Institute of Child Development

The Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota is among the world's oldest [Page 596]and largest units devoted to the study of children's development. Founded in 1925, the institute was the outgrowth of a social movement, one that drew its energy from a surge of interest in the idea that social betterment can be achieved through improved understanding of the natural world and the application of this knowledge to social institutions as well as to the individual condition. Known widely as the “progressive movement,” these views shaped public policy in many fields between the 1890s and the 1920s and were responsible for the beginnings of the “child guidance” movement as well as decisions by various agencies to support efforts to learn more about child development.

In 1918, John D. Rockefeller founded a special fund in his wife's memory, the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial, to support research and social programs for improving the lives of women and children. Lawrence K. Frank, who became the memorial's administrator of programs for children and parents, along with Beardsley Ruml, was responsible for research on normal child development, family studies, and parent education. These men believed that the programs they supported should be directed largely at mothers and should be grounded in scientific knowledge about child development, especially during the early years.

By 1920, research on children's development was proceeding at the University of Iowa and Yale University, as well as several other units like the Merrill-Palmer School (Detroit). A professional field of child development, however, did not exist. With increasing commitment from the memorial, however, other units were established, among them a research and training institute at Minnesota. “The institutionalization of child development” had begun.

The Minnesota Institute came into being largely as the result of conversations between Lawrence Frank and his college classmate, Lotus D. Coffman, who was president of the University of Minnesota in the 1920s (Hartup, Johnson, & Weinberg, 2000). The ideas leading to the formation of this unit did not come from within the university. Rather, it was at the request of the memorial that a grant application for $50,000 was submitted. These monies enabled the institution to hire John E. Anderson, a young psychology professor at Yale, to become director of what was to be called the Institute of Child Welfare. Facilities were made available and recruitment of a small core staff begun in the summer of 1925, including individuals drawn from various departments of the university, such as anatomy, pediatrics, psychology, sociology, home economics, and the “psychopathic department.” Research and teaching in the new institute began that autumn, and a nursery school was begun that continues to the present. Parent education, including both university classes and a wide range of other activities conducted in various regions throughout Minnesota, was also begun in 1925–26.

John Anderson submitted an annual report in the summer of 1926 that listed more than 100 research projects that had been mounted during the year. Research was conducted in the institute both by budgeted staff (six professorial appointments) and distinguished members of other departments. But clouds began to appear on the horizon almost immediately. Lawrence Frank and Beardsley Ruml regretted the extent to which they were committed to programs of parent education, in view of the thin knowledge base existing in child development. Discontent became so great among the trustees of the memorial that, in 1928, the decision was taken to fund mainly research; terms of support for the Institute of Child Welfare were renegotiated so that funding would be supplied for only 10 years (it turned out to be 14), beginning at an increased amount ($90,000 annually) and declining to zero by the end of the period.

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