Bookplates

The David Maldwyn Ellis Book Fund

December 29, 1899

David Maldwyn Ellis, Class of 1938, established this fund in 1972. He sought to preserve “the Library’s reputation of being one of the best small college libraries in the country.” Book purchases supported by this fund are intended to be in the areas of history, with an emphasis on American history.

David Ellis retired in 1980 as Publius Virgilius Rogers Professor of American History after 34 years of teaching at Hamilton. Committed to the life of a teacher and scholar, he endures in the memory of his former students as masterful in the command of his subject, gracious and considerate both in and outside the classroom and always conscientious and caring. 

His connection to Hamilton began in 1934 when he arrived on College Hill as a student. As an undergraduate, David impressed his classmates with his command of detail and level-headedness. President of the History and Political Science Clubs and elected to Phi Beta Kappa, he delivered the Salutatory Address in Latin at Commencement ceremonies in 1938, and was awarded his diploma with honors in history, philosophy, and political science. After leaving the Hill, he earned a M.A. and Ph.D. from Cornell University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan after teaching at the University of Vermont for a year. He was invited back to Hamilton in 1946 as an assistant professor of history, no longer a student but rather as a colleague of his former mentor, Edgar B. “Digger” Graves.