FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Thomas B. Goldsby Jr. of West Memphis, Ark. has made a $250,000 gift to fund an educational research laboratory in the University of Arkansas Mullins Library.

The Goldsby Family Arkansas History Laboratory will be located on the lower level of Mullins Library adjacent to Special Collections. The room will be used by archival staff to process manuscript collections. The gift will provide funding to enhance general collections and services, including collections for Arkansas researchers.

Carolyn Henderson Allen, dean of University Libraries, said: “We’re grateful for the generosity of Thomas Goldsby. He has found a wonderful way to support the research efforts of students and scholars. This gift will impact the University Libraries in a major way.”

Goldsby is a 1964 graduate of the Sam M. Walton College of Business, a former member of the Kappa Sig fraternity, and currently a member of the University Libraries Campaign for the Twenty-First Century committee.  He said, “I gave this gift to the University Libraries because I think the educational and political history of Arkansas should be preserved.”

Thomas B. Goldsby Jr. is chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Mid-South Mortgage Co., a real estate investment firm with interests in financing and selling agricultural properties. Goldsby Farms owns and operates 20,000 acres of farmland in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.

Before forming Mid-South Mortgage in 1974, Goldsby was associated with Radcliffe Investment Co., where he was active in all aspects of farm real estate investment.

Goldsby has been a major supporter of conservation and wildlife management programs, both as a financial sponsor and in practice on his farmland. He helped organize the Arkansas chapter of the Nature Conservancy and was the first corporate sponsor of the Conservancy in the South. He was also a former member of the board of directors of the Delta Wildlife Foundation and previously served on the advisory board of the John Gammon Foundation. He has supported higher education, specifically Mid-South Community College in West Memphis.

Goldsby was the former managing partner of Chicago Mill and Lumber Co. and previously held controlling interest in Caruthersville National Bancshares in Caruthersville, Mo., and Citizens Bank in Marion. He was also past chairman of the board and a major stockholder of Maumelle Land Development Inc. in Little Rock, and past chairman of the board of Oaklawn Sugar Co. located near Franklin, Louisiana.

A native of Lepanto, Goldsby is married to the former Sandra Crabtree, a 1963 UA alumna with a Bachelor of Science in secondary education. Sandy was a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority and past member of the Alumni Association. They have five children — Tri Goldsby, Jana G. Neri, Scott Goldsby, Amy G. Marconi and Ginger G. Goldsby — and eight grandchildren.

Goldsby’s gift counts toward the Campaign for the Twenty-First Century, which recorded $878.5 million in gifts and pledges against the $900 million goal as of Dec. 31, 2004.

It also counts toward the $300 Million Challenge, the campaign-within-a-campaign to raise $300 million for academic purposes to match the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation’s gift of $300 million. As of Dec. 31, 2005, the $300 Million Challenge stands at $249.5 million, or 83 percent of the total amount to be raised.