Horace H. Rackham and Mary A. Rackham Fund

The last will and testament of Horace H. Rackham provided for the establishment of a trust fund to provide for the health and welfare of individuals, particularly the sick, aged, the young, the poor, and other underprivileged. Much of the trust money went to the University of Michigan to be used for a building for the graduate school and an endowment to be used for different kinds of research. The Fund also awarded grants to agencies involved in child welfare, community culture, education, health.

Philanthropy, and science. The Fund distributed money from 1934 until about 1941.

From the description of Horace H. Rackham and Mary A. Rackham Fund records, 1929-1950 (bulk 1934-1940). (University of Michigan). WorldCat record id: 34422982

The Horace H. Rackham and Mary A. Rackham Fund was the agency created in 1934 to administer the terms of the trust created by the last will and testament of Horace H. Rackham. Under Article II of the articles of incorporation, the Fund was to "effectually carry out and administer the benevolent, charitable, educational, and scientific trust created by Horace H. Rackham to promote the health, welfare, happiness, education, training, and development of men, women and children, particularly the sick, aged, young, erring, poor, crippled, helpless, handicapped, unfortunate and under-privileged, regardless of race, in the world ...."

Accordingly, the trustees of the Fund, working conscientiously over the next six years to fulfill the terms of the trust, funded an extraordinary number of projects that they believed Rackham himself would have supported. In practice, their support divides into three areas: charity and benevolence, education, and science.

The estate which the Fund was to administer was estimated at around 10 million dollars. The trustees and officers of the Fund were Mrs. Mary A. Rackham (honorary president), Bryson D. Horton (chairman and treasurer), Arthur J. Lacy (president), Mrs. Myra H. Bussey (vice-president), Clarence E. Wilcox (secretary), and Dr. Mark S. Knapp (director). Lacy's term as president was cut short when he decided to become a candidate for governor in 1935. Mrs. Rackham was anxious about the publicity that might accrue to the Fund because of Lacy's candidacy and requested his resignation. He was succeeded as president by Frederick Rolland.

The work of investigating potential areas and recipients of support and distributing money was handled out of an Ann Arbor office which the Fund referred to as the executive office. All programs of course had to be approved by the five trustees. The director's office was originally located in the Nickels Arcade, but later moved in 1936 to a room in Angell Hall, a building at the University of Michigan, and then to the Rackham Building following its completion. Within the executive office, the Fund's director administered daily operations, undertook investigations of prospective recipients, and communicated back to the Fund's trustees. The fund's first director, Dr. Mark Knapp, resigned in 1936 and was succeeded by Mrs. Mary Clark. Knapp's area of specialty was medical research. His successor, Clark was a tireless worker who seemed to have a close relationship to Mrs. Rackham based upon the frequency of their correspondence.

The administrative offices of the Fund were located in Detroit in the Dime Bank Building. Here Bryson D. Horton who had assumed the office of Fund secretary dealt with financial problems pertaining to the administration of the Rackham estate, probate matters, and related issues. The Rackham estate was large and complicated and Horton was continually dealing with matters of bonds, property, and other investments. The Fund secretary also counseled the Ann Arbor office on problems relating to the distribution of funds.

There were many recipients of the Rackham estate but without question the biggest beneficiary was the University of Michigan. During his lifetime, Horace H. Rackham was a generous donor to the university. With his passing, President Ruthven and other university officials opened negotiations with the trustees of the Rackham Fund arguing that a major gift to the university would fulfill Horace Rackham's wish that his wealth be used for research and educational purposes. President Ruthven proposed a gift of $5 million dollars to be used for the building and endowment of the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies. In 1935, the trustees agreed to the proposal, and in fact added 1.5 million to the 1 million originally suggested for the construction of the Rackham Building. In the next five years, the Fund or Mary Rackham personally donated funding for different university projects, principally a 1 million dollar gift in 1936 from Mary Rackham to establish the Institute for Human Adjustment and another million in 1937 from the Fund to establish the Rackham Arthritis Research Fund. In all from 1935 to 1936, the Rackham Fund and Mary Rackham personally gave nearly $12 million dollars to the University of Michigan.

Beyond the gifts to the university, the Fund also awarded grants to numerous other worthwhile agencies. For purposes of analysis, these gifts divide into six groups: child welfare, community culture, education, health, philanthropy, and science. The following is a list of specific organizations (including University of Michigan).

In addition to these public gifts, one account of the Fund was used for direct relief to individuals, mainly Rackham family members needing some assistance. Each month, this B.R. account (for blood relation) would dispense some $1600 to 50 or so individuals. Sometimes the disbursements would go up or down depending on changed conditions. The size of the monthly checks ranged from $25 to $50. Most of these cash payments were in fact a continuation of assistance that Rackham had made during his lifetime.

The personal relief effort of Mary Rackham was not publicized for obvious reasons. Every year Fund offices received many hundreds of letters asking for individual assistance or aid to charitable organizations. The great bulk of these were rejected for reason of being out-of-state, out of the Fund's scope of activities, made on behalf of organizations not yet established, or because they sought some form of personal relief.

By 1941, virtually the entire Fund had been disbursed, and in December 1942, the trustees filed a certificate of dissolution. By law a period of three years must elapse before the corporation could be dissolved. In point of fact, the Fund continued to receive statements of assets and liabilities up to 1950.

Further information about the Fund will be found in the following works.

Baker, Sheridan W., Jr. The Rackham Funds of the University of Michigan 1933-1953 . Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1955.

Brazer, Marjorie Cahn. Biography of an Endowment; The Horace H. Rackham Fund at the University of Michigan . Rackham Board of Governors, 1985.

Miner, Frances H., ed. Horace H. Rackham and Mary A. Rackham Fund ; Detroit and Ann Arbor 1934-1940. Ann Arbor: Published by the Trustees, 1940.

From the guide to the Horace H. Rackham and Mary A. Rackham Fund Records, 1929-1950, 1934-1940, (Bentley Historical Library University of Michigan)