Lippmann Bequest Valued At More Than $750,000

Harvard's share of the million-dollar estate left by late political journalist Walter Lippmann '10 will come to almost $800,000, according to Louis S. Auchincloss, the lawyer for the estate.

Auchincloss said yesterday that the bequest was residuary--Harvard will receive what is left of the estate after administrative fees and $110,000 in other cash bequests have been deducted.

Other Bequests

Lippmann left $50,000 to his secretary and another $50,000 to a former ward, as well as $10,000 to his stepdaughter. The amount of the administration fees was not disclosed; they would presumably include present legal fees as well as a provision for the annual costs of managing the estate.

Auchincloss estimated that Harvard's share will be "three-quarters of a million dollars, plus...very plus," but will depend on the effect of market fluctuation on the securities which make up part of the estate.

The figure quoted today is fully $300,000 higher than the one hinted at Monday by source's at Surrogate's Court of New York County, where Auchincloss filed Lippmann's will.

There will be no stipulations regarding use of the money, Auchincloss said.

Schuyler Hollingsworth '69, executive director of the Harvard College Development Fund, said yesterday that the use of unrestricted bequests is detemined by the president and fellows. He said there has not yet been any discussion of possible uses for the Lippman money.

No Estimate

Hollingsworth, who is handling receipt of the bequest for the University, said yesterday that he had not yet been given any specific estimate of its size.

He said, however, that whatever its size the University will "of course, be delighted to get it." No one at the University was told in advance to expect a bequest from Lippmann, Hollingsworth said.

Lippmann maintained close contact with Harvard and especially with the Nieman Fellow program he helped found here in 1937. He died in New York December 14.

Lippman's will provides that the journalist's letters, notes and published and unpublished manuscripts be given to Yale University's Sterling Library. Lippmann gave Yale a voluminous collection of earlier papers in 1946.

At the time of the earlier gift, Harvard spokesmen asked Lippmann why he had chosen Yale over his alma mater.

Never Asked

According to Robert O. Anthony, an advisor to the Lippmann collection at Yale, Lippmann responded to Harvard's inquiries about the 1946 gift by saying "You never asked me for them and Yale did. It would be a great presumption for me to assume you wanted them."

Sources have suggested that Lippmann's decision to donate his papers to Yale may have been caused by a rift in Lippmann-Harvard relations at the time of the first gift.