The Russell Sage Foundation celebrates its centennial this year. During its early years, the Foundation, which is dedicated to social science research, was instrumental in effecting legislative reforms in labor and living conditions in this country. One hundred years later, it continues to bring about innovative social science research by sponsoring conferences, scholars and its own publications.

But for the disparate interests of a prominent couple in turn-of-the-century New York, however, the Foundation may never have seen the light of day. For, while it was made financially possible by the wealthy financier in whose memory it was posthumously named, it was made intellectually possible through the philanthropic passion of his surviving second wife, Mrs. Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage.

In 1949, The City College Libraries received part of the Foundation’s library collection. It contains Russell Sage Foundation publications as well as the many periodicals and monographs that were used by late 19th and early 20th century social work researchers. This exhibit traces the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Sage, the foundation they created and its library collection in The City College Libraries.