Miller Center gets grant for new wing

The Miller Center of Public Affairs has received a $1.6 million pledge from Betty Scripps Harvey and her husband, Jeremy G. Harvey, acting on behalf of the Edward W. and Betty Knight Scripps Foundation. The donation, which comes as a challenge grant, will create the Scripps Library and Multimedia Archive to house the Miller Center's unique collection of materials on the American presidency and a world-class research program on American government.

The Scripps Library will be part of the new east wing, to be named for Kenneth W. Thompson, former longtime director of the center.

A groundbreaking ceremony took place Oct. 27, including a speech by Harvard historian and former presidential advisor Richard Neustadt.