5×7 inches: Biography of a Source, Source for Prosopography. The Permanent Recorder Cards of Rockefeller-Endowed Organizations 1914-1970. Episode 5 (and last).

Episode 5: Using the Cards

When the Rockefeller Archive Center processed its collection of permanent recorder cards in the early 2000s, staff noted many signs of wear: tears, gnawed edges and corners, pencil marks, etc. Far from being pristine or untouched, the card indexes had seen active and daily use by employees of Rockefeller-endowed organizations.

Rockefeller Foundation staff began typing “Please return to fellowship departed” at the top of each card in 1928-1929, and the phrase was soon added to the pre-printed layout of the cards making up the Rockefeller Foundation sets. In 1947, the wording was changed to “Please return to fellowship recorder” likely in response to the 1945 decision to make permanent recorder cards the focus of information management efforts. At different times, the message was printed in a larger font than the rest of a card’s content, as if undisciplined borrowers needed a scolding. Such reminders would have been a waste of time and ink if permanent recorder cards were not being regularly retrieved, borrowed, shared, and read.

The most mundane uses left no trace, making it impossible to determine their frequency. For instance, clerical staff would likely have used the cards to confirm basic facts when a current or former award recipient applied to have certain expenses reimbursed. Likewise, officers and staff would have used them to gather information when arranging travel and meetings, or when assessing the feasibility of new projects.

Instead, the surviving evidence documents completely different forms of use, whereby permanent recorder cards were consulted in the course of responding to external inquiries. To begin with, academic institutions would contact Rockefeller-endowed organizations seeking information on applicants for academic positions. Warren Weaver, in his capacity as director of the Natural Sciences Division, mentioned such requests in two reference manuals he prepared for staff and incoming directors: “Natural Sciences Notes on Officers Techniques” (1946) and “How Do You Do Dr. X? Technique in Handling Callers” (1952). Weaver explained that when deans and departments contacted the Foundation, officers should freely provide information on applicants but avoid giving recommendations.

This is what happened, in 1944, when Dr. Jobling called Alan Gregg, Foundation vice-president and former director of the Division of Medical Education1. Gregg noted in his diary that Jobling wanted to know if a person being considered for a chair had “any very extensive training in physiology.” Since the individual in question had received a General Education Board fellowship in 1935, Gregg simply “looked [up] L’s card and told J what we had on record” (Gregg’s diary, Tuesday, 29 February 1944). Still, the use of permanent recorder cards for such purposes remained largely undocumented. In this instance, Gregg may have only made a note because of how Joblin had droned on about changes to recruitment criteria in the medical sciences.

Other interactions requiring the consultation of permanent record cards were much more likely to leave a written trace, if only because those involved wanted to protect themselves against any fallout. In the collection of digitized officers’ diaries, we have found eight references to visits by government agents to the Rockefeller Foundation between 1950 and 1956. This was at the height of McCarthyism, and investigators from military intelligence agencies and the FBI were looking for ties between award recipients and the Communist world. Staff diligently consulted cards created for the Rockefeller Foundation, the International Education Board, the General Education Board, and the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial to gather the requested information, sometimes providing copies of the cards themselves.

Of course, latter-day historians and social scientists will want to consult cards and process the data they contain for reasons other than confirming the loyalty and rectitude of award recipients. Accordingly, database users should understand the limitations resulting from how the four main sets of permanent recorder cards were created and maintained. The cards do not reflect the full breadth and depth of materials that were or remain available in the dossiers kept on individual recipients.
Nor do they cover the full range of mobility awards granted to individuals by Rockefeller-endowed organizations. But despite these limitations, permanent recorder cards remain a valuable source of information on the individuals who received such awards. Finally, we researchers should exercise care and judgement when handling this information. Especially in the activities section, the cards contain personal and even intimate details alongside trenchant commentary from officers and their contacts. Choices can have consequences for recipients who are still alive (several were born in the 1930s and 1940s) and for the families of those who are deceased. Anyone writing history with the help of these five-by-seven-inch pieces of cardstock would be wise to keep this in mind.

Pierre-Yves Saunier

chercheur au laboratoire Triangle (CNRS), École Normale Supérieure de Lyon (France) et professeur associé à l'Université Laval, Québec (Canada)

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  1. The caller was likely James Wesley Jobling, a professor of pathology at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons []

OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Pierre-Yves Saunier (December 1, 2024). 5×7 inches: Biography of a Source, Source for Prosopography. The Permanent Recorder Cards of Rockefeller-Endowed Organizations 1914-1970. Episode 5 (and last). Rockefeller fellows. Retrieved February 8, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/12td2


About Pierre-Yves Saunier

chercheur au laboratoire Triangle (CNRS), École Normale Supérieure de Lyon (France) et professeur associé à l'Université Laval, Québec (Canada)