Netherlands Prince Will Present $200,000 Lectureship Endowment

His Royal Highness Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands will be at Harvard Wednesday to establish the Erasmus Lectureship on the Civilization of the Netherlands.

At midday ceremonies Prince Bernhard will formally present Harvard with a $200,000 endowment to support a lecturer on Netherlands civilization for one semester a year or two consecutive terms every other year.

The first Erasmus Lecturer will be J.Q. Regterem Altena, professor of Art at the University of Amsterdam. He will come to Harvard for a term next year. Future lecturers could include experts on any aspect of Netherlands civilization.

Most of the money for the endowment was raised in Holland by industrial groups. Ten per cent was a gift of the Dutch government, and one quarter of the fund was raised in the United States by a committee of Netherlands-American businessmen and members of the Harvard Faculty.

The drive to raise the funds began a year ago after Dean Ford was approached by several Faculty members interested in strengthening Harvard's offerings in that area.

Dean Ford, professor of History, was active in organizing the committee which raised funds in the United States. Hendrik S. Houthakker, professor of Economics, and Nicholas Bloembergen, Gordon McKay professor of Applied Physics, were members of the Faculty on the committee.