Board of Trustees Minutes (Boxes 1-3), 1922-1974

The minutes, correspondence, reports, proxy vote records, and orders of the Board of Trustees are the most essential series for documenting the Board's activities and detailing the principal programs and services the Board directly administered or made grants to from 1922-1974.

The minutes consist mainly of photocopies made from a minute book maintained in the Fund secretary's Lexington office. They are for the period 1922-1955 and are entered on consecutively numbered pages. Minutes for additional years were obtained from Francis Hutchins, J. Farra Van Meter, Henry Loomis, and Lula Hale and arranged to form a complete series. Minutes of individual meetings are usually from one to two typewritten pages in length and are frequently accompanied by correspondence, notes, and financial records.

At first the Trustees met at irregular intervals-- on average, only once per year in the period 1922-1951. However, following the adoption of a set of by-laws in 1951, the board began meeting more regularly, usually quarterly. Early minutes are worded rather informally. They include numerous direct quotes from Trustees and from Lula Hale which preserve an interesting sense of immediacy. Subsequent ones reflect the degree to which increased government regulation and the Fund's broadening focus forced the board to formalize the consideration of prospective projects and the oversight of funded programs. Committee reports and summaries of decisions become much more prevalent during the 1960's and early 1970's.

The minutes reflect especially the dominance of Fund chair Edward O'Rear during the 1930's and 1940's in his efforts to both realize Robinson's vision and evolve the Fund into a larger and more complex philanthropy. They also provide the most comprehensive characterizations of the administrations of Fund chairs Ross Sloniker (1954-1963) and Fred Bryant (1967-1972), and most fully document the contributions made by individual trustees to the year-to-year operation of the Fund.