Edward Harkness
Encyclopedia
Edward Stephen Harkness (January 22, 1874 – January 29, 1940) was an American philanthropist
. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio
, one of four sons to Stephen V. Harkness
, a harness-maker who invested in the forerunner of Standard Oil
, John D. Rockefeller
's oil company. Harkness inherited a fortune from his father. His extensive philanthropies, many of them anonymous, were extended especially to colleges, hospitals and museums.
Harkness attended St. Paul's School and Yale University
, Class of 1897. Harkness and brothers Charles
and William
were members of Wolf's Head Society
at Yale.
After graduating, Edward Harkness married Mary Stillman, daughter of William James Stillman. This family also had been associated with the Rockefellers. Harkness earned an LL.D from Columbia Law School
.
Harkness made charitable gifts totaling more than $129 million, the equivalent of $2 billion in 2005 dollars. His philanthropic peers John D. Rockefeller
and Andrew Carnegie
gave respectively $550 million and $350 million over the course of their lives.
Harkness and his mother, Anna Harkness, gave substantial sums to several important non-profit enterprises. They refashioned Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital. Mrs. Harkness, in memory of her husband, gave funds for the hospital's Harkness Pavilion. Harkness was a major benefactor of the New York Public Library
and the Metropolitan Museum of Art
. The museum's initial art of Ancient Egypt
collection was a gift from Harkness.
Harkness's elder full-brother Charles W. Harkness
died in 1916, and in 1917 Anna Harkness, their mother, donated $3,000,000 to Yale University to build Harkness Memorial Quadrangle in his memory.
In 1918 Anna Harkness established the Commonwealth Fund
by an initial gift of $10,000,000, and Harkness was made its president.
Their home, Harkness House, in New York is now the offices of the Commonwealth Fund
.
Edward and Mary Harkness spent summers in the Eolia mansion on Long Island Sound in Waterford, Connecticut
. The home and 230 acre (0.9307778 km²) of gardens and grounds are now maintained by Connecticut as Harkness Memorial State Park
.
Harkness House, a student cooperative
in Oberlin College
; 'St Salvator's Hall
at the University of St Andrews
; Harkness Chapel at Connecticut College
; Butler Library
at Columbia University
as well as the original portions of the Columbia University Medical Center
and the undergraduate dormitories at Brown University
, Harvard University
, Yale University
, and Connecticut College
were built through his philanthropy or the philanthropy of Mary Stillman Harkness.
His philanthropy affected substantially several boarding schools, introducing the revolutionary Harkness table
method of instruction, starting with Phillips Exeter Academy
, and spreading to St. Paul’s, The Lawrenceville School
, and Kingswood-Oxford School
in West Hartford, Conn. Harkness made gifts also to Taft School, Hill School and Phillips Academy
.
He established the Harkness Fellowship
s and founded the Pilgrim Trust
in the UK in 1930 with an endowment of just over two million pounds, "prompted by his admiration for what Great Britain had done in the 1914-18 war and, by his ties of affection for the land from which he drew his descent." The current priorities of the trust are preservation, places of worship, and social welfare.
He also made the gifts that established the Yale School of Drama
and erected its theatre.
In the popular culture, Harkness, along with another wealthy neighbor, Edward Crowninshield Hammond, were the inspiration for Eugene O'Neill
's off-stage character "Harker", the "Standard Oil millionaire", in Long Day's Journey into Night
, and on-stage figure "T. Stedman Harder" in A Moon for the Misbegotten.
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
, one of four sons to Stephen V. Harkness
Stephen V. Harkness
Stephen Vanderburgh Harkness was an American businessman from Cleveland, Ohio, who invested as a silent partner with oil titan John D. Rockefeller, Sr. in the founding of Standard Oil.-Biography:...
, a harness-maker who invested in the forerunner of Standard Oil
Standard Oil
Standard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...
, John D. Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller was an American oil industrialist, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of...
's oil company. Harkness inherited a fortune from his father. His extensive philanthropies, many of them anonymous, were extended especially to colleges, hospitals and museums.
