Glimpsing an Alternate Construction of American Public Administration

Abstract

Founded in 1907, the New York Bureau of Municipal Research was central to the emergence of American public administration. But in 1914, its Board sided with Frederick Cleveland against William Allen, deciding to guarantee Rockefeller funding by eliminating Allen’s publicity and controversy-generating orientation. Allen quit, then founded the Institute for Public Service. He maintained it for nearly 50 years, producing a steady output of reform suggestions. This article recounts Allen’s largely unknown post-1914 career. Increasingly an outsider, his later career presents a glimpse of an alternate history of public administration, distinctly different from the path the field actually chose.