Harkness, Anna M. Richardson (1837–1926)

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Harkness, Anna M. Richardson (1837–1926)

American philanthropist who established the Commonwealth Fund (1918). Born Anna M. Richardson in Dalton, Ohio, on October 25, 1837; died in New York City, on March 27, 1926; daughter of James and Anna (Ranck) Richardson; married Stephen Vanderburg Harkness (a businessman), on February 13, 1854 (died 1888); children: Jennie A. Harkness (who died as a young child); Charles William Harkness (b. 1860); Florence Harkness (b. 1864); and Edward Stephen Harkness (b. 1874).

Most of what is known of American philanthropist Anna Harkness, who was born and raised in Dalton, Ohio, dates from her marriage at the age of 16 to Stephen Vanderburg Harkness, 19 years her senior and a widower with a young son. A successful businessman, Stephen moved his

family to Cleveland in 1866, where he invested a major portion of his considerable wealth in John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company. While her husband amassed a fortune, Harkness managed an estate on Cleveland's millionaires' row and tended to her four young children (the eldest of which, a girl, died as a young child). When Stephen died suddenly in 1888, Harkness and her children divided an inheritance of over $150 million. Following her husband's death, Harkness moved to New York City, where her eldest son, Charles, established an office to administer the estate. Believing that her fortune was a public trust, Harkness embarked on a philanthropic career that would dominate the rest of her life. Her early charity centered on religious and welfare agencies, including the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, the missions of the Presbyterian Church, the New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor, and the State Charities Aid Association.

After her son's death in 1916, Harkness broadened her philanthropic interests to include education, medical research, and cultural institutions. In 1917, in memory of her son, she gave $3 million to Yale University to build the Harkness Triangle, a series of dormitory buildings. Additional gifts to Yale included $3 million in 1920 for faculty salaries, given with the stipulation that the university raise $2 million of its own. Harkness also contributed to other educational institutions, among them Hampton and Tuskegee institutes, two African-American schools.

Harkness, whose gifts were usually made anonymously, was also generous to the institutions of her adopted city, including the New York Public Library, The Museum of Natural History, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her largest gift to the city was a 22-acre site in upper Manhattan (valued at $4 million) given to Columbia University for a new medical center for the College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Presbyterian Hospital.

By 1916, Harkness was finding it increasingly difficult to personally evaluate all the requests she received for aid. Two years later, after consulting with her son Edward, she established the Commonwealth Fund, a non-profit foundation with an endowment of $20 million and governed by a board of directors given full discretion to distribute the funds "for the welfare of mankind." The Fund, one of the few philanthropic foundations established by a woman at that time, helped support medical institutions, health organizations, and a program of fellowship which provided for British students to study in America.

Harkness continued to make personal charitable contributions until she died in 1926, at age 88. By that time, she had skillfully managed to increase the $50 million share of her inheritance to $85 million. Her will left $35 million to various charitable organizations and a large bequest to her only surviving child, Edward. Anna Harkness was buried in Cleveland's Lakeview Cemetery, next to her husband.