Orange-based Chapman University’s Leatherby Libraries Campaign received a $1 million gift last month, bringing the $20 million project’s amount raised to $13 million.
C. Stanley Chapman, grandson of the university’s principal benefactor, and his wife, Joan Mt. Pleasant Chapman, made the gift.
The Chapmans, who live in Pacific Grove, made the gift to help fund the library’s Heritage Wing and Special Collections Department. The gift also will help create a special library section devoted to American Indian Studies.
The Chapmans intended their gift to honor Joan’s late uncle, Frank Mt. Pleasant, a Native American athlete and football teammate of Jim Thorpe.
The library project is set to be home to new books as well as existing materials such as university founder C. Charles Chapman’s rare book collection and historical photographs of the university and the region.
Lead funding for the new library project came from the Leatherby family, one of Chapman’s biggest donors.
Chapman University is Orange County’s oldest and largest independent universities. It serves about 4,100 undergraduates, master’s candidates and law students on its main campus in Orange. The university is in the final year of a $200 million comprehensive capital campaign.
