The Brush Foundation was created in 1928 by Cleveland, Ohio, inventor Charles F. Brush to promote research in the fields of eugenics, population and birth control. Early projects funded included the Maternal Health Association and the Brush Inquiry, a research project on the growth and development of children. From the late 1940s-1960s, intensive research on human fertility and infertility, as well as on viral infection, was funded. The Foundation played a crucial role in the establishment of the International Planned Parenthood Federation. Since the mid 1960s, the Foundation has focused on adolescent sexuality and pregnancy, defense of abortion rights, and public policy directed at limiting population growth. Local organizations and institutions that received grants from the Brush Foundation included Black Focus on the West Side; Cleveland Health Education Museum; Federation for Community Planning's Coalition for Adolescent Reproduction, Sexuality, and Health; Free Medical Clinic of Greater Cleveland; and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History's Hamann-Todd Osteological Collection. The collection consists of board minutes, correspondence, financial statements and income tax returns, newspaper clippings, reprints and photocopied journal articles, and various publications. The bulk of the collection dates from after 1965.
