"AMERICA" GIFT TO LIBRARY

The original manuscript of "America" has been presented to the College Library by the surviving children of the Reverend Samuel Francis Smith, D.D., composer of the national hymn. In a letter to President Lowell, proffering the manuscript, Dr. D. A. W. Smith '59, son of the author, writes that the heirs of Dr. Smith, knowing his deep and lifelong interest in Harvard, from which he was graduated in 1829, felt that there could be no more fitting place in which to insure its preservation.

W. C. Lane, librarian of the College, in a letter of acknowledgement, pronounces the gift "one of the most precious bits of original manuscript which any American library could desire to own." When the new Widener Library is opened, the original draft of "America" will be made accessible to the view of visitors. The donors are Dr. D. A. W. Smith, E. W. Smith, Mrs. Caroline E. Morton and Mrs. John D. Candee.