RF Annual Report - 1935 - The Rockefeller Foundation

THE HUMANITIES
In accord with policies of the Foundation determined
in 1934, the program in the humanities
during 1935 was characterized by a greater concentration
on certain means of cultural diffusion
to which the public looks for knowledge and enjoyment
rather than on the research interests of
scholars. Less emphasis was given to the preservation
and interpretation of the materials of culture,
more to the ways of communicating what
is known. As a result the grants of 1935 reflect
an increased interest in the diffusion of ideas
through print and the other familiar means of
oral and visual communication of thought and
feeling. In the United States, grants fell under
the four headings of museums, drama, film, and
radio. Internationally, the areas of concentration
were cultural interchange through libraries,
the development of understanding with the Far
East, and the improvement of the means ,of international
communication.
Such points of contact with daily living make
possible the direct relationship of the humanities
to the social interests of today. Though the power
of the printed word is not to be minimized, large
sections of the public now derive as much from
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