In 1923 Frank was selected as director of the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial, a new foundation that was part of the Rockefeller family philanthropies and devoted exclusively to the well-being of children. Instead of using the foundation's considerable resources to aid existing child-welfare agencies, Frank decided to create new preventive facilities studying the psychological development of normal children. He designed a university- based child-study program including research on child growth and development along with parent education on child rearing.

Child Welfare Research Institutes.

Frank's new program included conducting practical research that would lead to the establishment of norms for the behavior of the "average American child" at each age, as well as publicizing and applying the results of this research in nursery and elementary schools, parent-training programs, and medical settings. Under Frank's leadership, by 1930 the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial had funded nine Child...