- Person
- Julius Rosenwald
- Lived
- 1862–1932
- Field
- Retail & philanthropy
- From
- American
The story
Julius Rosenwald believed that wealth should be used responsibly while the giver was still alive. Besides his famous support for Black education, he gave generously to institutions in Chicago, the city where he built Sears, Roebuck into a retail giant. He was the largest single taxpayer in Cook County, led efforts for better city government and supported many educational institutions.
The idea for his most visible gift came from a family trip. In 1911 he visited Munich with his young son William, who was absorbed by the Deutsches Museum, a great museum that showed how machines and industry worked through exhibits that today would be called interactive. Rosenwald was deeply impressed and decided that the United States, and Chicago in particular, needed such a place to educate the public.
By 1926 he had convinced Chicago's leaders, and work began on what became the Museum of Science and Industry, housed in the old Fine Arts building from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Rosenwald was its principal founder and backer, contributing more than $5 million, and he served as its president from 1927 until his death in 1932. For decades admission was free, thanks in part to dividends on the Sears stock he donated.
Rosenwald refused to be the subject of biographies and did not want his name attached to buildings or institutions. He resisted every effort to call it the Rosenwald Museum, and he insisted that his gifts be matched by others so that he would not be credited as sole donor. The National Park Service lists the Museum of Science and Industry among the causes that benefited from his 'give while you live' approach, alongside YMCAs, housing projects and research fellowships.
The museum remains one of the most visited museums in the world, and according to the Archbridge Institute it inspired many other American cities to build science and technology museums of their own. Generations of visitors have learned about science and technology within its walls, carrying forward the curiosity that a boy in Munich sparked in his father more than a century ago.
Why it matters
The Museum of Science and Industry has given Chicago a major public museum devoted to science and industry for nearly a century and inspired similar museums across America.
About Julius Rosenwald
Clothier who turned Sears, Roebuck into America’s great mail-order retailer, then helped build nearly 5,000 schools for Black children across the segregated South.
More about Julius Rosenwald
- Julius Rosenwald helped launch county farm advisersJulius Rosenwald gave $1,000 grants to the first 100 US counties to hire County Extension Agents, helping the Department of Agriculture launch a valuable rural programme.
- Rosenwald fellowships backed Marian Anderson and HughesFrom 1928 the Rosenwald Fund gave over $400,000 in fellowships to rising artists and scholars, most of them Black, including Marian Anderson, Langston Hughes and James Baldwin.
- Julius Rosenwald helped the young NAACPJulius Rosenwald gave several thousand dollars to help establish the NAACP and found a venue for its 1912 Chicago meeting, at his own synagogue, Temple Sinai.
- Julius Rosenwald built 5,000 schools for Black childrenSears president Julius Rosenwald partnered with Booker T. Washington to build about 5,000 Rosenwald Schools for Black children in the segregated South, educating some 600,000 students.
- Julius Rosenwald gave Sears workers a share of the profitsIn 1916 Julius Rosenwald and Albert Loeb launched one of the first comprehensive profit-sharing plans at Sears, open to every employee; 90% of workers joined.
- Julius Rosenwald gave away $687,000 on his 50th birthdayTo mark his 50th birthday in 1912, Julius Rosenwald gave away $687,000, including $250,000 for the University of Chicago, and kept giving about $500,000 a year.
- Julius Rosenwald built good housing for Black ChicagoansIn 1929 Julius Rosenwald built the Michigan Boulevard Garden Apartments, 421 homes for African Americans in Chicago, investing $2.7 million for a modest return.
- Julius Rosenwald funded 25 YMCAs for Black AmericansJulius Rosenwald offered $25,000 to any city that raised $75,000 for a YMCA for African Americans; between 1911 and 1933 he helped build 25 YMCAs in 24 cities.
Sources
- Julius Rosenwald Wikipedia
- Julius Rosenwald National Park Service
- Magnanimous Merchant: Julius Rosenwald American Business History Center
Another act of tikkun olam. This is part of tikkun olam, the Jewish idea of repairing the world, and every one of us can add to it.