The former presidents will be joined by Smith’s founder, Sophia Smith, whose portrait will hang over the browsing room fireplace. As part of this move, the large portrait that formerly hung in the College Archives will be moved to the Klingenstein Room, while the smaller portrait from College Hall will go in the Jill Ker Conway Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center, directly across from Klingenstein in the new Neilson. Once that work is finished, the portraits will be moved to the new Neilson, where they will be installed in the Klingenstein room to welcome students, faculty, staff and scholars this fall.Ĭlose observers of college history will know that Smith has displayed two “official” portraits of Smith’s seventh president, Jill Ker Conway. Staff from the Smith College Museum of Art staff will transfer the portraits from College Hall to the museum, where conservators will assess their condition and undertake necessary conservation work- mostly light cleaning and dusting, according to SCMA director Jessica Nicoll ’83. The presidential portraits are scheduled to be moved over the summer. “This is an excellent addition to this special space.” “And they'll bring more Smith history to this iconic room,” she adds.
Susan Fliss, dean of libraries, notes that the design of the Klingenstein Browsing Room gives the portraits the visibility and light they have never had in College Hall. “As a loyal Smithie and longtime lover of libraries, I smile to imagine Smith’s past presidents joining with current students, faculty and staff in reading, reflecting, learning and discussion.” “My daughter Nancy Simpkins ’77 and I are very pleased to be able to invest in Smith’s exciting new library,” Pat said. Patricia Davis Klingenstein ’51, for whom the renovated browsing room is now named, says she is delighted the president’s portraits will be mounted in this historic gathering space. More importantly, the portraits will be more visible to more members of our community, given that Neilson is the intellectual heart of our campus.” The first is practical, in that we have run out of space in College Hall. “There are two reasons to display them in Neilson Library. The official portraits of former United States President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama were unveiled at an emotional and historic ceremony at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.
“Smith is richly informed by our history, and the portraits are a part of our history,” McCartney notes. Ever since George Washington became President in 1789, the presidency has been a major focus of American political life, and as with nearly everything associated with that office, presidential portraits have from the outset attracted considerable popular interest. President Kathleen McCartney says that the 10 portraits will be installed in the newly named Klingenstein Browsing Room-the beloved first-floor gathering space formerly known simply as the Browsing Room. The nation's only complete collection of presidential portraits outside the White House, this exhibition lies at the heart of the Portrait Gallery's mission to tell the American story through the individuals who have shaped it. Ten portraits of Smith’s former presidents-long housed near the main staircase in College Hall-will be moved to a place of prominence in the new Neilson later this summer.
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