Pusey States Library Got $700,000 Gift

Donations from the Widener family totaling $700,000 have been received for the endowment of Widener Library, President Pusey announced yesterday. This is the first gift to the University designated specifically for Library use.

The contributions to the Program for Harvard College, whose goal is to raise $15 million for needed Library expansion, were made by George D. Widener and Mrs. Widener Dixon. Each donated $250,000 toward the fund, and the remaining $200,000 was given by Mrs. Anson A. Bigelow.

The gifts were made in memory of Eleanore Elkins Rice, who gave the Library in 1915 as a memorial to her son, Harry Elkins Widener '07, a bibliophile and book collector, who died in 1912.

Alexander M. White '25, head of the Program for Harvard College, stated that the $15 million for the Library is needed to expand research facilities, to purchase new books, and to increase staff salaries.

Rising Costs Cited

"The costs of maintenance and operation," White observed, "have moved upward at an alarming rate in recent years." Unless the necessary funds are received, White said, the Library would have to make a "drastic cutback" in its present facilities.

White pointed out that the Library must grow if it is to maintain its position of leadership. "Growth means that the Library must deal with publications in increasingly obscure subjects and languages, that its catalogues must become increasingly complicated, and that even the relatively simple process of circulating books becomes more costly."

At present, Widener is the largest university library in the world, housing more than six million volumes and pamphlets.