[Letter from Harris L. Kempner to Mr. Charles B. Barnes, Jr., April 11, 1957] Page: 3 of 6
This letter is part of the collection entitled: Harris and Eliza Kempner and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Rosenberg Library.
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T0 Keep a Habit
More than seven Harvard College generations have been reared in the not unpleasant
habit of making an annual gift to their alma mater - a gift free and clear, without
restriction, for the undergraduate program of which they themselves were once a part.
Each gives in his own way - proudly, cheerfully, sentimentally, generously - to a
Harvard he has known, and the giving has been the more pleasurable because of the
friendly persuasion of the Harvard Fund.
Those responsible for advancing the instructional program of Harvard College can-
not fail to be continually grateful that the making of annual gifts to our College has
become a confirmed habit among Harvard men. From their gifts large and small derive
the invaluable funds upon which the College has come to lean heavily for its general
uses, funds worth twenty times their value in terms of capital endowment.
We wish to continue this habit unbroken - or to urge that the unhabituated form
the habit when it tempts them. That is why I wish to reiterate the significance to the
College of annual giving through the Harvard Fund.
But now Harvard is also asking the alumni of the College to help it raise $82,500,000
of new capital funds through the Program for Harvard College to meet a large backlog of
needs of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and strengthen the teaching and environment
of learning in Cambridge. With this money we can help improve the financial status
of Harvard teachers, buttress the assets of our great library, and provide the buildings
required to meet wants which have developed since the erection of the Houses in the
early thirties. Our Program is the most ambitious ever undertaken by an American
college, but it is simply a mirror of the vast effort which must be made throughout the
nation if American higher education is to meet the challenges of our rapidly changing
world.
The emphasis in the Program is on a "lifetime gift" from as many as can share the
responsibility for Harvard's future. But while we ask all Harvard men to make large
sacrifices for the Program, we also wish to continue the habit of annual giving.
The Harvard Fund will this year make its approach softly but nonetheless sincerely
- in conviction that those who care for Harvard College and understand its annual need
will give proudly, cheerfully, sentimentally, generously, as they have in the past.
4 March 1957
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Kempner, Harris Leon. [Letter from Harris L. Kempner to Mr. Charles B. Barnes, Jr., April 11, 1957], letter, April 11, 1957; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1419426/m1/3/?q=%22~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rosenberg Library.