Pollock’s poor personal investing eroded the Institute’s capital in 1938.

Evidence

The assets of the Société Internationale de Recherches Sociales, it was true, had shrunk in 1937 from 3.9 to 3.5 million Swiss francs, and the capital had to be drawn on for the first time. Unpleasant though this was, it did not contradict the intentions of Weil’s endowment, which stated that the money was not to be treated as capital, but should be gradually spent over an extended period. The recession year of 1938 did not bring any improvement, but rather a drastic deterioration, for which Pollock himself, by his own confession, was responsible. An entire wall of his office was reserved for Stock Exchange quotations, but he had an unlucky touch in investments. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1041

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to broader institutional histories of foundations and the interplay of financial management with intellectual output.