Mrs. Charles Custis Harrison

Among the friends and benefactors of the Museum who have been removed by death none has left a deeper impression and none could be more lamented than Mrs. Charles Custis Harrison. Mrs. Harrison’s benefactions were not confined to gifts that have helped to build up the collections; they are to be reckoned largely in the generous spirit of helpfulness in many directions and in all matters pertaining to the activities of the Museum. It was natural that a woman of strong personality, the wife of the President of the Museum, should be actively interested in its affairs, but Mrs. Harrison’s influence was of a kind at once very positive and very unobtrusive. The great tact combined with breadth of vision for which she was well known was a source of strength on which her friends learned to rely. Her personal interest in the progress of the Museum could always be counted upon and the friendly encouragement and warm sympathy that honest effort never failed to evoke from her were constant incentives to all engaged in its work. A foe to everything unworthy and quick to distinguish between the false and the true, Mrs. Harrison never hesitated to speak her mind freely and she never failed to record her approval by a word of encouragement. Even in the last weeks of illness, patiently borne, this life¬long habit of kind thoughtfulness was not put aside, a fact to which we can testify. At the University Museum Mrs. Harrison claims a lasting place in the memories and the affections of everyone.