The Jim and Dorothy Griffin Library Endowment was established in 2001 by Dorothy Griffin. Dorothy is the president of Varflex Corporation, a manufacturer of electrical insulating sleeving. The company was founded by her father and uncle. Her late husband, James, graduated from Notre Dame in 1934 and was a prominent attorney in Rome, New York. At Notre Dame, Dorothy is a member of the Badin Guild and also served on the Snite Museum of Art Advisory Council. In addition to this endowment, Dorothy has supported the Snite Museum and established the James T. Griffin Memorial Scholarship, the Dorothy G. Griffin Endowed Collection in French Poetry, and the Dorothy G. Griffin Collegiate Chair, in the area of modern American literature.

This fund is targeted for building the collection of rare books and documents within the Department of Special Collections at the Hesburgh Libraries. Earnings enable the acquisition of American historical documents, especially those within the colonial and Early American periods of United States history. The endowment has also been used to assist in acquiring two medieval French manuscripts as well as a commonplace book for a girl from Philadelphia in the 1840s. These materials are useful for historians and theologians, as well as those in medieval studies and French. As this collection develops, it will be used extensively by Notre Dame’s undergraduates in history and American studies, as well as those in several other areas of the humanities.