Harkness attended St. Paul's School and Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, Class of 1897. Harkness and brothers Charles
Charles W. Harkness
Charles William Harkness was the son of Stephen V. Harkness, an original investor in the company that became Standard Oil, and his second wife, the former Anna M. Richardson....
and William
William L. Harkness
William Lamon Harkness was an American businessman. He was born in Bellevue, Ohio, the second son of Stephen V. Harkness and his first wife, Laura Osborne...
were members of Wolf's Head Society
Wolf's Head (secret society)
Wolf's Head Society is an undergraduate senior or secret society at Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. Membership is recomposed annually of fifteen or sixteen Yale University students, typically juniors from the college...
at Yale.
After graduating, Edward Harkness married Mary Stillman, daughter of William James Stillman. This family also had been associated with the Rockefellers. Harkness earned an LL.D from Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, is one of the oldest and most prestigious law schools in the United States. A member of the Ivy League, Columbia Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Columbia University in New York City. It offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in...
.
Harkness made charitable gifts totaling more than $129 million, the equivalent of $2 billion in 2005 dollars. His philanthropic peers John D. Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller was an American oil industrialist, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of...
and Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
gave respectively $550 million and $350 million over the course of their lives.
Harkness and his mother, Anna Harkness, gave substantial sums to several important non-profit enterprises. They refashioned Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital. Mrs. Harkness, in memory of her husband, gave funds for the hospital's Harkness Pavilion. Harkness was a major benefactor of the New York Public Library
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
and the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
. The museum's initial art of Ancient Egypt
Egyptian Art
Egyptian Art may refer to:*The Art of ancient Egypt, c. 5000 BCE - c. 300 BCE*Hellenistic art of Egypt, c. 300 BCE - c. 100 CE, during the Ptolemaic dynasty*Coptic art c. 100 CE - present, see, e.g., Coptic iconography...
collection was a gift from Harkness.
Harkness's elder full-brother Charles W. Harkness
Charles W. Harkness
Charles William Harkness was the son of Stephen V. Harkness, an original investor in the company that became Standard Oil, and his second wife, the former Anna M. Richardson....
died in 1916, and in 1917 Anna Harkness, their mother, donated $3,000,000 to Yale University to build Harkness Memorial Quadrangle in his memory.
In 1918 Anna Harkness established the Commonwealth Fund
Commonwealth Fund
The Commonwealth Fund is a private U.S. foundation whose stated purpose is to promote a high-performing health care system that achieves better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency, especially for society's most vulnerable.-History:...
by an initial gift of $10,000,000, and Harkness was made its president.
Their home, Harkness House, in New York is now the offices of the Commonwealth Fund
Commonwealth Fund
The Commonwealth Fund is a private U.S. foundation whose stated purpose is to promote a high-performing health care system that achieves better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency, especially for society's most vulnerable.-History:...
.
Edward and Mary Harkness spent summers in the Eolia mansion on Long Island Sound in Waterford, Connecticut
Waterford, Connecticut
Waterford is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. It is named after Waterford, Ireland. The population was 19,152 at the 2000 census. The town center is listed as a census-designated place .-Geography:...
. The home and 230 acre (0.9307778 km²) of gardens and grounds are now maintained by Connecticut as Harkness Memorial State Park
Harkness Memorial State Park
Harkness Memorial State Park is a public park and botanical garden located in Waterford, Connecticut, on the Long Island Sound.The park was formerly Eolia, the estate of Edward Harkness, heir to a fortune initiated by his father's substantial investments in John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, who...
.
Harkness House, a student cooperative
Cooperative
A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...
in Oberlin College
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
; 'St Salvator's Hall
St Salvator's Hall
St Salvator's Hall, affectionately known as Sallies, is a student hall of residence at the University of St Andrews. It lies close to the quadrangle of the United College, St Andrews and St Salvator's Chapel in a quiet area between North Street and The Scores. Regarded as one of the University's...
at the University of St Andrews
University of St Andrews
The University of St Andrews, informally referred to as "St Andrews", is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. The university is situated in the town of St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It was founded between...
; Harkness Chapel at Connecticut College
Connecticut College
Connecticut College is a private liberal arts college located in New London, Connecticut.The college was founded in 1911, as Connecticut College for Women, in response to Wesleyan University closing its doors to women...
