Degree Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
2007
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
History
First Advisor
Hamilton Cravens
Abstract
In January 1957, Merle Curti published "The History of American Philanthropy as a Field of Research." Curti believed the time was right for historians to ask: "how important has relatively disinterested benevolence been in giving expression to, and in promoting at home and abroad, a major American value---human welfare?" Historians have done much research over fifty years to answer Curti's question. Some historians argue that philanthropic benevolence has been relatively unbiased when supporting research to solve social and economic problems; these historians interpret philanthropic support of social research as generally "compatible" with unbiased selection of research problems and methods. Other historians believe philanthropic financial assistance has been incompatible with the ideal of neutral and detached social research, that is, that philanthropic support is often in "conflict" with this ideal. During the first half of the twentieth century, the premier philanthropic organizations supporting social research to lift the human prospect were the Rockefeller Foundation and the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial. In this dissertation, I work with published literature and archival materials to show that Rockefeller philanthropies were important between 1911 and 1946 in promoting an improved human condition in the United States and around the world. I respond to previous historians with my thesis that neither the "compatibility" nor "conflict" explanations best describe the relationship between Rockefeller philanthropy and social science. The best description is what some recent historians describe as a "complexity" relationship.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.31274/rtd-180813-16721
Publisher
Digital Repository @ Iowa State University, http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/
Copyright Owner
David Lee Seim
Copyright Date
2007
Language
en
Proquest ID
AAI3259444
OCLC Number
164356787
ISBN
9781109972511
File Format
application/pdf
File Size
415 pages
Recommended Citation
Seim, David Lee, ""Perhaps we can hit upon some medium of course": Rockefeller philanthropy, economic research, and the structure of social science--1911-1946" (2007). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 15502.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/15502
Included in
Economic History Commons, Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies Commons, Social Welfare Commons, Theory, Knowledge and Science Commons, United States History Commons
