Gifts and Bequests Set Record
GIFTS and bequests to Dartmouth College during the year ended June 30 totaled $4,432,207, nearly double the 1955 total and the highest in the history of the College. The former record was $3,521,854 received in 1928-29.
President Dickey, in announcing the figure for 1955-56, characterized the record result as "reassuring evidence that both alumni and friends understand the critical importance of education in the liberating arts and are willing to provide a means whereby Dartmouth can continue to meet its historic responsibility."
Of the grand total of more than four million dollars received, Dartmouth alumni contributed $2,206,940, while friends, foundations and corporations gave $2,225,-267. The alumni total was made up of $566,000 in bequests and estate planning receipts and $1,642,000 in gifts, including the $808,410 contributed by alumni to this year's record-breaking Alumni Fund. The greater part of the alumni total was for endowment, $1,223,790; while $936,996 was for current use, and $46,154 for plant.
Friends of the College gave $684,140; foundation grants totaled $1,428,675, including the first payment of the Ford Foundation grant in support of faculty salaries which will ultimately total over $2,000,000; and corporation gifts amounted to $150,281, a substantial increase over previous years, reflecting the growing concern of business for the strength of free, private educational institutions.
Of the six bequests of $10.000 or more received during 1955-56, the largest was from a Dartmouth Professor, four were from alumni, and the other was from a Dartmouth wife and mother:
Prof. Anton A. Raven, M.A. '37, for the Anton A. Raven Fund and the Anton A. Raven Daniel Webster Scholarship Fund $497,190„
Samuel H. Hudson "85, for the Class of 1885 Fund—$310,224.
Herbert E. Gage '87, to establish the Class of 1887 Memorial Scholarship Fund — $88,969.
Walter H. Russell '04, to be added to the Walter Hall Russell Fund - $10,199.
George M. Morris '11, to establish the George Maurice Morris Memorial Fund-$10.000
Alice L. Fernald, to establish the Guy G. Fernald '93 and John S. Fernald '34 Memorial Daniel Webster Scholarship Fund — $10.000
The largest gift of the year, for endowment, was the $1,155,000 grant from the Ford Foundation. Only the Edward Tuck and George F. Baker gifts and the Edwin W. Sanborn and William H. Cohen bequests exceed this in total. From individuals the largest gifts for endowment were:
Anonymous alumnus, for the Daniel Webster National Scholarships — $202,437.
Susan Hanlon, to establish the Arthur Edward Hanlon '03 Memorial Fund No. 2
Edward Tuck Trust, for the Edward Tuck '62 Fund — $58,894.
Anonymous alumnus, to establish Anonymous Fund No. 29 — 150,152.
Marcellus L. Joslyn, father of Marcellus N. Joslyn '24, George R. Joslyn '25 and Merritt L. Joslyn '27, to establish the Joslyn Scholarship Fund — $49,608.
George H. Howard '07, for the George H. Howard Fund — $36,450.
Kent H. Smith '15, for the Kent H. Smith Fund — $30,590.
Charles C. Ellis, to establish the Timothy Wright Ellis '55 Memorial Fund No. 2 $25,500.
Orville W. Smith '03, for the Orville W. Smith Fund — $20,362.
For current use, the largest gift from an individual was $52,000 from an anonymous alumnus, with purpose undesignated at present.
Among grants from foundations, in addition to the Ford Foundation gift, the following were the largest:
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, three research grants — $75,600.
Carnegie Foundation for retiring allowances
U. S. Public Health Service, four research grants — $25,782.
National Science Foundation, four research grants — $24,500.
Rockefeller Foundation, three research grants — $20,675.
Fund for the Advancement of Education, for the Teaching Internship program — $11 400.
National Fund for Medical Education, for the Medical School — $11,054.
Mathematical Association of America, for Prof. John G. Kemeny's research — $10.000
The Raven Bequest
PROF. ANTON A. RAVEN, whose bequest of $497,190 was the largest received during the past year, was a member of Dartmouth's Department of English for 37 years. He died March 7, 1955, leaving to the College his home in Hanover, his extensive library, and three-fifths of his residuary estate.
Responsive to wishes expressed in Professor Raven's will, the Trustees have devoted $232,000, or one half of the bequest, to Dartmouth's national scholarship program. During his lifetime Professor Raven had made anonymous contributions for this purpose, and with these added, the total of the Anton A. Raven Scholarship Fund stands at $238,000.
The balance of the Raven bequest, including his home and its furnishings but not his library, totals $265,190. This has been established as the Anton A. Raven Fund No. 2, functioning as endowment with both the principal and income unrestricted. At a later time this fund may be designated for a specific purpose.
Professor Raven's wife, the former Winifred S. Perkins of Hartford, Conn., died May 21, 1946. Both had made frequent gifts to the College and to the Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital in Hanover. In 1947 Professor Raven gave the hospital the thirty-bed Winifred S. Raven Convalescent Home as a memorial for his wife. The twofifths balance of his residuary estate was left to the hospital.
Professor Raven's personal library, after selection of various volumes for a memorial study in Sanborn English House and the presentation of volumes to his close associates on the faculty, was placed in the permanent collections of Baker Library.
Professor Raven was a Shakespearean scholar and was the author of A HamletBibliography and Reference Guide (1936), a standard work on the subject. In addition to being one of the most prominent members of the English faculty, he was active in curriculum planning at Dartmouth and during his last years was chairman of the Committee on Educational Policy until ill health forced him to relinquish his post.
The Hudson Bequest
THE second largest bequest in the 1955-56 report above is that of $310,224 received from the estate of the late Samuel H. Hudson '85 of Boston, who died in 1943. The bequest came to the College upon termination of a trust established for his widow and his sister.
Mr. Hudson, a prominent corporation lawyer in Boston, received, his law degree from Boston University in 1889. He joined the office of the City Solicitor of Boston in 1894, becoming first assistant corporation counsel before he resigned in 1906 to return to private practice. His active interests always included the College, and besides being a leader in Class of 1885 affairs he. served as president of the Dartmouth Alumni Association of Boston and was deeply interested in the Dartmouth Educational Association of Boston, which helps deserving boys to attend Dartmouth.
The trust fund of which Dartmouth has now received one-half was established for Mr. Hudson's late widow, the former Emilie W ,Potter of Newton, Mass., whom he married,in 1916, and for.his late sister, Mrs. Dorothy Hudson Hawley of Bristol, Conn., widow of Arthur D. Hawley '85.
The Class of 1885 Fund to which Mr. Hudson's bequest has been added was started in 1900 at his instigation. It originally had the purpose of providing for the college education of the son of Richard Hovey '85, Dartmouth's "poet laureate." Julian Hovey later came to Dartmouth with the Class of 1916 but remained only for his freshman year. At the 20th reunion of the class in 1905 the purpose of the fund was broadened, and at the next reunion, in 1910, the accumulated sum of $3,200 was turned over to the College, later to be expanded to more than $10.000
A notable fact about the Class of 1885 Fund was the express wish of the class, in turning it over to the College in 1910, that,the income from the fund was "to be used for general purposes of the College and to be free from all restrictions whatsoever." This was the first unrestricted class-fund presented to Dartmouth, "and at the time drew special commendation from the Trustees for being the kind of gift which would be of maximum value to the College.
Summary For Endowment $3,034,580 For Current Use 1,332,913 For Plant 64,714 $4,432,207
