Administration and History
From 1930 to 1939 the budgeting for the MED was combined with that for the EMED, with Moore and then Knott along with Fries for the EMED submitting joint budgets. Though money was tight in the early 1930s, Moore was mercifully spared from the financial problems that beset Knott. The project received grants during its early years (1931-1936) from the Rockefeller Foundation (through the ACLS), but that external support ended in February of 1936, and the University of Michigan had to assume the full cost of both projects. The financial limitations were partly responsible for the decisions first, in 1938, to suspend work on the MED and set the staffs of both the MED and the EMED to editing for the EMED and then, a year later, to resume work on the MED and postpone the EMED indefinitely. There is a full file on this subject, not to mention the official decisions themselves, which are in the Committee on Dictionary minutes.