Indiana University Center for Documentary Research and
Practice
Scope Content:
This collection consists of forty-two interviews collected over the course of two years. Interviews range from fifty to one hundred-fity minutes. All interviews consist of audiotapes and typed transcripts.
Waldemar Nielsen, whose career centered on philanthropy at the Ford Foundation, discusses his background, early career, and thoughts on American philanthropy. Nielsen speaks of his views on the role of foundations in United States society and the weaknesses of foundations, including the lack of diversity within and among foundations. He discusses the impact of McCarthyism on the Ford Foundation and the role the government should play, and has played, in philanthropy.