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Ways to Give
For more information on giving options and ensuring your gift is used exactly the way you want it to be, contact Dean Ben Hunter.
Cash
Cash gifts are always encouraged and the simplest way to make a gift to the University of Idaho Library. They can be directed to any area of your choice, and can be for outright expenditures, or added to an existing endowment.
Planned Giving
There are many different ways to make a planned gift to the University of Idaho Library. These include bequests, charitable trusts, gift annuities, pooled income funds, and life insurance. They also offer unique tax advantages. Many donors find planned gifts are an ideal way to support a cause that is important to them, while meeting their income needs and/or providing for family members. For more information about planned gifts, contact U of I Giving.
In-kind Gifts (Materials and Personal Collections)
Gifts to the library have helped build stature in scholarship, research and teaching. For materials, we are able to accept only those which enhance our collections. Upon receipt, the library owns gifts and reserves the right to determine their retention or disposal. For information about how you can make a gift of materials that will support our academic and research mission, please call (208) 885-2503 or email Rami Attebury (rattebur@uidaho.edu). In general, we do not accept:
- Journals and other regularly-published periodicals
- Newspapers
- Non-regional newsletters
- Items in poor condition
- Textbooks
- Outdated audiovisual materials
- Books and other items that do not support the library's mission and collection development policies
Tax Benefits
Charitable gifts generate tax deductions undefined - both federal and state. While you need to consult your own tax adviser as to how a gift impacts your tax obligation, we do have knowledgeable professionals and resources available to help explain the general tax benefits of a particular type of gift.
Appreciated Assets
Holdings, such as corporate securities and real estate, that have appreciated in value make great giving assets. The University of Idaho credits you for the full fair-market value of the stock or land, and there are some favorable tax benefits
Memorial or Honorary Gifts
To make a gift in memory or in honor of someone, attach a note with your gift that includes the name of the person you are memorializing or honoring. For memorial gifts, also include the family contact name(s) and address(es). For honorary gifts, include the address of the person you are honoring. We will send a card to the family/individual to notify them that you have made a gift. (The amount of your gift will not be revealed.)
If a special memorial fund or honorary fund has already been created in the person's name, your gift will be credited to that account unless you tell us otherwise. If a special fund has not been created, your gift will be credited to the designation you indicate.
Gift of Time
In 1962, W. C. Cheney, an inventor from Seattle, WA presented President Theophilus with seventeen 55-gallon drum barrels on the condition that the barrels be opened in 2010. The year 2010 has arrived and the mystery barrels have been opened.
W. C. Cheney Americana Collection 1900-1960
In 1962, W. C. Cheney, an inventor from Seattle, WA presented President Theophilus with seventeen 55-gallon drum barrels on the condition that the barrels be opened in 2010. The year 2010 has arrived and the mystery barrels have been opened.
Who was W. C. Cheney?
W. C. Cheney, circa 1898-circa 1977, earned his living as a machine shop operator. "With drill and lathe and torch," writes Rafe Gibbs in his history of the University of Idaho, Beacon for Mountain and Plain, "Cheney was a master." He also was an inventor who applied his imagination and skill to many avocations, including astronomy, history, and photography.
Cheney's place of birth has not been identified, but according to the finding aid for the William Cheney Motion Picture Collection at the Oregon Historical Society, Cheney was a child in Oregon City, Oregon when he became interested in photography. As a youth, he discovered astronomy and mountain climbing.
In 1922, Cheney lived in Tillamook. By 1927 he had taken a wife, whose name is not known, and was living in Oceanside. The couple lived briefly in Portland before moving to Longview, Washington around 1930. Sometime in 1933, Mr. and Mrs. Cheney moved to Seattle where he still lived when he donated his Americana collection to the University of Idaho in 1961. The specific date and place of his death also are unknown.
History of the W. C. Cheney Americana Collection 1900-1960
In March 1961, W. C. Cheney wrote to University of Idaho President D.R. Theophilus offering a significant - and unusual - gift. University of Idaho Reports, June 1962 announces the gift.
In his sixties when he wrote to President Theophilus, W. C. Cheney had operated a machine shop in Seattle, Washington for most of his life. A machinist by vocation who specialized in manufacturing custom-built torches, Cheney's avocations were astronomy and history. As an amateur astronomer, he built his own observatory and the equipment within it. Cheney's interest in history led him to collect a large volume of textual materials and material objects that he felt were "an authentic cross section of events" that occurred during his life.
The textual materials Mr. Cheney gathered were the common information sources of the first half of the 20th century, such as newspapers and magazines. He also collected catalogs; posters; concert programs; calendars; playbills; restaurant menus; advertisements; and correspondence of all sorts, including business letters, love notes, and even "junk mail." In addition to the paper items, Mr. Cheney collected material objects, such as milk bottles, toys, and tokens.
Cheney also preserved historically significant radio programs and announcements. "On wax (and even on glass during World War II) he recorded history as it was being made - the landing of Charles Lindbergh in Paris in 1927;the stock market crash of 1929;the "blood, sweat and tears" speech of Winston Churchill in World War II;the bombing of Pearl Harbor," writes Rafe Gibbs in his history of the University of Idaho, Beacon for Mountain and Plain .
Beginning in 1960, Cheney began placing the materials he had collected in unique storage containers: 55-gallon steel drums formerly used to hold oil. Eventually there were 17 barrels.
The University of Idaho was first on Mr. Cheney's list of schools to which he would offer his collection, and at their April 1961 meeting, the University's Board of Regents accepted his gift. According to Rafe Gibbs in Beacon for Mountain and Plain, Mr. Cheney had selected the University of Idaho, "which he knew only by reputation," because of the institution's "concern for America's heritage" and its "desire to build upon it."
In accepting the gift, the Regents willingly agreed to the two stipulations Mr. Cheney specified in his March 16, 1961, letter to President Theophilus: that the drums "be stored in a clean dry place, and, NOT OPENED 'TILL 2010." After their receipt, the barrels were stored in the basement of the University of Idaho Library where they remained undisturbed until February 2010 when Library staff began processing the collection.
Documentation and letters between Cheney, Gibbs and Theophilus.
