES, ASSETS The Carnegie Corporation of New York was the last of the philanthropic agencies created by Andrew Carnegie, and he served as its president until his death 8 years later in 1919. It was established "to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding" among the people of the United States and the British Dominions. Of its $135,336,869 endowment, $12 million is applicable to enterprises in the British Dominions and Colonies, at the discretion of the trustees. As of 1951 the assets of the corporation were $175,890,810.1 The corporation is managed by a board of 15 trustees, 4 of whom are ex officio, 3 are presidents also of other Carnegie funds, and the president of the corporation. GENERAL POLICY The corporation makes grants chiefly to universities, colleges, and other organizations which the trustees believe can contribute to "the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding," and devotes its entire annual income (except that necessary for adminis trative purposes) to such grants. Its officers do not attempt to keep in active touch with programs, nor plan nor direct projects, full responsibility being assigned to the recipient. Question 1. From 1911 to 1952, inclusive, the last year for which the annual report is available, the corporation made funds available to: Universities, colleges, and schools in the United States' For adult education 2 American Council on Education_ Columbia University-. Cooperative Test Service, Educational Records Bureau, Graduate Record, College Entrance Examination Board___ Institute of International Education____ National Citizens Commission for the Public Schools Appropriations $56, 838, 274 3, 012, 875 1, 012, 875 2, 687, 265 90, 924 2, 366, 326 750, 000 261, 500 76, 485 3,727, 650 2, 419, 450 73, 243, 624 1 Does not include Columbia University Teachers College or University of Chicago. Funds were given to other organizations, such as the National Advisory Council on Radio in Education, whose activities were less directly related to education, but time did not permit exploring them in detail. A brief description of the type of activity carried on by the 1 Basic Facts About Carnegie Corporation of New York and Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, published by the corporation in August 1952. American Council on Education, the National Education Association, and the Progressive Education Association is given in section 2 of this summary. Prior to 1930 the major grants of the corporation were for library buildings, laboratories, endowment of liberal arts colleges, development of such colleges through endowment, endowment of medical schools at universities, and endowment, buildings, and support of Carnegie Institute of Technology. Question 2. All quotations are from the annual reports, and in order to avoid undue length, a few have been selected from many of a similar nature. They appear in the annual reports under the heading of "General Education," unless otherwise indicated. 1937 report Page 20: The field of general education, even within the limits of scholarly inquiry is too broad for any single foundation to cover, and, fortunately, more than one foundation is now active therein. The present activities of the corporation, working in close cooperation with the Carnegie Foundation, are the following: tests and measurements and records; comparative education, notably in the study of examinations; professional education, particularly in its relation to professional practice and to supply and demand in personnel; the relation of research to professional education, especially in the graduate school; new developments of undergraduate instruction, supported chiefly by direct grants to institutions; and the maintenance of what may be called educational clearinghouses, as in Australia and New Zealand. * * Page 21: ** Meanwhile, the problems of professional standards in general, the relations of the professions to one another and to other branches of education, the needs of the public and the degree to which these are being met, have all been comparatively neglected. The corporation has had opportunity to study these questions rather closely in connection with training for librarianship, but its interest includes all professions, large and small, as well as what may be called emerging professions, that is, callings which are gradually assuming a professional status. It is the writer's belief that there is a definite need today to build up a body of doctrine which will be based on reality and not on tradition. Pages 21, 22: This general situation opens opportunities to foundations for activities of the greatest usefulness, but, unless the programs themselves are carefully organized and rigidly limited in scope, there is a real danger lest they tend to draw the foundation itself outside its proper sphere of action. It is essential not only that the foundation be insured completeness of relevant data for its study, but also that it be freed from any compulsion to press for action as a means of justifying its conclusions. While it may advise frankly concerning changes, when its advice is sought, it should never agitate for reforms or use its money or influence as a means to a political end. 1938 report Pages 31, 32, 33: According to the report, on the basis of the general purpose of each of the grants made in the period since 1933-34 for educational studies, they might be divided as follows: To understand the student To improve teaching-.. To show what is being done-- To inform as to educational policy and organization... To find out what the students learn_. Various other purposes.. Total_ $50, 300 83.100 129, 350 51,000 191,500 35, 600 540, 850 The longest unbroken series of grants of this character made by the corporation has been voted to the Institute of Educational Research of Teachers College, Columbia University, and it should be of interest to summarize the results of cooperation with a small group of workers under distinguished leadership. In the 16 years from July 1, 1922, the researches in psychology and education at Teachers College under the direction of Dr. E. L. Thorndike have been supported by grants from the Carnegie Corp., totaling approximately $325,000. The findings are reported in nine books or monographs already published (without cost to the corporation), and nearly a hundred scientific articles, doctoral dissertations, and special reports. Nor must it be overlooked that, since science advances as a whole, the work of gathering data which others may use, repeating experiments, adding here and there to what others have proved, may in the long run be more valuable than even such striking direct contributions. 