A SPIRITED JOURNEY
Will which has reached the Probate Court.� 39 But, unknown to the Foundation, the first legacy was already in place. H. Russell Culp, a linotype operator who worked for American Education Press (and who had actually set the type for the initial brochure, Announcing The Columbus Foundation), drew up his will in 1945. In it, he left $500 to the Foundation without restriction. Culp was known for his generosity. When he retired, he refused to accept the pension he had earned from the typographical union, insisting instead that it go to those who were in greater need. After his death in 1960, the Foundation decided to honor him by using his bequest to provide books to the Columbus Metropolitan Library on printing
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above: H. Russell Culp, a printer with American Education Press, left the first legacy gift to the Foundation in 1945.
Although it was the first to be created, prior to
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and the graphic arts.
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receiving Culp’s legacy several other bequests came to the Foundation, an indication that there was growing momentum in the community for its support. In 1958, the Foundation received a substantial legacy from Alvah H. Bancroft, Jr., of Bancroft Brothers Jewelers. In the previous year, the Foundation became the beneficiary of the estate of Robert W. Stevenson. Stevenson had started work in 1899 at the Columbus Metropolitan Library at $50 a month; he retired as manager of
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