Edward Stephen Harkness (January 22, 1874 – January 29, 1940) was an American
philanthropist
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...
. Given privately and through his family's
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, particularly for society's most vulnerable, includ ...
, Harkness' gifts to private hospitals, art museums, and educational institutions in the Northeastern United States were among the largest of the early twentieth century. He was a major benefactor to
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
,
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
,
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
,
Phillips Exeter Academy
(not for oneself) la, Finis Origine Pendet (The End Depends Upon the Beginning) gr, Χάριτι Θεοῦ (By the Grace of God)
, location = 20 Main Street
, city = Exeter, New Hampshire
, zipcode ...
,
St. Paul's School, the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
, and the
University of St Andrews
(Aien aristeuein)
, motto_lang = grc
, mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best
, established =
, type = Public research university
Ancient university
, endowment ...
in Scotland.
Harkness inherited his fortune from his father,
Stephen V. Harkness, whose wealth was established by an early investment in
Standard Oil
Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...
, and his brother,
Charles W. Harkness.
In 1918, he was ranked the 6th-richest person in the United States by ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' magazine's first "Rich List", behind
John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He has been widely considered the wealthiest American of all time and the richest person in modern history. Rockefeller was ...
,
Henry Clay Frick,
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...
,
George Fisher Baker, and
William Rockefeller.
Biography
Edward ("Ned") Harkness was born in
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
, one of four sons of
Anna M. Harkness
Anna Maria Richardson Harkness (October 25, 1837 – March 27, 1926) was an American philanthropist.
Early life
She was born on October 25, 1837, in Dalton, Ohio, and was the daughter of James Richardson and Anna ( née Ranck) Richardson. Not m ...
and
Stephen V. Harkness, a harness-maker who invested in and was one of the five founding partners in the forerunner of
Standard Oil
Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...
,
John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He has been widely considered the wealthiest American of all time and the richest person in modern history. Rockefeller was ...
's oil company. Stephen Harkness died when Edward was fourteen, leaving his wife and oldest son, Charles, to manage the estate.
Harkness attended
St. Paul's School and
Yale College
Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...
, Class of 1897 and
Columbia Law School. Harkness, his brother
Charles
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...
, and cousin
William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
were members of
Wolf's Head Society at Yale. While at Yale, Ned enlisted the assistance of
Henry Sloane Coffin as a tutor. Ned and Henry became friends and they roomed together at Yale. Henry later became the pastor of
Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church
Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church is a member church of the Presbyterian Church (USA), located at 73rd Street and Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side of New York City.
In 1927 George Arthur Buttrick succeeded Henry Sloane Coffin as minister. ...
just blocks away from Ned and Mary's home at 1 East 75th Street in New York. Also, Henry's brother
William Sloane Coffin Sr.
William Sloane Coffin Sr. (April15, 1879December16, 1933) was an American businessman. He was a director, and later vice-president of W. & J. Sloane Company, his family's business, which was founded by his grandfather, William Sloane, from Kilm ...
was the president of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
from 1931–1933. Ned had already been heavily involved with the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
as a trustee and major donor and was likely instrumental in William Coffin's appointment.
![Harkness House, 1908](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Harkness_House%2C_1908.jpg)
After graduating, Edward Harkness married Mary Stillman, daughter of wealthy New York attorney Thomas E. Stillman, in 1904. Mary's maternal grandfather was Thomas S. Greenman, a shipbuilder in
Mystic, Connecticut, who co-founded George Greenman & Co shipyard. (This is now part of the Mystic Seaport Museum). Harkness' mother gave the couple a
new Italian Renaissance mansion on New York City's Upper East Side as a wedding present. As the building's architect, Harkness chose Yale College classmate
James Gamble Rogers
James Gamble Rogers (March 3, 1867 – October 1, 1947) was an American architect. A proponent of what came to be known as Collegiate Gothic architecture, he is best known for his academic commissions at Yale University, Columbia Univer ...
, who would later design many of his philanthropic building projects. The home, at 75th Street and 5th Avenue and now known as the Edward S. Harkness House, became the headquarters of Harkness'
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, particularly for society's most vulnerable, includ ...
after Mary's death.
Harkness briefly served as a railroad director for the
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...
, but within several years decided to become a full-time philanthropist. He began making gifts to the Egyptian collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1912, and that same year was appointed to the museum's board of trustees.
Harkness' older brother Charles died in 1916 at age 55, leaving Edward more than US$80 million, much of it in Standard Oil stock.
Charles had continued to invest substantially in
Standard Oil
Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...
as manager of the family fortune, and his brother's estate made Harkness the third-largest stakeholder in Standard Oil.
Philanthropy
Harkness made charitable gifts totaling more than $129 million, the equivalent of $2 billion in 2005 dollars. His philanthropic peers
John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He has been widely considered the wealthiest American of all time and the richest person in modern history. Rockefeller was ...
and
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...
gave respectively $550 million and $350 million.
