Boston University was outbid last summer in a major auction of the papers of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., 42 years after the civil rights leader what became the largest single collection of his personal papers donated to Boston University.

The sale marks the latest chapter in four decades of dispute over the rights to the papers of the School of Theology alumni. The university now holds a major collection of king’s documents at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center.

Last month, BU was outbid for the rights to other papers, including 7,000 handwritten notes by King, by a consortium spearheaded by Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin backing Morehouse College, where King received his undergraduate degree in 1948.

King received his doctorate from the BU School of Theology in 1958, and after he ascended to the national stage as a civil right’s leader, decided to bequeath his papers to BU.

In a letter to the BU Library, dated July 16, 1964, King named BU as the repository of his “correspondence, manuscripts and other papers, along with a few of my awards and other material which may come to be of interest in historical or other research.”

In the letter, King said each year he would provide BU with a portion of the material, with the documents eventually becoming the absolute property of the university. He also said in the event of his death, “all such materials deposited with the university shall become from that date the absolute property of Boston University.”

Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore, who calls himself a “pretty serious reader of Dr. King’s,” said King’s legacy remains vibrant at BU.

Even though Morehouse now holds some of King’s papers, Elmore does not consider it unfortunate because he said it is important for “the American public and for America’s youth to be able to go and see original works and to see historic works and to be able in some way to have connection with someone like Dr. King.”

Elmore said it is a privilege for the university to have King’s papers, and since King considered BU his alma mater, the civil rights leader wanted to give BU his papers because “He made a connection here.”

King’s legacy and the papers he left are integral to the character of the university, a legacy that is continuing today, Elmore said.

“I think that as we look at the legacy of the university where from day one, all people were included,” Elmore said. “It is sort of this cosmic justice . . . that Dr. King would be a figure who would ultimately come here, and then go on to push for inclusion.”

But in 1993, King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, sued BU for return of the papers. Associate General Counsel Lawrence Elswit, who represented BU in the lawsuit, said the papers were clearly donated to BU in King’s 1964 letter.

King’s widow had sought to consolidate the papers at the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, and alleged the papers were not being properly maintained, a charge that was dropped by Scott King’s lawyers before the jury in the trial decided the case in BU’s favor, Elswit said.

He said King’s gift to the university enabled future scholars and those interested in his life’s work to see a complete view of King, who Elswit said was a complicated and imperfect individual.

“Historians will tell you that history needs to be reviewed in its unvarnished, objective form,” Elswit said. “There was some concern that history as written by those close to him might tend to sand down the rough edges. Really, the lawsuit was about Dr. King’s intent.”

Elswit said King’s letter gave BU the sole legal authority to control the papers he had given to the university.

“The university accepted the papers from Dr. King and made a promise to take care of them in exchange for that gift,” he said. “We honored that promise.”

The jury ultimately sided with BU, and Scott King’s appeals were unsuccessful.

Elmore said he hopes students will visit the Gotlieb Center so they can see original works and letters and so they can do their own analysis of “what the meaning of those original works might have been or could be.”

“I hope that all university students, faculty and staff say to themselves, ‘I’m at a center-point here, to some extent, for these wonderful ideas that were germinated and ultimately went out into the society. I should at least go and check them out, investigate them and see if I can get some inspiration from them,'” he said.