Horace H. Rackham and Mary A. Rackham Fund Records, 1929-1950 (majority within 1934-1940)

Summary

Creator:

Horace H. Rackham and Mary A. Rackham Fund.

Abstract:

The last will and testament of Horace H. Rackham provided for the establishment of a trust fund to provide for the health and welfare of individuals, particularly the sick, aged, the young, the poor, and other underprivileged. Much of the trust money went to the University of Michigan to be used for a building for the graduate school and an endowment to be used for different kinds of research. The Fund also awarded grants to agencies involved in child welfare, community culture, education, health, philanthropy, and science. The Fund distributed money from 1934 until about 1941. The series in this record group consist of administrative and executive files, and project applications and grant files.

Extent:

14 linear feet
1 oversize volume

Language:

English.

Call Number:

851587 Bs 2

Authors:

Finding aid prepared by: Michigan Historical Collections staff

Background

Scope and Content:

The records of the Horace H. Rackham and Mary A. Rackham Fund document the continuing generosity of Horace Rackham and Mary Rackham to numerous charitable, educational, and scientific organizations and causes. The records contain the files of the Fund's trustees and directors and provide insight and information about such topics as the administration of a philanthropic fund-giving organization during the mid-1930s, the kinds of gifts made, the relationship among the Fund's trustees and officers, and the relationship between the Fund and the grant recipients. Because of the size of the gift, most of the documentation within the record group details the close ties between the Fund and the University of Michigan. These files concern not only the establishment of the Rackham endowment to the University, but also the different scientific and educational grants made. Additionally, these files detail the construction of the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies building in Ann Arbor and the Rackham Educational Memorial building in Detroit.

The records of the Fund cover the period of 1929-1950 though they bulk largest for the period of the Fund's greatest activity, 1934-1940. The record group has been separated into two series: Combined Administrative and Executive Office Files and Project applications/grants.

Biographical / Historical:

The Horace H. Rackham and Mary A. Rackham Fund was the agency created in 1934 to administer the terms of the trust created by the last will and testament of Horace H. Rackham. Under Article II of the articles of incorporation, the Fund was to "effectually carry out and administer the benevolent, charitable, educational, and scientific trust created by Horace H. Rackham to promote the health, welfare, happiness, education, training, and development of men, women and children, particularly the sick, aged, young, erring, poor, crippled, helpless, handicapped, unfortunate and under-privileged, regardless of race, in the world ...."

Accordingly, the trustees of the Fund, working conscientiously over the next six years to fulfill the terms of the trust, funded an extraordinary number of projects that they believed Rackham himself would have supported. In practice, their support divides into three areas: charity and benevolence, education, and science.

The estate which the Fund was to administer was estimated at around 10 million dollars. The trustees and officers of the Fund were Mrs. Mary A. Rackham (honorary president), Bryson D. Horton (chairman and treasurer), Arthur J. Lacy (president), Mrs. Myra H. Bussey (vice-president), Clarence E. Wilcox (secretary), and Dr. Mark S. Knapp (director). Lacy's term as president was cut short when he decided to become a candidate for governor in 1935. Mrs. Rackham was anxious about the publicity that might accrue to the Fund because of Lacy's candidacy and requested his resignation. He was succeeded as president by Frederick Rolland.

The work of investigating potential areas and recipients of support and distributing money was handled out of an Ann Arbor office which the Fund referred to as the executive office. All programs of course had to be approved by the five trustees. The director's office was originally located in the Nickels Arcade, but later moved in 1936 to a room in Angell Hall, a building at the University of Michigan, and then to the Rackham Building following its completion. Within the executive office, the Fund's director administered daily operations, undertook investigations of prospective recipients, and communicated back to the Fund's trustees. The fund's first director, Dr. Mark Knapp, resigned in 1936 and was succeeded by Mrs. Mary Clark. Knapp's area of specialty was medical research. His successor, Clark was a tireless worker who seemed to have a close relationship to Mrs. Rackham based upon the frequency of their correspondence.

