Mary Graydon: AU's Enigmatic Benefactress

â€œAs in the past, it is my desire and urgent request that no publicity whatever be given to my name in connection with these gifts.â€
Mary Graydon in a letter to Bishop Hurst, 1897

AU students today know the name Mary Graydon as part of the campus landscape. But who was the woman behind the name?

In many ways, we donâ€™t knowâ€”and thatâ€™s what she would have wanted. The most important donor during AUâ€™s early years, Graydon gave more than $750,000, gifts that sustained the university for decades. A devout Methodist, Graydon supported AU in its original mission to promote Protestant Christian morality. In return, she requested only anonymity.

Looking through Mary Graydon's files offers a small window into understanding who she was. Her death notice inÂ The Christian AdvocateÂ and a letter written after her death from her church's pastor, Karl Quimby, to Dr. Albert Osborn suggest a devout Christian woman whose faith led her to give away a vast fortune to what she saw as worthy causes. An early letter from John W. Graydon to Bishop Hurst implies that at least at the outset, Mary Graydon was particularly interested in supporting women's education.

What else can you find in Mary Graydon's files? Check out a small selection below.

An article fromÂ The EagleÂ about Mary Graydon and the history of MGC from 1976

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A letter from John W. Graydon to Bishop Hurst regarding Mary Graydon's interest in making a donation to AU. He notes that she would like to donate to fund women's education in particular.

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Mary Graydon's first deed of gift to the American University, from 1894. She dedicates her donation to her late grandfather, Patrick Clendenen, whose fortune she had inherited.

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A letter from Bishop John F. Hurst, the first Chancellor of AU, to Mary Graydon, regarding gifts made by Graydon

A list of securities donated by Mary Graydon to American University up to that point, from 1897

A letter from Mary Graydon to Rev. Samuel L. Beiler. Beiler had informed Graydon that she'd been recognized for her donations at a Board of Trustees meeting, and Graydon responded with this letter, reminding him of her request to avoid publicity.

A notice of Mary Graydon's death, published inÂ The Christian AdvocateÂ in 1926. It characterizes her donations as "studiously inconspicuous" and notes her disinterest in receiving publicity for her gifts.

A letter from Mary Graydon's pastor, Karl Quimby, to Dr. Albert Osborn of AU, who had written to Quimby following Graydon's death in search of more information on her

An article from theÂ Washington Evening StarÂ announcing that the gifts made by Mary Graydon to AU during her life and upon her death totaled $861,000

1925 blueprints for the Women's Residence Hall. That year, AU began admitting undergraduate students, which led to the addition of a women's dormitory to campus.

An early drawing of Mary Graydon Hall. The women's residence hall was eventually named for Mary Graydonâ€”a public acknowledgement of her gifts that she may not have approved of.

An early photograph of Mary Graydon Hall, now known as Mary Graydon Center following its conversion from a dormitory to a campus hub.

The interior of an early women's dormitory room in Mary Graydon Hall