Radcliffe Gets Largest Grant For 4th House

The largest grant in Radcliffe's history, a previously anonymous gift of $5,400,000 for construction of Radcliffe's fourth house, was given by Mrs. Alisa Mellon Bruce in memory of her daughter Audrey Bruce Currier '56, Mrs. Mary I. Bunting revealed at the Radcliffe convocation yesterday.

Last fall, Mrs. Bruce offered to give $1,400,000, Mrs. Bunting said. Radcliffe had also collected $1,000,000 from alumnae and friends, and had earned another $1,000,000 from a Ford Foundation Challenge grant. With these initial donations, the Radcliffe College Council voted last April to begin construction, and the Radcliffe Trustees approved the decision in June. Digging began in July.

Acting on a suggestion from Mrs. Bunting, Mrs. Bruce decided this summer to donate the additional four million dollars necessary to completely cover the cost of construction. She asked that the new house be named Currier House in memory of her daughter, who died in a plane crash last year.

Coffee Shop and Suites

Currier House will be composed of three new resident units plus Mabel Daniels Hall, Mrs. Bunting said. All four buildings will be connected at a lower level to the common rooms of the house, which include art, music, and dance studios and a coffee shop. Students in Currier House will live in suites instead of along halls, and there will be rooms for 15 resident tutors.

After the construction is completed in September, 1970, 240 students will move into the new buildings. With the 80 girls already in Mabel Daniels, a total of 320 students will live in the new house. Mrs. Bunting said that the opening of Currier House will ease the crowding in the other three houses and eliminate the economy doubles in many of the older dormitories.

Mrs. Bruce had first asked that her grant remain anonymous, but decided last week that she was willing to have her name used, Mrs. Bunting said.

Taconic Foundation

Audrey Bruce Currier '56, who lived in Henry House while at Radcliffe, used her private fortune to set up the Taconic Foundation, which sponsored civil rights, educational advancement, and anti-poverty programs. Her father was David Bruce, U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain. Mrs. Currier and her husband, Stephen Currier '49, were killed in an airplane crash in the Caribbean in 1967.

At the convocation yesterday, Mrs. Bunting also introduced Jerome Kagan, professor of Developmental Psychology, as the new Master of East House.