The Institute funded Benjamin’s Arcades Project and put him on salary from 1936.

Evidence

In the late autumn of 1937, Benjamin became a regular member of staff at the Institute. By 1935 his Passagen-Werk had been adopted as one of the research projects financially supported by the Institute, and the regular payment of an increased salary to Benjamin had been agreed during Horkheimer’s visit to Paris in February 1936. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 184

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the earlier chapters on the Institute’s funding insecurity reaching every staff member including Benjamin and Fromm by 1939. — connects to: The Institute formally sponsored Benjamin’s Paris arcades project as research — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 796; Benjamin retreated into the Arcades Project when paid commissions collapsed
• SHARE: The detail that Horkheimer personally negotiated Benjamin’s salary raise on a Paris trip in February 1936 is a niche fact for someone deep in Frankfurt School biography.

Broader Connections

• The Institute formally sponsored Benjamin’s Paris arcades project as research #corroborates (0.95) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 796
• Benjamin retreated into the Arcades Project when paid commissions collapsed #contradicts (0.85)