Rockefeller Archive Center

Rockefeller Archive Center Research Reports are created by recipients of research travel stipends and by many others who have conducted research at the RAC. The reports demonstrate the breadth of the RAC's archival holdings, particularly in the study of philanthropy and its effects. Read more about the history of philanthropy at resource.rockarch.org. Also, see the RAC Bibliography of Scholarship, a comprehensive online database of publications citing RAC archival collections.

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Rockefeller Support for Non-Commercial Film, 1935-1939

January 1, 2009

Previous to the 1930s in the United States, policy-makers had only taken a few dispersed actions towards promoting film as an educational tool. Collections held at the Rockefeller Archive Center (RAC), such as those of the General Education Board (GEB) and the Rockefeller Foundation (RF), contain valuable records that helped me to explore the ideas on education behind foundation support for non-commercial film throughout the twentieth century. These records show how the RF's groundbreaking programme in motion pictures during the 1930s was largely inspired by similar activities and support for non-commercial film resources in other countries such as Britain. The significance of the RAC materials resides in how they foreshadow the ideas and procedures furthering the development of various resources for film education and appreciation in the United States. They also help to demonstrate the key role played by non-commercial film in building up an international network of communication in the years prior to World War II.

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