In addition to her philanthropy, Hearst, pictured here in Egypt, collected global art, artifacts, and didactic materials that would help make Berkeley a leading research institution.
She was an extraordinary philanthropist whose vision would lead to the realization of UC Berkeley as a “City of Learning.” Phoebe Apperson Hearst saw the campus grounds as a special place that would embrace the greatness of California. She commissioned the international competition that ultimately led to the master plans for the campus, and she left a significant legacy that includes the Hearst Mining Building and Hearst Gymnasium. The Museum of Anthropology bears her name today.
Hearst became the first female UC Regent. She once wrote that the success of Berkeley should not be “hampered in any way by a money consideration. I have only one wish in this matter, that the plans adopted (for the campus) should be worthy of the great university whose material home they are to provide for: that they should harmonize with, and even enhance the beauty of the site whereon this home is to be built…”
