{"value"=>"<p>The grants files are arranged chronologically from 1960 to 1997 and alphabetically (within the year) by title of organization receiving grant funds. The correspondence is both incoming and outgoing. Through the spring of 1974 the correspondence is that of Allan W. Betts as vice president, and Robert C. Bickford, as director. From the spring of 1974 onwards the correspondence is that of Linda Gillies as director of the Foundation. The correspondence is with executive directors, educators, religious leaders, corporate executives, city government officials, financiers, the Foundation's legal counsel, and persons prominent in public life, relating to the awarding and administration of financial grants to charitable and non-profit institutions mainly in New York City. (Correspondence regarding grants extending over several years is frequently filed in the folder containing the initial grant year). Correspondence addressed to Mrs. Astor as president of the Foundation was routinely answered by the director although Mrs. Astor in some instances responded personally. Included are letters to Mrs. Astor from medical students and other recipients of Vincent Astor scholarships thanking her for her generosity. Many of the letters report on academic progress and mention personal matters (especially those from students at Cornell University Medical College).</p> <p>Included in the files are numerous internal administrative documents including grant applications, grant authorization letters outlining the grant's terms and conditions, grant summary sheets, past grants profile sheets, and payment vouchers. There is also an abundance of documents relating to the grantee organizations, including grant proposals, progress reports, interim and final reports, financial statements, audit reports, annual reports, newsletters, informational brochures, architectural plans, blueprints, and occasional photographs of persons and events. Most files also contain photocopies of IRS Form 990 (Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax).</p> <p>Correspondence with prominent persons is scattered throughout the grant files series. The Astor Home for Children files during the 1960's contain letters from Francis Cardinal Spellman, and later, from Terence Cardinal Cooke. The Riis Park file (in Box #8) contains letters to Mrs. Astor from Mrs. August Belmont, Mrs. Lyndon Baines Johnson, John L. Loeb. and Ira S. Robbins (the file also contains an original letter by Robert Lowell dated July 4, 1887, to \"My Dear Cousin Mary Clare\"). The Buchanan School Playground file (Box #10) contains a letter (October 4, 1967) by Mrs. Lyndon Baines Johnson.</p> <p>The Bedford-Stuyvesant Development Corp. file (in Box 11) contains a copy of a letter (April 17, 1967) from Mrs. Astor to the editor of the <em>Washington Post</em> in which she vigorously objects to an allegation published in the <em>Post</em> that the Foundation was motivated by political considerations in its awarding of grant funds.</p>"}