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

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

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

14 linear feet — 1 oversize volume

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.

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.

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Combined Administrative and Executive Office Files, 1933-1950

The series titled Combined Administrative and Executive Office Files (1933-1950; 4 linear feet) is an amalgam of records received and combined from the Detroit offices of Fund trustees and the Ann Arbor offices of the Fund directors. How these records came together is not clear. Probably after the Fund dissolved, the Detroit records were transferred to Ann Arbor to be stored with the executive office files in the Rackham Building, and with movement the distinction between the files was lost. This series provides the clearest overview of the work of the Fund, especially through the minutes of the trustees and the director's reports. The chronological files have value for their insight into the relationship between the trustees and the director in Ann Arbor, who, with his/her staff, prepared the reports, made the recommendations, and acted as buffer between the trustees and those seeking funds. A significant portion of this series pertains to the relationship with University of Michigan administrators and faculty over the different grants made. The different building projects underwritten by the Fund are documented in this series. There are also financial records indicating the size and complexity of the Fund's operation.