Stanley N. Katz

Philanthropy in the World's Traditions

Introduction. Warren Ilchman, Stanley Katz, and Edward L. Queen, II Part One: Non-Literate/Aboriginal Traditions 1. Reciprocity and Assistance in Precolonial Africa Steven Feierman 2. A Comparative Study in Native American Philanthropy John A. Grim Part Two: Historical/Textual Roots 3. Contextualizing Philanthropy in South Asia: A Textual Analysis of Sanskrit Sources Leona Anderson 4. Generosity and Service in Theravada Buddhism Ananda W.P. Guruge and G.D. Bond 5. The Mahayana Buddhist Foundation for Philanthropic Practice Leslie S. Kawamura Part Three: Philanthropy in Context 6. Philanthropy, the Law, and Public Policy in the Islamic World before the Modern Era Said Arjomand 7. Reflections on Chinese Philanthropy Based on the Case of Famine Relief in Shan-yin County, Shao-hsing, 1640-1642 Joanna F. Handlin Smith 8. A View of Philanthropy in Japan: Confucian Ethics and Education Mary Evelyn Tucker Part Four: Philanthropy and Social Change 9. The Origins of Modern Jewish Philanthropy Derek J. Penslar 10. Mount Holyoke Missionaries and Non-Western Women: The Motivations and Consequences of Nineteenth Century American Missionary Philanthropy Amanda Porterfield 11. Orthodox Christianity, the Nation-State, and Philanthropy: Focus on the Serbian Orthodox Church Miroslav Ruzica Part Five: New Shoots, Old Roots 12. Hindu Philanthropy and Civil Society Mark Juergensmeyer and Darrin M. McMahon 13. Religious Authority, Reform, and Philanthropy in the Contemporary Muslim World Gregory C. Kozlowski 14. From Repression to Revival: Philanthropy in Twentieth-Century Russia Adele Lindenmeyr 15. State Power and the Philanthropic Impulse in China Today Vivienne B. Shue 16. Civil Society and Philanthropy in Latin America: From Religious Charity to the Search for Citizenship Andres A. Thompson and Leilah Landim Contributors Index

Where did the serious study of philanthropy come from, anyway?

This article gives a brief account of the historical development of the systematic academic study of the field of philanthropy from the point of view of one of the original investigators in the field. It attempts to identify the institutional factors (in the field of philanthropy, within the universities, and among funding agencies) that have determined the current nature of research on philanthropy. Finally, it points out some of the leading problems in the further development of philanthropy as a research field, especially those of cooperative relations between researchers and philanthropic practitioners.

Why technology matters: the humanities in the twenty-first century

Abstract Computing and digitisation are transforming not only the conditions of work for humanists, but also the ways in which humanists think and their disciplines are configured. The digital world both enables and compels new ways of thinking. And, significantly, it is just as transformative of teaching as it is of scholarship. Indeed, the most interesting thing about the new digital humanities environment may be that the distinction between teaching and scholarship is itself being eroded. The database is fast becoming the principal site of work in the humanities.

Legal Change and Legal Autonomy: Charitable Trusts in New York, 1777-1893

The law of charitable trusts in New York provides a wonderful example of the complexity of legal change. We hope to show that the so-called “restrictive” policy followed by New York was not really a legal policy of the state in the sense that it represented a rule deliberately designed to achieve a specific policy goal. On the contrary, it was largely the result of a highly traditional common law judicial response to social policy inputs having nothing at all to do with either the law of charity or the law of trusts. To this extent, it is an example of the “autonomy of law.” There were changes in New York law during the period that is the subject of this paper. We trace these developments as they occurred, by first surveying the English law of charity as it existed at the time of the Revolution, and then tracing the development in New York of a state law of charity from that time until 1844, when the New York courts appeared to have established a systematic approach to the subject. We then discuss the political and judicial reforms that were manifested in the Constitution of 1846 and resulted in the abolition of charitable trusts. Finally we recount the failure of Tildens will and the resulting legislation that ultimately changed the law of charity in New York. We conclude by assessing the importance of this analysis for the history of American charity law and the history of American charity itself.

