Gest Program records

The Gest Program, initially the Margaret R. Gest Program for the Cross-Cultural Study of Religion, was funded by a 1.8 million dollar trust distributed to the College through Margaret R. Gest's will. Gest passed away in 1965, but the trust was not attained by the college until 1976, when Gest's close friend Miriam Thrall passed away. Thrall was the inheritor of the trust during her lifetime, and Gest's will specified that the funds would only be distributed... to the College after Thrall's death.

Gest was an accomplished artist during her lifetime and a member of the Wider Quaker Fellowship. She was fond of Haverford College and often attended meetings at Haverford's Quaker meeting house with her mother. Gest bequeathed the principal of her estate to the College in order to establish an academic program that took an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural approach to the study of religion. Gest believed in the "fundamental unity of religions," and her funds and vision for the Gest Program resulted in yearly programs that focused on a particular religious tradition or a set of issues in the cross-cultural study of religion. The program also provided for the presence of 1-2 long-term visiting professors, called Gest Fellows. Most of the Gest Program’s events, lectures, courses, and seminars took place in the Gest Center, which was renovated in 1973, funded by Thrall’s inheritance.

As of 2025, the Gest Center still serves as the home for Haverford's Religion Department, and the College's Quaker and Special Collections offers Gest Fellowships to support researchers working with Quaker and Special Collections materials.

Gest dedicated her bequest in honor of her parents, John Marshall Gest and Emily Judson Baugh Gest.