University Received Odd Gifts Last Year for Odd Studies of Odd Things

Over $12,000,000 worth of gifts flowed to the University last year, according to the University's recently released Financial Report. But there were a number of donations that must have puzzled the auditors.

Just by way of mention, there was a $975 gift to buy Spanish Civil War newspapers and another gift of $3,000 to the "Navaho Ceremony Fund."

The Department of Anthropology received $200 for posture research while the Department of Geology got $1256 for "secretarial wages."

And a memorial of over $20,000 was established to aid "such candidates as may be sons of widows and who come from communities west of the Appalachian Mountains."

Strange Benefactors Too

Strange donors are found on the gift lists. Last year these included the National Museum of Colombo, Ceylon, the Eagle Pencil Company, and the Revere Racing Association.

The Revere donation was a part of a gift to the Department of Legal Medicine from the Massachusetts Racing Association, which is made up of two greyhound and two horse racing tracks. The money is being used "for research into the detection of stimuli and sedatives in animals and men."