In 1989, the center received a further challenge grant, this time from Donald F. Othmer and his wife, Mildred Topp Othmer.  Donald Othmer was a quiet chemical engineering professor from Polytechnic University in Brooklyn.  The Othmers donated $5 million towards the creation of the Othmer Library of Chemical History. Again, efforts to match the grant were supported by the National Foundation for History of Chemistry and the American Chemical Societys Campaign for Chemistry.   The new library was further supported by the donation of 8,500 monographs, textbooks and reference works from The Chemists Club of New York.