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Long before Ezra Pound made a name for himself through his poetry or political viewpoints, he strolled the paths of College Hill. His association with his alma mater, like his life in general, was riddled with controversy. Pound, Class of 1905, may rank just behind statesman Elihu Root, Class of 1864, on the list of Hamilton’s most prominent alumni. Still, after his graduation Pound returned only twice to campus, and on one of those visits he got into a shouting match.

As general counsel for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, Marc Elias ’90 was in the thick of the long, historic and divisive 2016 election. If he slowed down in its aftermath, it was hard to tell. He represented the Clinton campaign when Green Party candidate Jill Stein pushed for recounts in several states and argued two different redistricting cases before the U.S. Supreme Court on the same December day.

This may be as much a lesson about reach and curiosity as it is about history.

Alonzo Jay Whiteman, Class of 1881, will not be remembered as one of Hamilton’s most distinguished graduates. Nevertheless, published reports of his illustrious career as a con man who may have swindled as much as $5 million throughout his lifetime consistently mention his four academic years in Clinton, New York.

While every book in Burke Library features treasures of its own, the holdings in Special Collections and Archives are the library’s gems. Three major collections anchor the department: the Beinecke Collection on the Lesser Antilles; the works and papers of poet Ezra Pound, Class of 1905; and imprints by and about American communal societies.