crown CU Home > Libraries Home
Columbia Center for Oral History Portal >

Carnegie Corporation project. Part 2 : oral history, 1996-2000.

Project: Carnegie Corporation project.
(see all project interviews)
Phys. Desc. :Transcripts: 8234 pages Sound recordings: 218 sound cassettes Videorecordings: 93 videocassettes
Location: Columbia Center for Oral History
Full CLIO record >>

Biographical Note

The Carnegie Corporation of New York, established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding, is one of the oldest, largest, and most influential of American foundations. The Corporation's areas of grantmaking have remained consistent since its early years: education; democracy; higher education and research in Africa; and international peace and security. Under the auspices of these themes, Carnegie has supported adolescent and childhood development; education and media (including Sesame Street); educational exchange; nuclear disarmament; legal reform in apartheid South Africa; economic development; and educational reform.

Scope and Contents

This project, funded by grants from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, continues the history of Andrew Carnegie's central philanthropic organization from 1970 until the close of the twentieth century, building on a collection of interviews taken by Columbia's Oral History Research Office between 1966 and 1970. In more than 270 hours of interviews, including 63 hours shot on high definition video, Carnegie Corporation staff, trustees, and grant recipients discuss the institution's contributions to regional, national, and global welfare. Major thematic areas discussed in Part II of the Corporation's history include its national work in childhood development, research, education and media (including Sesame Street); and the Corporation's international work in nuclear disarmament, and legal and educational reform. A central focus of the Part II interviews with grantees is the impact of the Corporation's work in South Africa, where the Corporation funded economic research into black poverty as well as legal reform during the decades of apartheid. Also discussed are the Corporation's public programs such as educational exchange, conflict prevention, adolescent and family development, and support of pro-democracy and economic development work. In addition, the interviews document Carnegie's changes in leadership, organizational structure, board and staff, and the evolving role of women in the Corporation during the last quarter century. Interviewees also reflect on philanthropy's role in American culture, and the global impact of American philanthropy in societies transitioning to democracy. The Carnegie Corporation grant for this project included a commitment to explore the contribution of video to the scholarly and public practice of oral history, and thirty-three interviews included a video component. The project also was accompanied by an early foray into web publication of interviews for Columbia University Libraries, and a selection of video and audio interviews, along with transcripts, were published online in 2006. The website featured a documentary made based on the Corporation's century-long presence in South Africa, "Voices of South Africa." More of the collection's interviews became available online as a part of the 2016-2019 project Carnegie Digital Past and Future. The collection's narrators are: Graham Allison, Deana Arsenian, Omar Badsha, Fikile C. Bam, Gloria Primm Brown, Jerome S. Bruner, Geoffrey Budlender, James E. Carter, Bernard L. Charles, Arthur Chaskalson, Warren M. Christopher, Richard C. Clark, James P. Comer, Joan Ganz Cooney, Joy G. Dryfoos, John Dugard, E. Alden Dunham, James P. Dyer, Sara L. Engelhardt, Eli N. Evans, Frank Ferrari, Barbara D. Finberg, John W. Gardner, Amy A. Gimbel, Vartan Gregorian, Jeanmarie C. Grisi, David A. Hamburg, Caryl P. Haskins, Antonia Hernandez, Dee Holder, Dudley Horner, Anthony W. Jackson, Helene Kaplan, Allen Kassof, Thomas H. Kean, James A. Kelly, Kenneth Keniston, Clark Kerr, Dorothy W. Knapp, Joshua Lederberg, Michael H. Levine, Adetokunbo O. Lucas, Margaret E. Mahoney, Ruth B. Mandel, Geraldine Mannion, Ray Marshall, Daniel C. Matuszewski, Laughlin McDonald, Newton N. Minow, Mary-Jane Morifi, Lloyd N. Morrisett, Frederic A. Mosher, Elena O. Nightingale, William James Perry, Alan J. Pifer, Yolonda C. Richardson, David Z. Robinson, Patricia L. Rosenfield, Avery B. Russell, Anne Firor Scott, Jill W. Sheffield, David C. Speedie, Stephen Henry Stackpole, John D. Steinbruner, Vivien Stewart, Ruby Takanishi, John C. Taylor, Wilma Tisch, Thomas A. Troyer, Astrid S. Tuminez, Desmond Tutu, Evgeny Velikhov, David P. Weikart, and Francis Wilson. The collection includes analog and digital audio on magnetic tape, analog and digital video on magnetic tape, digital surrogates of audio and video, born-digital transcripts, and printed transcripts derived from the born-digital.

Subjects

Using this collection

Columbia Center for Oral History

Address:
Columbia University
535 West 114th Street
801 Butler Library, Box 20
MC1129
New York, NY 10027
Telephone:
(212) 854-7083

Email:
oralhist
@libraries.cul.columbia.edu

Website:
Columbia Center for Oral History