Patronizing the Public

American Philanthropy's Transformation of Culture, Communication, and the Humanities

Contributions by Charles R. Acland, Jeffrey Brison Queen's University, Gisela Cramer, Julia L. Foulkes, Johannes C. Gall, Anna McCarthy associate professor of cinema studies at NYU; author of The Citizen Machine, Manon Niquette, Theresa Richardson, Haidee Wasson, Marion Wrenn Edited by William J. Buxton Concordia University

Publication date:

16 August 2009

Length of book:

362 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

Dimensions:

241x162mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9780739123058

Patronizing the Public: American Philanthropy's Transformation of Culture, Communication, and the Humanities is the first detailed and comprehensive examination of how American philanthropic foundations have shaped numerous fields, including dance, drama, education, film, film-music, folklore, journalism, local history, museums, radio, television, as well as the performing arts and the humanities in general. Drawing on an impressive range of archival and secondary sources, the chapters in the volume give particular attention to the period from the late 1920s to the late 1970s, a crucial time for the development of philanthropic practice. To this end, it examines how patterns and directions of funding have been based on complex negotiations involving philanthropic family members, elite networks, foundation trustees and officers, cultural workers, academics, state officials, corporate interests, and the general public. By addressing both the contours of philanthropic power as well as the processes through which that power has been enacted, it is hoped that this collection will reinforce and amplify the critical study of philanthropy's history.

Part 1 Preface
Chapter 2 1. Civil Society and its Discontents: Bringing Culture, Communication, and the Humanities into the History of Philanthropy
Chapter 3 2. From the Rockefeller Center to the Lincoln Center: Musings on the "Rockefeller Half-Century"
Chapter 4 3. Transformation and Continuity in Rockefeller Child-Related Programs: Implications for the Emergence of Communications as a Field of Concern
Chapter 5 4. Communication in the "New Humanities" and "New General-Education" Programs of Rockefeller Philanthropy, 1933-1940
Chapter 6 5. The Rockefeller Foundation and Pan-American Radio
Chapter 7 6. Hollywood By-Pass: MoMA, the Rockefeller Foundation, and New Circuits of Cinema
Chapter 8 7. An "Art of Fugue" of Film Scoring: Hanns Eisler's Rockefeller Foundation-Funded Film Music Project (1940-1942)
Chapter 9 8. "Sugar-coating the Education Pill": Rockefeller Support for the Communicative Turn in Museums
Chapter 10 9. The Political Economy of Rockefeller Support for the Humanities in Canada, 1941-1957
Chapter 11 10. Inadvertent Architects of 20th Century Media Convergence: Private Foundations and the Reorientation of Foreign Journalists
Chapter 12 11. Screen Technology, Mobilization, and Adult Education in the 1950's
Chapter 13 12. The Television Activities of the Fund for the Republic
Chapter 14 13. "The Weakest Point in Our Record": Philanthropic Support of Dance and the Arts

This nicely edited and useful collection of essays concerns the impact of philanthropy on communications, arts and culture in the US from 1920 to 1970.... The essays are well written, and the footnotes are carefully done and reflect research in the most recent secondary scholarship. Any solid research library will want this volume. Highly recommended.