Though the interest and enthusiasm of the graduates is expressed in many less spectacular ways, the amount of alumni gifts is the most available standard by which the effectiveness of this support can be shown. Judged by this rough and ready approximation for a force which is in reality intangible and based on something finer and more spiritual than material gifts, particularly since it represents obviously only the sentiment of the few rather than that of the thousands who would do likewise if they were able, it shows nevertheless how responsively the University's alumni regard her call for their support. They have given their alma mater funds and property whose estimated value may be conservatively placed at from $4,000,000 to $5,000,000. This includes many gifts of small sums for loan funds, fellowships, and investigations in special fields, as well as the income from these funds up to the present time. Some of these gifts, too, are of such a character that no definite value can be placed upon them.
The total amount of such special funds in the hands of the University Treasurer, largely arising from alumni gifts, is $843,815.40. It should also be borne in mind that this does not include the many gifts which do not come from graduates of the University, such as the Newberry Hall of Residence, the late Charles L. Freer's numerous gifts, including a fund of $50,000 for the study of Oriental art, the Lewis Art collection, the Stearns Musical Collections, Waterman Gymnasium and Ferry Field, or such buildings as Newberry Hall, now used by the Y.W.C.A., and Lane Hall, for the University Y.M.C.A.
[Illustration: THE CONCOURSE OR GENERAL LOBBY IN THE MICHIGAN UNION]
Two of the larger gifts to the University have come through collective effort on the part of the alumni. The Michigan Union, made possible through the $1,200,000 raised by students and alumni, has been mentioned in another chapter. Alumni Memorial Hall, which stands just across the street, is also largely the result of comparatively small gifts from hundreds of graduates. It is an imposing building of classical outlines, designed as a memorial of the men who served in the Civil and Spanish-American Wars. It is intended to be at once an art gallery and the headquarters of the Alumni Association, which has a spacious reception room on the first floor and commodious offices in the basement, where the University Club also has a large and well-furnished room. The building was completed in 1910 at a cost of $195,000, of which $145,000 was contributed by the alumni, and was formally opened with an exhibition of Oriental art and the work of modern American painters under the charge of the late Charles M. Freer of Detroit, who loaned many of the pictures shown.