The Rockefeller Archive Center was established to protect materials related to organizations founded and supported by the philanthropies of the Rockefeller family, which have had a seminal influence on the development of twentieth-century education, science, medicine, social science, agriculture, economics, conservation, and cultural affairs throughout the world. Private Philanthropy and Public Elementary and Secondary Education was one of a series of conferences regularly sponsored by the Rockefeller Archive Center on subjects germane to its holdings. The papers and talks in this book—Proceedings of the Rockefeller Archive Center Conference held on June 8, 1979—were presented to devote some attention to the history of philanthropic activities in education and to encourage an exchange of views on current and future trends among a group of foundation executives, scholars, educators, and officials at every level of government who are committed to the improvement of public elementary and secondary education in the United States.