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Local figure

Charles Alphonso Smith

Charles Alphonso Smith (1864–1924), a Greensboro native, came to the University of North Carolina in 1902 as professor of English and the next year became the first dean of its graduate department, where he founded the journal Studies in Philology. In 1905 he served with President Francis P. Venable on the committee to raise the matching fund for Andrew Carnegie's library gift. He left in 1909 for the University of Virginia.

Source: NCpedia: Smith, Charles Alphonso

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Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 5 dated events in the chronology →

  1. The university organizes a Graduate Department with C. Alphonso Smith as dean By the 1904 commencement the university had organized its Graduate Department, with Dr. C. Alphonso Smith as dean. An alumni committee on the university's condition praised the step. People: Charles Alphonso Smith Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 632
  2. Andrew Carnegie offers the university $50,000 for a library Andrew Carnegie's offer of $50,000 for a library building, if an equal sum were raised for its upkeep, was announced in the university chapel on March 31, 1905. At commencement President Venable told the alumni that about $27,000 was in sight, and a faculty and alumni committee was named to raise the rest. People: Andrew Carnegie, Francis Preston Venable, Eben Alexander, Charles Alphonso Smith Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 647 · Also: Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), April 6, 1905, p. 2
  3. C. Alphonso Smith leaves the university's English department for the University of Virginia Dr. Charles Alphonso Smith of the university's English department accepted a call to the University of Virginia, saying that Virginia offered him a wider field of service. Place: University of North Carolina, Chapel HillSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), April 8, 1909, p. 1
  4. A memorial service for President Graham fills Gerrard Hall Every seat in Gerrard Hall was taken for the formal memorial service for Edward Kidder Graham, held after the epidemic had eased. Horace Williams and R. D. W. Connor spoke, and J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton read a tribute from C. Alphonso Smith. People: R. D. W. Connor, J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton, Henry Horace Williams, Charles Alphonso Smith, Edward Kidder Graham Place: Gerrard Hall, UNC, Chapel HillSearch the index · Howard E. Covington Jr., Fire and Stone: The Making of the University of North Carolina under Presidents Edward Kidder Graham and Harry Woodburn Chase (2018), p. 177
  5. C. Alphonso Smith leaves his library to the University The will of C. Alphonso Smith, a former head of the University's English department who had died in June at Annapolis, left the University his library of some 6,000 volumes, except for what his widow chose to keep. People: Charles Alphonso Smith Place: University library, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, July 25, 1924, p. 1

Places in this person’s story

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows the 1 with a known location.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

  • Gerrard Hall University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 1 event here
  • UNC Libraries University schools and programs · Chapel Hill · 1 event here

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People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as Charles Alphonso Smith, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.

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  • NC LIVE: prepared search for Charles Alphonso Smith Library card Search NC LIVE for this subject and Orange County. You can change the search terms. Sign in through your North Carolina library to access the materials.
  • Ancestry Library Edition In the libraryOrange County Public Library Census, birth, death and marriage records, and more, free on the public computers at OCPL libraries

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