12 
tributing one half the required amount, which became the 
initial “‘Endowment Fund” of the Garden. 
But the gift was more than a sum of money. There went with 
it a personal and understanding interest which was sustained and 
deepened through all the more than twenty-six years of the 
Garden's history, and has | 
een One of Our Most precious posses- 
sions. In my address at the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 
Garden I stated that what such an institution most needs is 
friends who are not merely interested in it, but who are enthusi- 
astic about it. It was such a friend that the Garden had in the 
person of Miss White. 
When the Citizens Endowment Fund of $250,000 was raised as 
a condition for receiving a like amount from Mr. John D. Rocke- 
feller, Jr., Miss White was one of the largest contributors. 
When one of our important research projects, initiated by Mr. 
Alfred T. White, was in jeopardy from threatened loss of income 
Miss White was one of the group of four persons who sensed the 
basic importance of research for such an institution as this, and 
took the necessary steps to insure its continuation. 
Miss White was born in 1847 at 163 West Street, Brooklyn, but 
she had resided continuously at the family home, 2 Pierrepont 
Place, since its construction in 1857. In addition to the Brooklyn 
Botanic Garden, Miss White was actively interested in the Brook- 
lyn Institute of Arts and Sciences (of which the Garden 
partment), the Graham Home for Old Ladies (of which she was 
president for many years), the Brooklyn Visiting Nurse Associa- 
tion, the Children’s Aid Society, the Society for the Prevention 
of Cruelty to Children, the Brooklyn Bureau of Charities, the 
Brooklyn Hospital (where she died), and the Church of the 
Saviour (Unitarian), of which she was an active member. 
isa De- 
Her contributions were the expression of a generous and 
philanthropic spirit, actively interested in whatever promotes 
human well-being and happiness, and in every movement for 
the cultural and civic welfare of Brooklyn, most of whose citizens 
(including even the beneficiaries of her largesse) were wholly 
unaware of the reach and depth of her benefactions, so quietly 
and anonymously were they given. Of herself and her resources 
she gave from a sense of stewardship and for the gratification of 
helping to make the world a better place in which to live. Her 
