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Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library Foundation Receives $1.5 Million Grant From the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust

Library News & Announcements RSS Feed November 23, 2001

The Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library Foundation has received a grant of $1.5 million from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust to support a portion of the planned renovation and transformation of Central Library downtown.

The grant will support a special collections room which will house and display the Library's archive of materials related to the people and history of Indianapolis. The room will be named in memory of Nina Mason Pulliam and will be unveiled when the transformed Central Library opens in early 2006.

Julie Houk Goodrich, Chair of the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library Foundation Board of Directors stated, "The Nina Mason Pulliam Room will be a keystone feature of the Central Library transformation. We are deeply appreciative of the Pulliam Trust's support that will allow the Library to create a place that will focus on the City of Indianapolis and preserve its history."

The Library Foundation was among 26 Indiana nonprofit organizations receiving grant checks and commitments totaling $3,363,500 from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. Harriet M. Ivey, president and CEO of the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust, officiated at the ceremony with Michael R. Twyman, director of grants programs for Indiana. The Trust's three Trustees, Frank E. Russell, Nancy M. Russell and Carol Peden Schatt, also participated.

The Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust was established upon Mrs. Pulliam's death in 1997. As of September 30, 2001, the Trust had approximately $350 million in assets. "The Trust's funding interests center around Nina's passions: continuing to support the things she loved and adding to the quality of life for all Hoosiers. The Trust's mission statement was crafted from the lifework and interests of Nina Pulliam," said Carol Peden Schatt, Trustee and niece of Mrs. Pulliam.

"Today's grant recipients share a common thread of excellence in fulfilling their commitments to this community and state," said Ivey. "Grants range from $15,000 to $1.5 million and represent every area of the Nina Pulliam Charitable Trust's program interests," Ivey added.

The Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust seeks to help people in need, especially women, children and families; to protect animals and nature; and to enrich community life in the metropolitan areas of Indianapolis and Phoenix, Arizona.