Setting the Stage

At death in 1638, John Harvard bequeathed library and half his estate to new school in Cambridge, Mass.

From 1715-1718, Elihu Yale sends gifts to Collegiate School of Connecticut, which changes its name in his honor

In 1885, Stanford University chartered (opens in 1891) with gifts of unprecedented size by Leland Stanford

Philanthropic Triangle

Vanderbilt University

Central University was chartered in 1872 by Methodist Episicopal Church, South

Project would found a university in the South, "contribut[ing] to strengthening the ties which should exist between all sections of our common country.”

Library of Congress Image, Old Main, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn..

Holland N. McTyeire American Bishop of the

Methodist Episcopal Church, South, elected in 1866

Graduated from Randolph-Macon College in Virginia,1844

Led church movement to establish "an institution of learning of the highest order”

Methodist Bishop Holland Nimmons McTyeire, 1875. United Methodist Publishing House

Holland N. McTyeire Cousin of the Commodore's

young second wife

Recovered after medical treatment at Vanderbilt mansion in New York

Selected faculty, arranged curriculum and set university policies

Chose site for campus, supervised construction of buildings, personally planted trees

Methodist Bishop Holland Nimmons McTyeire, 1875. United Methodist Publishing House

Cornelius Vanderbilt Born of poor Dutch

peasants in 1794

Grew from ferry-boy in New York Harbor to become shipping magnate

Was not a church member

Gave $500,000 in 1875; totaled $1 million by death in 1877

Was his only major philanthropy

Cornelius Vanderbilt. Half plate daguerreotype, gold toned. between 1844 and 1860. Produced by Mathew Brady's studio. Library of Congress.

Vanderbilt University

Consisted of: one Main Building

(now Kirkland Hall) an astronomical

observatory professors' housing

Landon C. Garland was Vanderbilt's first chancellor (1875-1893)

Methodist Episcopal Church, South oversaw from founding to June 1914

Library of Congress Image, Old Main, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn..

Frederick T. Gates Son of Baptist minister

U. Rochester, 1877; Rochester Theological Seminary, 1880

Pastor, Central Baptist Church in Minneapolis until 1888

First secretary of American Baptist Education Society: wrote report on Baptist colleges and need

Advocated a center of excellence in higher education to be located in Midwest, near industry

Frederick T. Gates in 1922, at age 69. Rockefeller Archive Center.

John D. Rockefeller, Sr.

Started Standard Oil Company in 1870, with family and others

First American billionaire

Retired by 1897

Northern Baptist; paid tithing

John D. Rockefeller in 1875.

John D. Rockefeller, Sr.

Had supported Baptist schools with small gifts

Believed in the project of a new “super-university”

Looked at it with business perspective

Assured good leadership, selecting William Rainey Harper

Gave $600,000 to establish U. Chicago 1889 (eventually totals $40 million)

John D. Rockefeller in 1885. Source: The Rockefeller Archive Center

A Unique Relationship

“ Your fortune is rolling up, rolling up like an

avalanche! You must keep up with it! You

must distribute it faster than it grows! If

you do not, it will crush you and your

children and your children’s children!— Frederick T. Gates, to John D. Rockefeller. Gates became

Rockefeller’s philanthropic advisor at age 38 in 1891

Gates: Advice on How to Raise Money

University of Chicago

Founded by American Baptist Education Society

Land donated by Marshall Field, owner of department store

First classes on October 1, 1892 with 594 students and 120 faculty

Rockefeller: "the best investment I ever made”

The carillon tower of the Rockefeller Chapel at the University of Chicago. Greg Dunham.

Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research Gates read about

disease-curing institute in Paris

Proposed to Rockefeller

Consulted leading medical figures

Staffed with best and brightest; $60 million

Now Rockefeller University, has produced Nobel laureates and major discoveries

Rockefeller University, 2006.

General Education Board

Most ambitious of Rockefeller’s philanthropic establishments; tens of millions of dollars

Aimed to improve education in the post-Civil War South, especially for blacks

Tackled poverty to improve tax base to schools by developing agricultural innovation and training

Improved American medical education

Front row, from left: Edwin A. Alderman, Frederick T. Gates, Charles W. Eliot, Harry Pratt Judson, Wallace Buttrick. Second row, from left: Wickliffe Rose, Hollis B. Frissell, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., E. C. Sage, Albert Shaw, Abraham Flexner. Third row, from left: George E. Vincent, Anson Phelps Stokes, Starr J. Murphy, Jerome D. Greene.

Andrew Carnegie Was telegrapher and

invested in railroads

Founded Carnegie Steel Company, later U.S. Steel

Publishes “Wealth” in 1889

Became major philanthropist and advocate of philanthropy

Supported libraries, universities, science, arts, music

Andrew Carnegie. 1913. Marceau, of New York. Library of Congress.

Abraham Flexner In 1910, commissioned

by Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to investigate quality of 130 U.S. medical schools

Findings: inadequate laboratories, empty libraries, negligent faculty

Recommended closing 100 schools; not fully implemented

Abraham Flexner, 1953.

Observations

It is all about relationships

Deep personal convictions, often religious in nature, are motivating factors

Involvement/interference in governance and administration is mixed

Do your homework about the cause, the benefactor, and the advocate

Try to solve the complex problems with simple answers

References

Bremner, R.H. (1960). American philanthropy. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Lucas, C.J. (1994). American higher education: A history. New York: St. Martin’s Press.

Marsden, G. (1994). The soul of the American university: From Protestant establishment to established nonbelief. New York: Oxford University Press.

Nielsen, W. (1996). Inside American philanthropy. London and Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.

Thelin, J.R. (2004). A history of American higher education. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.