The Work of the Milbank Memorial Fund in Population since 1928

Abstract

The Milbank Memorial Fund, founded April 3, 1905, is one of the oldest foundations in the United States. Although its formal work in population did not begin until 1928 it is still one of the first foundations to begin work in this field. The only one antedating it in this respect is the Scripps Foundation for Research in Population Problems, which was begun in 1922. The Fund's work in population is sometimes pointed to as one of its outstanding achievements. Actually, demography has never been the Fund's primary field of interest. Nevertheless, the Fund helped to support the work of the first New York Cities Census Committee, which laid the basis for Census tract tabulations in virtually all large cities in the United States. In cooperation with the Bureau of the Census, the Fund conducted the first comprehensive study of differential fertility according to occupational class in this country. It sponsored and conducted pioneering studies in the prevalence and effectiveness of contraceptive practice. It sponsored and participated in the first large-scale study of social and psychological factors affecting fertility. The Fund was the sole support of the International Union for the Scientific Investigation of Population Problems during the first three years of the Union's existence (1928-31). It supported the organizational meeting of the Population Association of America in 1931. It helped to set up and it provided the chief initial support of the Office of Population Research at Princeton University, a forerunner of university demographic research and training centers in this country. In no small degree the Fund's reputation for doing pioneering work