Survey Associates records

Survey Associates, Inc., was a cooperative publishing society which sought to "advance the cause of constructive philanthropy by the publication and circulation of books, pamphlets, and periodicals, and by conducting any investigations useful or necessary for the preparation thereof." The certificate of incorporation, signed on October 31, 1912, by Robert W. de Forest, Edward T. Devine, John M. Glenn, Alfred T. White, and Paul U. Kellogg, named twelve original directors: Jane Addams, Robert S. Brewster, Robert W. de Forest, Edward T. Devine, John M. Glenn, V. Everit Macy, Julian W. Mack, Charles D. Norton, Simon N. Patten, Frank Tucker, Paul M. Warburg, and Alfred T. White.

Survey Associates was a non-partisan, non-profit organization whose primary work was the publication of the Surveymagazines. It was incorporated without capital endowment; contributions from members made up deficits which ordinary publishing receipts could not cover. The organization was managed by a board of directors and advised by the National Council of Survey Associates. Officers of the organization were a president, a chairman of the board of directors, vice-presidents, a secretary, a treasurer, and an editor. Presidents of Survey Associates were Robert W. de Forest, 1912-1931; Lucius Eastman, 1931-1938; and Richard B. Scandrett, 1938-1948. Chairmen of the board of directors were Julian W. Mack, 1938-1943; and Joseph P. Chamberlain, 1943-1952. Officers were elected at the annual meetings of Survey Associates, held by constitutional provision on the last Monday of October and open to all members. (One became a member by contributing not less than ten dollars to Survey Associates.)

The Surveyhad roots in several other magazines which were concerned with philanthropy. It developed from the Charities Review, a monthly publication of the New York Charity Organization Society. First issued in 1891 as a monthly journal of sociology, the Charities Reviewwas financed by Robert W. de Forest and edited by Paul Leicester Ford and Frederick Howard Wines. In March, 1897, the Charities Reviewmerged with Lend-A-Hand, founded and edited by Edward Everett Hale. In December, 1897, the Charity Organization Society also began publishing Charities(published with various subtitles), edited by Edward T. Devine. It was intended to be a weekly review of philanthropy that would serve Society members. In 1905, the Charities Publication Committee of the Charity Organization Society assumed responsibility for publishing Charities. At the same time, it was merged with Commons, a magzine edited first by John Palmer Gavit and later by Graham Taylor, founder of the Chicago Commons Settlement. As Charities and the Commons, it absorbed in 1906 Jewish Charity, edited by Lee K. Frankel. In April, 1909, the magazine took the name Survey because, as the editors stated, "letters and messages continually received have strengthened the conviction that not by the name of charity do most men call the movements we have stood for." The source of the name was the Pittsburgh Survey, an investigation of the "life and labor" of the Pittsburgh steel district made under the direction of Paul Kelloggfrom 1907 to 1909. In 1912, for financial reasons and for purposes of editorial independence, the magazine broke its ties with the Charity Organization Society and formed an independent publishing organization, Survey Associates, Inc.

From 1912 the Surveywas published weekly, but because weekly publication was prohibitively expensive and because of a constant clash between readers seeking technical material and readers seeking an overall view of philanthropic fields, the Surveysplit into two publications: the Survey Midmonthlyand the Survey Graphic. The Midmonthlywas formally founded in June, 1922, as a digest of social work. It was directed at social workers and board members, and it dealt with all fields of social work, health, recreation, and human welfare. The Survey Graphic, formally founded in October, 1921, grew out of a series of reconstruction issues published during and after World War I. It was a magazine of "social interpretation" directed at people who were concerned with social and economic problems. It focused on areas of industrial relations, health, education, international relations, housing, race relations, consumer education, and related fields. Financial problems caused the two magazines to merge in 1949. Publication of the Surveywas suspended in 1952, due in part to financial dificulties and the ill health of longtime editor Paul Kellogg. S and Survey Associates was dissolved as a corporate entity.

Paul Underwood Kellogg (1879-1958), editor of the Surveyfrom 1912 to 1952, is the crucial figure in this collection. Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, he served as an editor of the Kalamazoo Daily Telegraphbefore coming to New York to study at Columbia University. He joined the staff of the Charitiesand, after directing the Pittsburgh Survey and editing the six-volume report of that investigation, became editor of the Surveyin 1912. Kellogg was one of the founders of the Foreign Policy Association, a member of the Committee on Research in Medical Economics, and vice-chairman of the Advisory Committee to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Committee on Economic Security. His brother, Arthur P. Kellogg (1878-1934), served as treasurer of SurveyAssociates and managing editor of the Surveyand Survey Graphicuntil his death in 1934.

Paul Kellogg conceived of the Surveyas a broadly educational enterprise operating "along the borders of research, journalism, and the general welfare." It was to be an open forum, limited only by the facts. The emphasis of the Surveywas on first-hand inquiry and investigation, and regular procedure involved submitting controversial articles in draft form to concerned parties, considering suggested revisions, rechecking disputed sections, and offering opportunity for rebuttal. The Surveyfeatured articles by staff members and by paid and volunteer contributors. In the January, 1949, issue Paul Kellogg named the factors that had characterized the Survey's working scheme since 1912: swift research, visualization, human interest, things of the spirit, public concern, and free discussion.

For a full account of the history of the Surveyand the life of Paul Kellogg, see Clarke A. Chambers, Paul U. Kellogg and the Survey: Voices for Social Welfare and Social Justice(University of Minnesota Press, 1971).