Hamilton welcomed back more than 1,200 alumni and their guests as it hosted its annual Reunion Weekend on Thursday-Sunday, June 2-5. Highlights of this year's reunion included dedication of the Delta Kappa Epsilon House in honor of Eleanor and Sidney Wertimer and a keynote lecture, Alexander Hamilton: The Life and Legacy of Our Most Elusive Founder, by Douglas Ambrose, the Sidney Wertimer Associate Professor of History on Friday.
Twenty Alumni College classes provided intellectual stimulation for returning alumni and their guests. Topics included the Hamilton Jazz Archive; Hamilton Students Wreak HAVOC (Hamilton Action Volunteer Outreach Coalition); a poetry reading by Peter Meinke '55; From Buttrick Hall to the New Science Center: A Brief History of the Campus by Dan O'Leary, and a tour of Root Glen and Arboretum.
The Emerson Gallery featured two exhibits. The images of prize-winning LIFE Magazine photographer George Silk (1916 – 2004), in the first retrospective of his work in the U.S., will be on exhibit through September 11. His photographs were accompanied by those of his daughter, Georgiana Bulfinch Silk, who is a graduate of Kirkland College and a professional photographer in her own right. On Saturday, June 4, Georgiana Silk presented a talk and tour of the exhibition. The Emerson also exhibited "Nature as Refuge: From Rousseau's Cascade to Central New York's Trenton Falls," which shows Jacques Rousseau's influence on 19th-Century American landscape painting.
Also during the weekend, reunion classes heard a State of the College address from President Joan Stewart, celebrated at class dinners, held class meetings and participated in a Service of Remembrance for deceased alumni.
