斯坦福夫婦捐助哈佛被拒絕的故事是真的嗎？

中學做英語完形填空的時候知道了這個故事，一直現在，也在網上流傳。

百度了一下，

了解到小斯坦福是沒有在哈佛讀過書的，是在15歲的時候死在了歐洲。

但有人認為故事主體是真的，就是斯坦福夫婦的確提出援助哈佛被拒絕，有人則認為故事是杜撰的。

不知各位知友有沒有更詳實的資料或者看法呢？

具體情況在斯坦福官網有相當詳細的解答。因為這個故事實在流傳的太廣，斯坦福甚至專門設置了一個FAQ問答來解釋這個問題。FAQ | Stanford University Libraries

Were Leland and Jane Stanford snubbed by the president of Harvard University? Did Leland Jr. attend Harvard before his death in an accident?

A widely-circulated tale describes Leland and Jane Stanford"s supposed visit to Harvard University"s president, dressed in a suit of homespun cloth and a faded gingham dress. Harvard"s president, the story goes, rebuffed their offer of money for the University (to be given in memory of their son, Leland Jr.), and so the couple went west and founded Leland Stanford Junior University.

Leland Stanford Junior was just short of his 16th birthday when he died of typhoid fever in Florence, Italy on March 13, 1884. He had not spent a year at Harvard before his death, nor was he "accidentally killed." Following Leland Junior"s death, Leland and Jane Stanford determined to found an institution in his name that would serve the "children of California."

Detained on the East Coast following their return from Europe, the Stanfords visited a number of universities and consulted with the presidents of each. The account of their visit with Charles W. Eliot at Harvard is actually recounted by Eliot himself in a letter sent to David Starr Jordan (Stanford"s first president) on 1919 Jun 26. At the point the Stanfords met with Eliot they had not yet decided whether to establish a university, a technical school or a museum. Eliot recommended a university and told them the endowment should be $5 million. Accepted accounts indicate that Jane and Leland looked at each other and agreed they could manage that amount.

The thought of Leland and Jane Stanford, by this time quite wealthy, arriving at Harvard in a homespun threadbare suit and faded gingham dress is amusing, but highly inaccurate. It also is unlikely that Leland Stanford, a former governor of California and well-known railroad baron, and his wife Jane were knowingly kept waiting outside Eliot"s office. The Stanfords also visited Cornell, MIT, and Johns Hopkins.

Leland and Jane Stanford established two institutions in Leland Junior"s name - the University and the Museum, which was originally planned for San Francisco, but moved to adjoin the university.

幾個關鍵點大致解釋如下：

1. 在廣為流傳的故事中，夫婦兩人造訪哈佛時都穿著相當樸素，並且哈佛方面讓兩人等了許久才答應見面。對當時曾任加州州長的鐵路大亨Leland Stanford及其夫人來說，這既不準確，用常理推斷也知道不大可能。

2. 小斯坦福在快要過16歲生日時死於義大利，沒有在哈佛求學的經歷。在他死後，斯坦福夫婦決定建立一所學校或博物館來紀念他，並造福加州和小斯坦福類似的其他孩子們。
3. 斯坦福夫婦當時還沒有決定是要建立一所大學、技術學校還是博物館，於是諮詢了美國東海岸一些名校校長，其中就包括哈佛校長Charles W. Eliot。Eliot建議他們建立一所大學，並認為大概需要五百萬美元的資金（當時的五百萬美元是一筆巨款）。這段經歷在Eliot寫給斯坦福第一任校長David Starr Jordan的信中就有提到。現在流傳的故事可能就是從這裡傳開的。具體如何變成現在這樣的尚不可知。