The content of this site was generated automatically using Claude Code and Mnemotron-R, based on OCR data from Spectator (1947–2025) and other college archival materials hosted at the Internet Archive. It it intended as a proof of concept for the Mnemotron-R project, and has not been reviewed for completeness or accuracy by a human reviewer.

Contact Hamilton College Archives for authoratiative access to College history.

Overview

Perry H. Smith (Class of 1846) was a Hamilton College alumnus who became a prominent Chicago attorney and civic figure. He was the principal benefactor of Hamilton’s second library building, donating the majority of the approximately $25,000 needed to construct the new facility in the 1860s. The cornerstone was laid in July 1866, and the building — named Perry Hiram Smith Hall in his honor — was completed and ready for occupancy in June 1872. For four decades it served as Hamilton’s primary library, housing up to 60,000 volumes and providing space for the college’s early rare book and coin collections.

When the present Burke Library was completed in 1914, Perry Smith Hall was repurposed: it served for many years as the college infirmary before being remodeled in the early 1960s into a small auditorium.

Relevance to Research

Perry H. Smith was one of Hamilton’s most consequential 19th-century benefactors. His donation to the library fund — raised at a critical moment when Hamilton’s collection had outgrown the Chapel — shaped the college’s intellectual infrastructure for the last third of the 19th century. The building bearing his name remained in active campus use well into the 20th century, appearing frequently in Spectator coverage as both infirmary and later auditorium.

Note on the 1914 Hamilton Life hit: The 1914 Hamilton Life reference to “Perry H. Smith, ‘46” concerns the same benefactor — the article discusses the renaming of the old library building at the time the new library opened. It is not a different person. The “Perry H. Smith” in 1914 and 1951–1956 Spectator sources all refer to this same 19th-century figure and the building named for him.

Notes

• Hamilton alumnus, Class of 1846; described in corpus as “Hon. Perry Smith of Chicago”
• Donated the largest share — approximately half — of the $25,000 raised to build the new library in the 1860s
• The building was formally called “Perry Hiram Smith Library Hall”; cornerstone laid July 1866, opened June 1872
• Capacity of 60,000 volumes; housed rare books, coins, portraits, and a Daguerreotype museum in upper-floor rooms
• After the Burke Library opened in 1914, Perry Smith Hall became the campus infirmary
• The hall was still in use as the infirmary in the mid-1950s, described in a 1956 Spectator piece as a “situation which intended to be only temporary”
• A 1961 Spectator article reported that Clark H. Minor, Board of Trustees chairman, gave $300,000 to remodel Perry Smith Hall into a small auditorium, to be completed by September 1962

Related Sources

• hamilton-life-1914-10-20 — article on the old library building’s renaming at the time the new library opened; references Perry H. Smith, ‘46
• spec-1951-12-14 — history of the Hamilton library, describing the founding of Perry Smith Library Hall
• spec-1955-11-11 — detailed account of Perry Hiram Smith’s donation and the building’s construction in 1866
• spec-1956-06-02 — paper by Dick Hall on “Perry H. Smith Library Hall as a Library and as an Infirmary”
• spec-1961-10-13 — announcement that Perry Smith Hall will be remodeled into an auditorium

Related Topics

• campus-buildings-and-physical-plant — Perry Smith Hall is a key building in Hamilton’s campus history
• early-campus-and-buildings-pre-1922 — building dates to 1866–1872
• founding-and-early-history — Smith’s benefaction occurred during a formative period of college development

Related Entities

• burke-library — successor institution that replaced Perry Smith Hall as the main library in 1914