The History Department of the University of Texas in Austin has received a bequest of $6.6 million from the estate of former student the late Gardner Marston.
It is hoped that the legacy will boost graduate student recruitment and support the department's work.
Although Mr Marsden was a native of California he attended the University of Texas and graduated from it in 1953. He died in 2011.
This legacy brings the value of planned gifts to the College of Liberal Arts at the University to a total of more than $30 million in the last five years alone.
The legacy will, according to the University, help to provide yearlong fellowships, summer stipends and the funding of student trips to archival collections in the USA and beyond.
Jackie Jones, professor and graduate chair in the Department of History, welcomed the bequest.
âThis generous gift will enhance the ability of the History graduate program to recruit outstanding students and to maintain the overall excellence of our program," she said.