Discover the Database

The Rockefeller Fellows database is hosted on the Heurist platform, which provides the environment for our research team to work with our complete dataset, and to add new fields and values. Heurist also offers the possibilty to generate public access to the data by way of filters and faceted searches created by database administrators.

We have created 6 paths of exploration for people interested in the history, extent and impact of philanthropic foundations’ capacity to support, design and maintain a landscape of knowledge through the individual mobility awards that they distributed. These paths of exploration merely offer a first introduction to our data. They do not drill through our complete dataset dataset for two major reasons:

  • Some fields and values have been left out of that exploration because our research team works with them. We welcome information queries by researchers who share our interest in fellowships as a window into the history of knowledge production and reproduction.
  • we are making this data public in accordance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules. As a result, we have pruned every value or field that would directly or indirectly identify an individual.

Nota Bene: on some older machines with older operating systems, users of Firefox may experience minor issues when consulting our Heurist interface, such as unstable window borders. Thank you for using another browser if that turned out to be the case.

Now, have a go at one of our 6 paths,and remember that data documentation is available here. It provides explanations and details about every field: content, coverage, list of values, acronyms, standardisation process… .

Search recipients

Search awards

Search home institutions

Search host institutions

Map home locations

Map host locations


Search Recipients

“Recipient” is our generic term for individuals who received an award from four different Rockefeller-endowed organizations: the Rockefeller Foundation, the General Education Board, the International Education Board or the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial. This path offers the opportunity to distribute recipients according to a set of attributes over time, space and themes.

How to use this ?

This path starts from the list of 13 633 recipients who have received one or several mobility awards, which you see in the right hand side window of your screen. Note that all data that would allow personal indetification have been removed.

The list  can be refined using the ‘facets’  on the left hand side. When you apply an additional filter to your original search using one of the facets, all the other facets will adjust to show the number of recipients who meet your criteria (circled number). 

When you hover your mouse to the far right of any line within the list of recipients, you get an icon that will open a window showing the data of the award(s) received by this person. Every blue item is clickable and will lead you to records connected with this item (e.g. a list of every award connected to an institution name or to a specific place)

Use the return arrow icon next to a selected facet to undo that filter, or the Reset all  button to undo all filters.


Now feel free to work with our faceted search

Search Awards

“Award” is our generic term for the different names that were used over time by the different Rockefeller-endowed organizations (fellowships, scholarships, training awards…. See our Data Documentation for detailed information). If you try this path, you will search and sort awards over time, space and fields of study. Note that a number of people did receive several awards, especially because they had to cancel the first award they received.

How to use this ?
This path starts from the list of 14650 awards that were made by four different Rockefeller-endowed organizations, which you see in the right hand side window of your screen.

The list  can be refined using the ‘facets’  on the left hand side. When you apply an additional filter to your original search using one of the facets, all the other facets will adjust to show the number of recipients who meet your criteria (circled number). 

When you hover your mouse to the far right of any line within the list of recipients, you get an icon that will open a window showing the data of the award. Every blue item is clickable and will lead you to records connected with this item (e.g. a list of awards connected to an institution name or to a specific place)

Use the return arrow icon next to a selected facet to undo that filter, or the Reset all  button to undo all filters.


Now feel free to work with our faceted search

Search Home Institutions

This path focuses on institutions recipients were affiliated with at the moment they received their award. Try the name of an instituion you are familiar with, or find the institutions where recipients started from in one country or one field of study, and refine this picture over time or for each Rockefeller-endowed organization. You will also be able to see which awards were connected to this institution.
Please pay attention to the fact that we have used the name of the institution in use at the time of the award, and that most of the time we have reconducted the name of sub-entities to their mother institution. Most of the time but not always: for instance, we did our best to uphold hospitals and experimental research stations names, two sites that are so important for a fined-grain understanding in domains like medicine or agriculture. See our Data Documentation for information about the manner in which we standardized institution names.

How to use this ?

This path starts from a choice in our facets in the left hand side window of your screen. Corresponding institutions will appear in the center window, and awards for which these institutions were home institutions will show up in the right hand side window

When you hover your mouse to the far right of any line within the list of institutions, you get an icon that will open a window: the “linked from” section carries additional data (including the location of the institution).

Use the return arrow icon next to a selected facet to undo that filter, or the Reset all  button to undo all filters.


Now feel free to work with our faceted search

Search Host Institutions

This path focuses on institutions recipients spent most their time at during the period of their award. Try the name of an institution you are familiar with, or find the institutions where recipients went to in a specific country or field of study, and refine this picture over time or for each Rockefeller-endowed organization. You will also be able to see which awards were connected to this institution.
Please pay attention to the fact that we have used the name of the institution in use at the time of the award, and that most of the time we have reconducted the name of sub-entities to their mother institution. Most of the time but not always: we did our best to uphold hospitals and experimental research stations names, two sites that are so important for a fined-grain understanding in domains like medicine or agriculture. See our Data Documentation for information about the manner in which we standardized institution names.

How to use this ?

This path starts from the list of  the thousands of institutions  where recipients spent most of their time at during their award. This list, which you see in the right hand side window of your screen,  can be refined using facets on the left hand side.

When you hover your mouse to the far right of any line within the list of institutions, you get an icon that will open a window with a “linked from” section that lists awards connected to this institution. Every award is clickable and will lead you to its data.

This path starts from a choice in our facets in the left hand side window of your screen. Corresponding institutions will appear in the center window, and awards for which these institutions were host institutions will show up in the right hand side window

When you hover your mouse to the far right of any line within the list of institutions, you get an icon that will open a window: the “linked from” section carries additional data (including the location of the institution).

Use the return arrow icon next to a selected facet to undo that filter, or the Reset all  button to undo all filters.

Now feel free to work with our faceted search

Map Home Locations

It is not always easy to assign an institution to a specific location, a city or a village: some institutions changed names, others have multiple locations (think of a ministry, for instance). This path makes it possible to map the places of institutions recipients were affiliated with at the moment they received their award. Beware: the geocoding of locations was aligned on the centroid of the smallest spatial entity we had information about (city, village, county/district, state/province, country, continent, planet).

How to use this ?

Use the facets on the left side to select the home locations you want to map. It is important to zom in to get to the most precise geographical information at our disposal.

When you hover your mouse to the far right of any line within the list of locations, you get an icon that will open a window with a “linked from” section that lists awards connected to this location. Every award is clickable and will lead you to its data.

Use the return arrow icon next to a selected facet to undo that filter, or the Reset all  button to undo all filters.

Now feel free to work with our faceted search


Map Host Locations


It is not always easy to assign an institution to a specific location, a city or a village: some institutions changed names, others have multiple locations (think of a ministry, for instance). This path makes it possible to map the places of institutions recipients spent most of their time at during their award ( see our Data Documentation for information about the way we determined this affiliation). Beware: the geocoding of locations was aligned on the centroid of the smallest spatial entity we had information about (city, village, county/district, state/province, country, continent, planet). Exact adresses have not been taken into account.

How to use this ?

Use the facets on the left side to select the host locations you want to map. It is important to zom in to get to the most precise geographical information at our disposal.

When you hover your mouse to the far right of any line within the list of locations, you get an icon that will open a window with a “linked from” section that lists awards connected to this location. Every award is clickable and will lead you to its data.

Use the return arrow icon next to a selected facet to undo that filter, or the Reset all  button to undo all filters.



Now feel free to work with our faceted search