Donors and Fundraising
Building plans developed quickly, and the total cost of the land and the construction of a facility of five buildings approached the five million dollar mark. But as was the case with the Boylston Street building, lack of money to build was the Medical School's major obstacle.
For the first time in its history, the Medical School looked beyond Boston for financial assistance, and in March 1901, Drs. Henry P. Bowditch, the former dean, and J. Collins Warren, had a three-minute interview in New York with banker, J. Pierpont Morgan. In honor of his father, Junius, Morgan subsequently agreed to underwrite the cost of a central building with two additional structures and the terraces connecting them—at a cost of $1,135,000—at that point the largest gift Harvard University had ever received.
This was only the beginning. Through Dr. W. B. Coley, a graduate of the Class of 1888, Drs. Bowditch and Warren also approached John D. Rockefeller, whose agent analyzed the situation of the Medical School and summarized his report with "I am satisfied that Harvard is one of the best managed institutions in the country …I am satisfied also that Harvard is an institution well-qualified to manage a large medical school and to do the best grade of work."
In January 1902, the Medical School received the Rockefeller pledge of one million dollars—a gift for land, buildings or endowments—with but one restriction: Harvard would have to find an additional $765,000—the difference between the projected cost of the new campus and the School's current endowment with the Morgan and Rockefeller contributions—and do so by Commencement Day.
By April 1, 1902, Drs. Warren and Bowditch had gathered subscriptions large and small from sixty-nine different donors to the amount of $821,725, two of the most notable gifts being $250,000 from Mrs. Collis P. Huntington, for a laboratory building in memory of her husband, and $100,000 from David Sears, a Harvard alumnus. These two major contributions, coupled with the Morgan gift, ensured the realization of the Rockefeller pledge.
As a complement to the fund raising campaign for the new campus, Drs. H. P. Bowditch and J. Collins Warren produced this pamphlet to inspire donations to endow professorships, departments, and scholarships at the school.