Louis Smith papers

Louis Smith came to Berea as an instructor in 1927 and served as the college's Dean of the Upper Division before serving as Dean of the College from 1947 to 1969.

Charles Louis Smith (Louis Smith) was born on October 2, 1905 in Fayetteville, Tennessee. He was the second of four children to George and Edna Smith. Smith attended the Lincoln Central High School (which he referred to as the Rocky Knob of Hard Knocks and Slow Scholars) where he was involved in various activities. During his senior year he acted as class president, sports editor, participant in dramatics, half-back on the football team, and graduated as valedictorian. Smith attended Bryson College for three years before transferring to George Peabody College where he received his B.S. degree in American History in 1927. He later received his Master’s in Political Science (Vanderbilt) and obtained his doctorate from the University of Chicago. His doctoral thesis “American Democracy and Military Power” (1951) would be published by the University of Chicago Press in 1956.

Louis Smith first came to Berea in 1927 to teach of 7th and 8th grade social sciences at the Berea Foundation Junior High School. He soon advanced to teaching senior high school level, where he found many of his students were older than him due to the lack of high schools in some Appalachian areas. After two years of teaching at the Foundation School, Louis spent a year teaching mathematics in Harriman, Tennessee.

In 1931, Louis returned to Berea to teach in the Foundation School. In Berea, Louis met Julia Theresa Woodfin after her graduation from Berea College. They were married on August 30, 1936 and went on to have a daughter, Julia.

When Berea was divided into Upper and Lower Divisions, Smith served as a faculty member in the Lower Division. In 1944 he became the Dean of the Upper Division and was made Dean of the College in 1947. Louis Smith’s deanship continued for over twenty years until 1969. Known as “Mr. Berea,” a symbol of Berea College locally, nationally and internationally, Smith had the affectionate regard of his faculty and the confidence and respect of three presidents of Berea.

During World War II, when a Navy V-12 unit was stationed Berea, Smith acted as a liaison between the college and the campus navy administration.  Additionally, Smith performed a considerable amount of work abroad. In 1954 he accepted an assignment to lecture in India for the Department of State. He became a member of the Commission on Rural Education in Arab Lands and acted as advisor to the Rural Education of India, and Near East Office of the Ford Foundation. He also served as Campus Coordinator between the Government of the United States and Berea College for work with Rural Higher Institutes in India. He assisted in the foundation of ten colleges throughout India, all of which were based upon the Berea model. Retiring from his dean position in 1969, Smith returned to Berea after his sabbatical leave and served as a William Hutchins Alumni Professor of Political Science until 1974. Louis Smith made Berea his home until he died on a Saturday afternoon on April 30, 1994 at the Berea Hospital.