Medical philanthropy
Harkness encouraged and orchestrated the merger of
Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University's
College of Physicians and Surgeons, creating Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center (CPMC), the world's first
academic medical center
An academic medical centre (AMC), variously also known as academic health science centre, academic health science system, or academic health science partnership, is an educational and healthcare institute formed by the grouping of a health profes ...
.
CPMC was built in the 1920s on the site of
Hilltop Park, the one-time home stadium of the
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...
, which Harkness purchased and donated. Despite his aversion to have anything named for himself, The Edward Harkness Eye Institute was named by relatives.
In 1997, Columbia-Presbyterian merged with the
New York Hospital
Weill Cornell Medical Center (previously known as New York Hospital or Old New York Hospital or City Hospital) is a research hospital in New York City. It is part of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and the teaching hospital for Cornell University.
...
. New York Hospital had affiliated with
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
's
Weill Cornell Medical College
The Joan & Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University is Cornell University's biomedical research unit and medical school located in Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York.
Weill Cornell Medicine is affiliated with NewY ...
in the 1930s, following their lead. Now known as
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital / Columbia University Medical Center, the Harkness Pavilion, named for father Stephen, is a central part of the campus.
Arts philanthropy
![Tuts Tomb Opened](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Tuts_Tomb_Opened.JPG)
Harkness was a major benefactor of the
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...
and the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
. Harkness, in addition to donations to the Decorative Arts Department, gifted the Museum's initial
Ancient Egyptian art
Ancient Egyptian art refers to art produced in ancient Egypt between the 6th millennium BC and the 4th century AD, spanning from Prehistoric Egypt until the Christianization of Roman Egypt. It includes paintings, sculptu ...
collection. Harkness bought the complete
Tomb of Perneb
The Tomb of Perneb is a mastaba-style tomb from ancient Egypt, built during the reigns of Djedkare Isesi and Unas (ca. 2381 BC to 2323 BC), in the necropolis of Saqqara, north of Pharaoh Djoser's Step Pyramid and about 30 kilometers south ...
for the Met and helped purchase the
Carnarvon Collection of Egyptian artifacts. He also donated the Met's unofficial mascot, a
blue decorative hippo from the Egyptian
Middle Kingdom's Twelfth Dynasty. It is known as "William".
Ned was actively involved with the discovery and excavation of King Tutankhamun's tomb. Mr. and Mrs. Harkness and
Albert Lythgoe
Albert Morton Lythgoe (March 15, 1868 – January 29, 1934) was an American archaeologist and Egyptologist. He is best known for his work for the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, and for the support he gave to the excavation of Tutankhamun ...
visited Howard Carter at the site multiple times and in fact, Carter invited Harkness to witness th
opening of King Tutankhamun's sarcophagus on February 3, 1924.
Educational philanthropy
In 1917, a year after Charles' death, Anna Harkness donated $3 million to Yale University to build the
Memorial Quadrangle student dormitory in Charles' memory. In 1918, Anna Harkness established the
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, particularly for society's most vulnerable, includ ...
with an initial gift of $10 million, and Ned Harkness was made its president.
Ned Harkness and his wife made many contributions to educational buildings, including
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, a foundation which was endowed by K ...
at the
University of St. Andrews; Harkness Chapel and Harkness Dormitory at
Connecticut College;
Butler Library
Butler Library is located on the Morningside Heights campus of Columbia University at 535 West 114th Street, in Manhattan, New York City. It is the university's largest single library with over 2 million volumes, as well as one of the largest bui ...
at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
as well as the original portions of the
Columbia University Medical Center
NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center (NYP/CUIMC), also known as the Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC), is an academic medical center and the largest campus of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. It includes C ...
and the undergraduate dormitories at
Brown University
Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
and
Connecticut College—all of these were built through his philanthropy or that of his wife, Mary.
![Butler Library - 1000px - AC](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Butler_Library_-_1000px_-_AC.jpg)
Between 1926 and 1930, Harkness made major donations to his alma mater, Yale, and Harvard to establish
residential college systems at each school. Harkness admired the
colleges
A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...
of Oxford and Cambridge in England and proposed to
Yale President James Rowland Angell that he would fund a similar system for Yale's
undergraduate college to relieve overcrowding and improve social intimacy.
When the
Yale Corporation failed to accept Harkness' offer by 1928, he went to Harvard with a similar offer. Harvard's president,
Abbott Lawrence Lowell, quickly accepted, and with a $10 million gift from Harkness in hand, eight houses for
Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...
were completed by 1931. Dismayed, Yale administrators appealed to Harkness to reconsider his offer. In 1930 he agreed to give Yale $11 million for nine
residential colleges of its own.
