Mrs. Lamont Bequeaths Divinity Fund $250,000

Radcliffe and the Divinity School each received $250,000 from the will of Mrs. Thomas W. Lamont. The money was part of $3,950,000 left to seven women's colleges and civic organizations.

In the will, filed last week in New York Surrogate's Court, Mrs. Lamont said she hoped that the $250,000 left to Radcliffe would be used for the payment or endowment of faculty salaries.

The will stipulated that the receipt of the $250,000 by the Divinity School would be contingent on the success of a $4,000,-600 fund drive for the reinvigoration of the school.

Last spring, President Conant announced a plan to aid the ailing school He proposed raising the needed money through contributions from alumni and the Corporation.

So far, the fund raising committee under the direction of John Lord O'Brien '96 has succeeded in raising $600,000. The goal set for 1954 is $4,000,000 in general subscriptions, while the Corporation expects to contribute $1,000,000.

In explaining the gift to Harvard Divinity and the Union Theological Seminary, Mrs. Lamont's will said it was "in the interest of helping to halt the rising tide of secularism in the world today."

Under the terms of the will, if the Divinity School drive does not meet its quota of $4,000,000, the money will be turned over to the Union Theological Seminary.