 Beginning in 1932, Mary J. L. McDonald made the then-largest donation of books to the library when she donated volumes worth just over $ 10,000. She donated a total of over 1,000 items that included a complete works of Abraham Lincoln valued at $ 4,800. In 1936, the Works Progress Administration gave a decorative archway to the library to be installed over the south entrance to the building. The library was among several buildings vandalized by University of Oregon students in October 1945 during the run-up to the Civil War football game between the two schools. The library received a bequest of about 5,500 volumes valued at about $ 15,000 in December 1947 from William H. Galvani's estate. This donation overtook that of McDonald to become the largest received by the library up to that time.