Harkness persuaded Yale to retain his friend
James Gamble Rogers
James Gamble Rogers (March 3, 1867 – October 1, 1947) was an American architect. A proponent of what came to be known as Collegiate Gothic architecture, he is best known for his academic commissions at Yale University, Columbia Univer ...
as the colleges' architect. He also made gifts that established the
Yale School of Drama, the first independent drama faculty in the country, and erected its theater.
Around the same time as his Yale-Harvard philanthropy, Harkness sought to reform the pedagogical techniques of the country's elite boarding schools. At
Phillips Exeter Academy
(not for oneself) la, Finis Origine Pendet (The End Depends Upon the Beginning) gr, Χάριτι Θεοῦ (By the Grace of God)
, location = 20 Main Street
, city = Exeter, New Hampshire
, zipcode ...
, he sought to innovate beyond
rote learning by introducing the
Harkness table method of instruction. Through further gifts, the method spread to
St. Paul’s,
The Lawrenceville School, and
Kingswood-Oxford School
Kingswood Oxford School is a private school located in West Hartford, Connecticut instructing day students in grades 6 through 12 with a college preparatory curriculum. Originally two separate schools, Kingswood School and Oxford School for boys a ...
. Harkness also made gifts to
Taft School
The Taft School is a private, coeducational school located in Watertown, Connecticut, United States. It teaches students in 9th through 12th grades and post-graduates.
About three-quarters of Taft's roughly 600 students live on the school's ...
,
The Hill School, and
Phillips Academy
("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness
, address = 180 Main Street
, city = Andover
, state = Ma ...
.
He established the
Harkness Fellowships 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.
Residences
![HarknessAerial](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/HarknessAerial.jpg)
Edward and Mary Harkness had a number of homes in addition to Harkness House in New York. They spent summers at their Eolia mansion on Long Island Sound in
Waterford, Connecticut, near where Mary had visited her grandparents in the summers. The home and of ornamental gardens and grounds are now maintained by the State of Connecticut as
Harkness Memorial State Park. The Harkness' used their steam yacht ''Steveana'' (named after his parents) to commute back and forth to New York. For longer trips across country, Ned and Mary used their Pullman car ''Pelham'' named after Pelham, Massachusetts, where the Harkness family started in America.
Ned and Mary also owned another house on Long Island in
Manhasset, New York, on 186 acres called Weekend, designed by architect
James Gamble Rogers
James Gamble Rogers (March 3, 1867 – October 1, 1947) was an American architect. A proponent of what came to be known as Collegiate Gothic architecture, he is best known for his academic commissions at Yale University, Columbia Univer ...
, plus houses in North Carolina, San Diego, California and a camp at the
Ausable Club in the Adirondacks. Ned was an avid golfer and was a member of the
Jekyll Island Club in Georgia,
Cypress Point Club, The Creek Club in Locust Valley, the Valley Club of Monteceito in Santa Barbara and
Yeamans Hall Club
Yeamans Hall Club is a country club built on a 1100-acre tract about 12 miles from Charleston, South Carolina, along Goose Creek on the site of a 17th-century plantation.
Plantation
The club was built on a plantation that had initially belon ...
outside of Charleston, South Carolina, another James Gamble Rogers golf and winter community. He was also a member of the
Racquet and Tennis Club in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
Burial
Edward and Mary Harkness are buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in
The Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
, New York City, which is today a National Historic Landmark. The Harkness family mausoleum is stately and includes a privately walled and locked garden. The mausoleum does not have any name at all on it noting who is buried inside. The architecture of the mausoleum evokes that of a small medieval church.
Legacy
In addition to the family-funded foundations, Harkness, along with another wealthy neighbor, Edward Crowninshield Hammond, was the inspiration for
Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earlier ...
'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
''A Moon for the Misbegotten'' is a play in four acts by Eugene O'Neill. The play is a sequel to O'Neill's '' Long Day's Journey into Night'', with the Jim Tyrone character as an older version of Jamie Tyrone. He began drafting the play late in 1 ...
''.
[Dowling, Robert M. ''Critical Companion to ]Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earlier ...
: a literary reference to his Life and Work'' pg. 614.Facts on File, New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
Edward S. Harkness Eye Instituteat
NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital
Architectural articleon Harkness House at 1 East 75th Street - now offices of the Commonwealth Fund.
Pictures and history of Harkness House, current home to the Commonwealth FundThe Pilgrim Trustwebsite
'Edward S. Harkness, 1874-1940' Richard F. Niebling,
Phillips Exeter Bulletin, Fall 1982 (PDF)
The Commonwealth Fundwebsite
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harkness, Edward
1874 births
1940 deaths
St. Paul's School (New Hampshire) alumni
Yale College alumni
Columbia Law School alumni
Edward
Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”.
History
The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...
Phillips Exeter Academy
American philanthropists
New York (state) Republicans
Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)