The Abrams have shared their collection with Harvard for almost as long as they have owned it.

"They've been very generous lenders to our museum and they've been generous with having students and scholars to their house," said Robinson.

"It just became part of a way of life for us," Mrs. Abrams said. She said virtually every Harvard graduate student and scholar studying the topic has visited their home and seen the collection at one time or another.

"They [the visitors] were part of our house, our way of living," she said. "They spent days with us sometimes."

Robinson--who says he was inspired to specialize in 17th century Dutch drawings after seeing the Abrams' collection--organized an exhibition of 65 of the Abrams' drawings in 1991, and the drawings in the show have been on deposit at the Fogg ever since. The Abrams have also given around 100 other drawings to Harvard throughout their collecting career.

Now, Mrs. Abrams said, they are ready to give up the collection.

"We were talking about it for at least five years, every night," she said. "This was a long, well thought-out process."