More than 200 Harvard students, faculty and employees each donated a pint of blood yesterday at Memorial Hall, which Red Cross volunteers transformed into a mini-hospital for the start of Harvard's fall blood drive.

Matthew T. Ryan '84, undergraduate coordinator of the drive, said yesterday 200 pints is "about normal" for the first day of the annual drive, which ends next Thursday.

President Bok and Dr. Warren E.C. Wacker, director of the University Health Services, last month sent more than 23,000 letters to Harvard faculty, staff and graduate students, encouraging them to participate in the drive.

In their letter, Bok and Wacker asked members of the University community to "help assure an adequate supply of safe blood in our area."

In the past, the great majority of donors have been undergraduates, Adelyn A. Stone, the Red Cross coordinator of the drive, said yesterday. "It would be nice if faculty would increase their numbers," she added.

This year, for the first time, the drive will be held over the weekend for people who are too busy to donate during the week. It will also move to Cabot Hall Sunday for a day.

Last year's drive collected a total of 1700 pints, and "that's what we'd like to aim for this year," Kate Forbes, a Red Cross volunteer, said yesterday.