Looking Backward: The Early History of American Law

There has occurred in the last year what may be viewed as a modest revival of interest in the early history of American law. The bulkiest manifestation of this renaissance is a two-volume study of the rise of the legal profession from the seventeenth century to 1860, but at the same time several other books have appeared which in whole or in part bear on the same subject. The historian is tantalized but at the same time troubled by the traditional character of much of the new work. Legal historians have tended to define the substance of the law quite narrowly. We have a great many legal and judicial biographies, treatises on the formal categories of law and procedure, accounts of constitutional development, and histories of particular courts. Legal history has been slow, however, in responding to the newer concerns and techniques of contemporary historians, particularly in the realm of social and economic history. The possibility of examining the law in its actual relation to social and economic process through the systematic exploitation of a fuller range of documents, such as legislative and administrative records, economic and social data, and the records of lower courts and ordinary lawyers is now emerging. To keep pace with the times, legal historians must move from the study of appellate opinions to the broader context of law in society, from what law was to how law worked, from substance to process. Likewise, the chronological horizons of American legal history must

Eastern Europe since 1989

The author began working in Eastern Europe in connection with his project to study the impact of U.S. constitutionalism following the U.S. constitutional bicentennial in 1987. This led him to organize a conference on constitutionalism in Eastern Europe in 1990 and to collaborate in projects on the progress of constitutionalism in the region since that time. The question the author addresses is whether the constitutional promise apparent in 1989 and following has been fulfilled two decades later.

Chapter 37 Philanthropy

Abstract Charity on the English and early American model must be distinguished from philanthropy as it developed in America at the turn of the twentieth century. Philanthropy aims at the systemic eradication of social ills rather than, as does charity, at their amelioration. The general purpose philanthropic foundation became the standard vehicle for effecting this purpose, and made significant contributions to a variety of fields until the Great Depression, though funding for the arts was fairly limited. Much of the role of foundations was assumed by the federal government as it expanded in power and scope after World War II, often adopting the foundation modus operandi as its own. Partly as a result, foundations began to support the arts and culture, and when corporate philanthropy emerged in the 1950s it was also often aimed at the arts and culture. The National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities have been responsible since 1965 for the central government contribution to these fields. Recent changes in the foundation sector include the growth in the number of new, very well endowed foundations; the emergence of conservative foundations; a contraction in the scope of foundation funding, including fewer and smaller grants to the arts and culture; and the rising number of community and family foundations. American philanthropy is undoubtedly responsive to government policy and economic cycles, but there remains despite vicissitudes a unique affinity for philanthropy in the United States, perhaps explained in part by the relative weakness of the American state. In Europe, a different historical tradition and legal framework has given rise to different forms of support for the arts and culture, with a greater role for the state. Recent trends, however, suggest that non-American philanthropy is coming to resemble philanthropy in the United States.

Reply to Hall

I am very grateful to Peter Hall for his characteristically learned and helpful contribution. I confess that I was appalled when I first started to read it, because no decent person likes to be exposed as a megalomaniac. But so be it. My piece was published as a Commentary, and it was intended to be just that—its origin, after all, was an informal speech to a group of philanthropy scholars. It was intended to be a brief, informal, and personal reflection of the attempt to develop a modern field of philanthropic studies, no more. However, I do not disagree at all with the much fuller and broader account that Peter gives. To be fair, the luncheon question that Humphrey Doermann asked me was not whether there was a literature on philanthropy, but whether there was a scholarly literature on philanthropic foundations. I would have given Humphrey a different answer if he had asked Peter’s question. Of course, I am familiar with much, but certainly not all, of the literature that Peter mentions. Having been a colleague of Merle Curti and Bill Taylor’s at Wisconsin (and having worked with their students mentioned by Peter), I was well aware of the Princeton Conference and the Curti project. Peter is, of course, correct when he points out the role of John D. Rockefeller in the creation of Independent Sector. I was thinking of what John Gardner did for and with the organization after Mr. Rockefeller’s death. I am, however, particularly intrigued by Peter’s comment in Note 13 that I was “jockeying for the commission’s research portfolio.” This is news to me, and I am at a loss as to what I was jockeying for. I am also confused by the statement that I was an active member of the Council on Foundation/Foundation Center Joint Committee on Philanthropy. I have no memory of such an organization, although I certainly do remember attending a few meetings in New York with Tony Cline (then president of the Russell Sage Foundation) and a number of other people interested in philanthropic research during what I would have thought to be early in the mid-1970s. Perhaps this group was sponsored by the Council on Foundation and the Foundation Center. I learned a lot at these

W. McNeil Lowry, The performing arts and American society

by W. McNeil Lowry, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice Hall, 1978, 215 pp., paperback, ISBN 0‐13‐657155‐7 The book that drew me to the study of cultural policy was a collection of essays edited by W. M...