As a Cornell trustee White was active in planning for new buildings on the campus. Van Brunt's plans for the library and the matter of the building's location were challenged. C. K. Adams wrote on May 17 that if another architect were engaged, work on the building could not begin until the following year. Shortly after White returned from a visit with his Nook Farm friends in Hartford, his wife suffered a fatal heart attack. Most of the correspondence through the summer consisted of letters of condolence from his wide range of acquaintances, family friends, diplomatic associates, American and European scholars, former students, and members of the Cornell faculty. White's letter to the Evanses on June 23 disclosed the details of domestic stress that preceded Mrs. White's death. A letter on the 28th recalled the social triumph of Mrs. White and her daughter at the German Court, and one on June 22 described the London crowds celebrating Queen Victoria's Jubilee.