; Butler Library
Butler Library
The Nicholas Murray Butler Library, commonly known simply as Butler Library, is the largest single library in the Columbia University Library System, which contains over 9.3 million books, and is one of the largest buildings on the Morningside Heights campus of Columbia University.Proposed as...
at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
as well as the original portions of the Columbia University Medical Center
Columbia University Medical Center
Columbia University Medical Center is an academic medical center that includes Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons, College of Dental Medicine, School of Nursing and Mailman School of Public Health...
and the undergraduate dormitories at Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
, Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, and Connecticut College
Connecticut College
Connecticut College is a private liberal arts college located in New London, Connecticut.The college was founded in 1911, as Connecticut College for Women, in response to Wesleyan University closing its doors to women...
were built through his philanthropy or the philanthropy of Mary Stillman Harkness.
His philanthropy affected substantially several boarding schools, introducing the revolutionary Harkness table
Harkness table
The Harkness table is a large, oval table used in a style of teaching, The Harkness Method, wherein students sit at the table with their teachers. This teaching method is in use at many American boarding schools and colleges. It encourages classes to be held in a discursive manner...
method of instruction, starting with Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy is a private secondary school located in Exeter, New Hampshire, in the United States.Exeter is noted for its application of Harkness education, a system based on a conference format of teacher and student interaction, similar to the Socratic method of learning through asking...
, and spreading to St. Paul’s, The Lawrenceville School
Lawrenceville School
The Lawrenceville School is a coeducational, independent preparatory boarding school for grades 9–12 located on in the historic community of Lawrenceville, in Lawrence Township, New Jersey, U.S., five miles southwest of Princeton....
, and Kingswood-Oxford School
Kingswood-Oxford School
Kingswood Oxford School is a private day school located in West Hartford, Connecticut. Originally two separate schools, Kingswood School and Oxford School for boys and girls respectively, KO is now a co-educational institution and offers grades 6 through 12...
in West Hartford, Conn. Harkness made gifts also to Taft School, Hill School and Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy is a selective, co-educational independent boarding high school for boarding and day students in grades 9–12, along with a post-graduate year...
.
He established the Harkness Fellowship
Harkness Fellowship
The Harkness Fellowships are a programme run by the Commonwealth Fund of New York City. They were established to reciprocate the Rhodes Scholarships and enable Fellows from several countries to spend time studying in the United States...
s and founded the Pilgrim Trust
Pilgrim Trust
The Pilgrim Trust is a London-based charitable trust. It was founded in 1930 by a two million pound grant by Edward Harkness, an American philanthropist. The trust's first secretary was former civil servant, Thomas Jones....
in the UK in 1930 with an endowment of just over two million pounds, "prompted by his admiration for what Great Britain had done in the 1914-18 war and, by his ties of affection for the land from which he drew his descent." The current priorities of the trust are preservation, places of worship, and social welfare.
He also made the gifts that established the Yale School of Drama
Yale School of Drama
The Yale School of Drama is a graduate professional school of Yale University providing training in every discipline of the theatre: acting, design , directing, dramaturgy and dramatic criticism, playwriting, stage management, sound design, technical design and production, and theater...
and erected its theatre.
In the popular culture, Harkness, along with another wealthy neighbor, Edward Crowninshield Hammond, were the inspiration for Eugene O'Neill
Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...
's off-stage character "Harker", the "Standard Oil millionaire", in Long Day's Journey into Night
Long Day's Journey Into Night
Long Day's Journey Into Night is a 1956 drama in four acts written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. The play is widely considered to be his masterwork...
, and on-stage figure "T. Stedman Harder" in A Moon for the Misbegotten.
External links
- The Pilgrim Trust website
- Biography in the Exeter Bulletin
- 'Edward S. Harkness, 1874-1940', Richard F. Niebling, Phillips Exeter BulletinPhillips Exeter AcademyPhillips Exeter Academy is a private secondary school located in Exeter, New Hampshire, in the United States.Exeter is noted for its application of Harkness education, a system based on a conference format of teacher and student interaction, similar to the Socratic method of learning through asking...
, Fall 1982 (PDF) - The Commonwealth Fund website