Organizing Knowledge and Behavior at Yale's Institute of Human Relations Author(s): J. G. Morawski Source: Isis, Vol. 77, No. 2 (Jun., 1986), pp. 219-242 Published by: University of Chicago Press on behalf of History of Science Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/232650 Accessed: 22-12-2015 00:42 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. History of Science Society and University of Chicago Press are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Isis. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 129.133.6.95 on Tue, 22 Dec 2015 00:42:52 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Organizing Knowledge and Behavior at Yale's Institute of Human Relations By J. G. Morawski* IN 1929 JAMES ANGELL, president of Yale, announced plans for a unique teaching and research center for those fields "directly concerned with the problems of man's individual and group conduct. The purpose is to correlate knowledge and coordinate technique in related fields that greater progress may be made in the understanding of human life. The time has certainly come once again to attempt a fruitful synthesis of knowledge." The New York Times described the experiment as dismantling the disciplinary "Great Wall of China" and compared it with the Renaissance transformation of knowledge.1 The Insti- tute of Human Relations (IHR), as the center was named, received over $4.5 million from the Rockefeller Foundation for its first decade of operation.