A Pair of Bequests

"It's rewarding to find that alumni perceive the library as the critically important resource that we also believe it is," says University Librarian Sue Martin, and two alumni especially have offered concrete proof of their interest through a pair of magnificent bequests. Leon Robbin (L'22), a retired patent attorney, has already given the library a portion of his distinguished collection of musical manuscripts and letters by composers as well as funds for an endowment for the ongoing support of the collection. In addition, he has recently formalized a bequest that will ensure that the entirety of his collection will be housed at Georgetown, where the collection will attract interest from music scholars around the world.

Peter King (C'42), a natural gas pipeline industry executive, spent many of his college days in the library, usually not studying but manning the circulation desk and overseeing the reading room, earning spending money at the munificent rate of 35 cents an hour. "The library was practically moribund in those days," King recalls. "Books weren't checked out very much, and the reading room didn't get much business." And the then librarian, Phillips Temple, had the leisure to also teach Shakespeare. The much busier Lauinger Library, which records more than a million visits a year, will benefit from a generous provision in King's will. "Next to my wife," King says, "my passion in life has been reading and books."