The administrative offices of the Fund were located in Detroit in the Dime Bank Building. Here Bryson D. Horton who had assumed the office of Fund secretary dealt with financial problems pertaining to the administration of the Rackham estate, probate matters, and related issues. The Rackham estate was large and complicated and Horton was continually dealing with matters of bonds, property, and other investments. The Fund secretary also counseled the Ann Arbor office on problems relating to the distribution of funds.

There were many recipients of the Rackham estate but without question the biggest beneficiary was the University of Michigan. During his lifetime, Horace H. Rackham was a generous donor to the university. With his passing, President Ruthven and other university officials opened negotiations with the trustees of the Rackham Fund arguing that a major gift to the university would fulfill Horace Rackham's wish that his wealth be used for research and educational purposes. President Ruthven proposed a gift of $5 million dollars to be used for the building and endowment of the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies. In 1935, the trustees agreed to the proposal, and in fact added 1.5 million to the 1 million originally suggested for the construction of the Rackham Building. In the next five years, the Fund or Mary Rackham personally donated funding for different university projects, principally a 1 million dollar gift in 1936 from Mary Rackham to establish the Institute for Human Adjustment and another million in 1937 from the Fund to establish the Rackham Arthritis Research Fund. In all from 1935 to 1936, the Rackham Fund and Mary Rackham personally gave nearly $12 million dollars to the University of Michigan.

Beyond the gifts to the university, the Fund also awarded grants to numerous other worthwhile agencies. For purposes of analysis, these gifts divide into six groups: child welfare, community culture, education, health, philanthropy, and science. The following is a list of specific organizations (including University of Michigan).

1. Child Welfare
   • Boytown
   • Bay Cliff Health Camp
   • University of Michigan Fresh Air Camp
   • Shady Trails
   • Boys Club of Detroit
   • Starr Commonwealth for Boys
   • Williams House (Detroit)
   • Franklin Settlement
   • Sophie Wright Settlement
   • Protestant Children's Home
   • German Protestant Home for Orphans and Old People
   • Detroit Industrial School
   • Michigan Children's Aid Society

1. Community Culture
   • Fenton Community Center
   • Horace H. Rackham Memorial Fountain (at the Zoo)

1. Education
   • Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies (University of Michigan building and endowment)
   • University of Michigan Institute for Human Adjustment; includes:
     • Speech Clinic
     • Psychological Clinic
     • Sociological Research Project (Flint)
   • Horace H. Rackham Educational Memorial (Detroit)
   • Horace H. Rackham School of Special Education (EMU)
   • Archaeology in Egypt

1. Health
   • University of Michigan Rackham Arthritis Research Unit
   • Michigan Society for Mental Hygiene

1. Philanthropy and Other Welfare
   • Arnold Home for the Aged and Incurables, Detroit
   • King's Daughter and Sons Home for Aged People, Detroit
   • Detroit Baptist Missionary Society

1. Science
   • Agriculture research (MSU)
   • Studies in biological and zoological research and crystallization of metals under stress and strain (Albion College)
   • Atomic nuclear research (U-M)

In addition to these public gifts, one account of the Fund was used for direct relief to individuals, mainly Rackham family members needing some assistance. Each month, this B.R. account (for blood relation) would dispense some $1600 to 50 or so individuals. Sometimes the disbursements would go up or down depending on changed conditions. The size of the monthly checks ranged from $25 to $50. Most of these cash payments were in fact a continuation of assistance that Rackham had made during his lifetime.

The personal relief effort of Mary Rackham was not publicized for obvious reasons. Every year Fund offices received many hundreds of letters asking for individual assistance or aid to charitable organizations. The great bulk of these were rejected for reason of being out-of-state, out of the Fund's scope of activities, made on behalf of organizations not yet established, or because they sought some form of personal relief.

