Grants and Acquisitions

Abstract

A gift of $2.5 million has been given to Washington and Lee University (W&L) to establish the Hal F. and Barbra Buckner Higginbotham University Librarian Endowment through a charitable deferred irrevocable pledge from the estate of the Higginbothams. John Tombarge, W&L’s university librarian, will hold the inaugural position, the first to be established specifically for a faculty member of the W&L library. It is only one of a handful of similar endowments across the country. The gift marked the occasion of Hal Higginbotham’s 50th reunion of the W&L Class of 1968, which provided a gift of just over $11 million to the university. The couple’s intent is to support special opportunities and needs of Leyburn Library in enriching the university’s academic mission. The Higginbothams intend to begin funding the endowment with occasional outright gifts.