1942 report Pages 14, 15: In the 1942 report the corporation lists as its three major grants those made to the University Center in Atlanta, the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and the New York University in New York. Referring to the Atlanta enterprise ($150,000), it is noted that far greater grants had been given to it by the General Education Board. Its purpose is stated to be: ** a long-planned integration of the work of the several institutions of college grade in that area under terms which will give Atlanta the advantage of a modern university without requiring the constituent colleges to sacrifice their identities. * * * The grant to New York University ($100,000) was made with the understanding that the fund would be used for current purposes rather than for endowment. Pages 16, 17-The report then continues: Two grants totaling $65,000 were made to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching for continuation of cooperative work with a selected list of graduate and undergraduate schools in developing criteria for admission and in providing a basis for judgment as to ability of those already admitted to candidacy for degrees. A more detailed statement on these studies will appear in the 1942 report of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Additional grants totaling $21,000 were also made to the foundation for two programs undertaken in cooperation with the American Council on Education. Another grant of $10,000 was voted for the formulation of special tests to be used in selecting the persons to be trained under the defense-training program of the United States Office of Education. As was recorded in last year's report, one of the largest grants voted in 1940-41 made possible the establishment of the Institute of Adult Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. It is a pleasure to report that the institute is rapidly defining a useful role for itself, and that the American Association for Adult Education, now maintained entirely from membership fees, increased its dues-paying constituency during a year when most voluntary professional associations were suffering a decline in membership. Among the adult education programs initiated with corporation support in prewar days, none has proved more timely than that of the Council on Foreign Relations. The regional committees organized in 12 strategic cities across the country have met regularly for discussion of international problems and have joined in producing an interesting summary of these discussions under the title of Some Regional Views on Our Foreign Policy, 1941. An appropriation of $24,000 was voted for the continuation of this program. In the United States it need no longer be argued that provision for the education of adults is quite as properly a responsibility of the Government as is education at other age levels. The war, indeed, has offered dramatic evidence of the social cost of not affording such opportunities, and the numerous training programs which have been improvised under pressure during the past 2 years may be expected to continue, with suitable changes and improvements, into peace times. ✶✶✶ Question 3. The excerpts from the annual reports given above, as well as the quotations from Dr. Hollis' book, are pertinent to this question also. No attempt will be made to include all the statements in the year books of the corporation. Moreover, it is believed that 1 or 2 in addition to those already given will suffice. According to Dr. Hollis the foundations are exercising the initiative accorded them to spend most of their money on exploratory work that seems only remotely connected with improving college education on the theory that research must first be done in general education in order to efficiently accomplish college reorganization. 1952 report Page 14: One of the developments which has produced the most lively debate in educational circles has been the widespread movement to reinvigorate the ideals embodied in the term "liberal education." The goal is rather widely accepted, but there is substantial difference of opinion as to how to achieve it. The general educationists offer a variety of curricular reforms. Advocates of the Great Books press their claims for the wisdom of the past. Humanists decry the shift of interest from certain disciplines to certain other disciplines. Our colleges are literally awash with formulae for salvation; all of which is healthy and part of the process of getting things done in a democratic, heterogeneous, and always vigorously assertive society. ** President Conant and his coworkers at Harvard have provided leadership in this direction with their efforts to develop a new approach to the teaching of science as a general education course. During the current year the corporation made a grant to Harvard for the continuation of this work. The social sciences also have a significant role to play. Serious men cannot accept the view of those humanists who rhapsodize over Platonic generalizations about society but resent the efforts of the modern social scientist to test these generalizations. * *** Developments such as the new American studies program at Barnard College (see p. 19) and the courses in Asiatic civilization at Columbia University (see p. 21) would be impossible without vigorous participation, indeed, vigorous leadership, on the part of the humanistic fields. But there is nothing in the humanistic fields which offers a guaranty of salvation. They too have turned out narrow technicians when they might have been turning out educated men. too have often ignored the central concerns of liberal education. SUMMATION Based on the foregoing, it can be assumed : They Carnegie Corp. contributed large sums of money to projects which can reasonably be considered "in the educational field" as shown by their activities during the past 40 years. 1911-20: For library buildings, laboratories, or endowment in liberal arts colleges For development of liberal arts colleges chiefly through endownment__ 1931-40: In millions $3.5 2.8 For research, study, publication; grants-in-aid to individuals__-- .5 1.5 2.8 4. 0 2 Ibid., p. 150. Basic Facts About Carnegie Corporation of New York and Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, p. 11. To Carnegie Institute of Technology___ $24.3 10. 0 For support of dental research and education___. For educational projects and for development of educational institutions outside the United States__ 1.3. 4.0 For development of college libraries and librarianships; library schools or library interests___. 8.6 For free pensions for college and university professors--- 21.5 3.0 Total 72.7 Grand total____. 110.7 As mentioned previously, the corporation has contributed $1,237,711 to the work of the National Education Association, the Progressive Education Association, and the American Council on Education, and their combined activities affect education at all levels. In the early years of the activities of each of these organizations, the amount contributed by the corporation was undoubtedly a sizable portion of the funds available to each of them. CARNEGIE FOUNDATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF TEACHING ESTABLISHMENT, PURPOSES The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, created by Andrew Carnegie in 1905, was the third of the philanthropic agencies he endowed and like the others has its own funds, trustees, administrative offices, and conducts its own affairs. Fifteen years before when he was appointed a trustee of Cornell University, Mr. Carnegie had been shocked to find that college teachers were "paid only about as much as office clerks." In the summer of 1904 while on his annual visit to Scotland, he renewed an association with Henry S. Pritchett, a member of Theodore Roosevelt's Cabinet and president of Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and from that meeting grew the establishment of a fund to provide pensions. for professors in American universities. There have been two distinctily different phases of the foundation's activities: 1. Activities designed— to provide retiring pension without regard to race, sex, creed, or color, for the teachers of universities, colleges, and technical schools within those institutions who, by reason of long and meritorious service, * * * shall be deemed by the board of directors to be entitled to the assistance and aid of this corporation |