This fund was established by Mary Ellen Burnett and the A. H. Burnett Foundation in 2005 for the purpose of supporting library acquisitions resources related to animals in the George A. Smathers Libraries.

Mary was born March 22, 1947. She earned her master’s degree in special education in 1979 from the University of Florida. Growing up in rural Pennsylvania, she was surrounded by animals. Her endowment honors her father and uncle and their harness horses that first inspired her love of animals.