By 1941, virtually the entire Fund had been disbursed, and in December 1942, the trustees filed a certificate of dissolution. By law a period of three years must elapse before the corporation could be dissolved. In point of fact, the Fund continued to receive statements of assets and liabilities up to 1950.

Further information about the Fund will be found in the following works.

Baker, Sheridan W., Jr. The Rackham Funds of the University of Michigan 1933-1953. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1955.

Brazer, Marjorie Cahn. Biography of an Endowment; The Horace H. Rackham Fund at the University of Michigan. Rackham Board of Governors, 1985.

Miner, Frances H., ed. Horace H. Rackham and Mary A. Rackham Fund; Detroit and Ann Arbor 1934-1940. Ann Arbor: Published by the Trustees, 1940.

Acquisition Information:

The record group was transferred to the library from the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies in 1967. (Donor no. 972 )

Subjects

Click on terms below to find any related finding aids on this site.

Subjects:

Aged -- Michigan.
Archaeological expeditions -- Egypt.
Birth control.
Child welfare -- Michigan.
Depressions -- 1929 -- United States.
Indians of North America -- Michigan.
Philanthropists -- Michigan.
Afro-Americans -- Michigan.
Camps -- Michigan.
Children playing.
Fountains -- Michigan -- Detroit.
Fountains -- Design and construction.

Formats:

Photographs.
Scrapbooks.

Names:

Adrian College (Adrian, Mich.)
Albion College.
Arnold Home, Inc.
Boy Scouts of America.
Boys Club of Detroit (Mich.)
Children's Fund of Michigan.
Detroit Baptist Missionary Society.
Detroit Zoological Park (Mich.)
Michigan State Normal College.
Fenton Community Center.
Ferris Institute.
Flint Institute of Research and Planning.
Fresh Air Camp (University of Michigan)
German Protestant Home for Orphans and Old People (Detroit, Mich.)
Goodwill Industries of America.
Horace H. Rackham and Mary A. Rackham Fund.
Horace H. Rackham Educational Memorial (Detroit, Mich.)
Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies.
Kalamazoo College.
King's Daughters and Sons Home for Aged People.
Maternal Health League of Michigan.
Methodist Children's Home Society of Michigan.
Michigan Children's Aid Society.
Michigan Society for Mental Health.
Michigan State University.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
National Urban League.
Olivet College.
Rackham Arthritis Research Unit (University of Michigan)
Sophie Wright Settlement.
Spring Arbor College (Spring Arbor, Mich.)
Starr Commonwealth for Boys.
University of Chicago.
University of Michigan -- Benefactors.
University of Michigan -- Buildings.
University of Michigan -- Endowments.
University of Michigan -- Finance.
University of Michigan -- Funds and scholarships.
University of Michigan. Institute for Human Adjustment.
University of Michigan -- Students -- Scholarships, fellowships, etc.
University of Michigan -- Trust funds.
W. K. Kellogg Foundation.
Williams House, Inc.
Clark, Mary H.
Horton, Bryson Dexter, 1871-1945.
Knapp, Mark Stevens, 1872-1948.
Novy, Frederick George, 1864-1957.
Rackham, Horace H., 1858-1933.
Rackham, Mary A. Horton, -1947.
Sanger, Margaret, 1879-1966.

Places:

Ann Arbor (Mich.)
Bay Cliff Health Camp.
Boytown Camp (Washtenaw County, Mich.)
Detroit (Mich.)
Fenton (Mich.)
Flint (Mich.)
Flushing (Mich.)
Franklin Settlement Summer Camp (Lake Orion, Mich.)
Mason (Mich.)
Oakland County (Mich.)
Pontiac (Mich.)
Port Huron (Mich.)
Shady Trails Camp (Northport, Mich.)
Ypsilanti (Mich.)
Bay Cliff Health Camp.
Boytown Camp (Washtenaw County, Mich.)
Franklin Settlement Summer Camp (Lake Orion, Mich.)
Fenton (Mich.)