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process the husband of one of them was interviewed. He was mad at the Library because we had done something bad architecturally and he's an architect. He said, “We'll never give you anything.” They ended up by giving us five million.

So you have to have a lot of gall if you do this. You have to not feel hurt when you get turned down. A lot of people don't ask because they don't want to be turned down.

What has been one of your more unpleasant experiences in asking for money for this?

I don't know. One man came to lunch, a very rich man, and as he left he said, “Oh, my daughter's a great admirer of the Library. She's asked me to give you this check for three thousand dollars.” Then he said, “I know there's no such thing as a free lunch, so here's my check for $14,789.” How he ever got to that figure I don't know, but there it was. Well I assumed that he was obviously a candidate for a big gift. We went after him for it. He said, “No, you're doing fine. You don't need my money. I'm going to give it elsewhere.”

Are you embarrassed to ask friends for money?

No. At this point I'm not embarrassed by anything. Absolutely ruthless. I'm doing it for others--for Beaumont and others--too, you know. If people see a letter signed by me they run like hell.