The Founding, Funding, and Naming of the
Alice Curtis Desmond and Hamilton Fish Library
Alice and Hamilton Fish, newly married, together decided to start a library. Both had been recently widowed; Alice was a published author and Hamilton was a distinguished U.S. Army officer and former U.S. congressman. The octogenarian couple chose Garrison, New York as the location; it was the birthplace of Hamilton Fish and, as a small hamlet, had no library of its own.
According to Alice’s 1985 memoir, Yankees and Yorkers, the couple wanted to establish a library for the community that would also house historic papers of the Fish family, dating back to the American Revolution, and Alice’s own family collections of books, papers, and portraits. Alice and Hamilton were also dedicated to the history of the Hudson Valley, a place that they both loved.
In June 1977, the couple had spoken to an attorney, C. Sims Farr of White & Case, expressing their mutual wish to found a library in Garrison. On December 16, 1977, a charter was issued for the Alice and Hamilton Fish Library, a domestic not-for-profit corporation, pursuant to Section 216 of the New York Education law.
At the Library’s first Board of Directors meeting on December 27, 1977, by-laws and a corporate seal were adopted, and it was determined to have 15 board members, including Fish family members and neighbor Frederick Osborn. The following motion was made:
WHEREAS, Mrs. Alice Curtis Fish has offered to make an absolute and unconditional gift of cash in the amount of $200,000 to the Corporation without restriction as to its use and in furtherance of the purposes of the corporation as the Trustees shall see fit.
NOW THEREFORE, be it resolved, that the Corporation accept this gift of $200,000.
Further gifts were made by Mrs. Fish over the course of 1978, totalling $2,950,000. These gifts were for the library’s land acquisition, design and construction, furnishings, books, staffing, and legal fees. Mrs. Fish did not specify any conditions on her gifts.
The complete library project at groundbreaking in 1979 was estimated at $2,212,500.00
This included hiring staff and stocking the library with $80,000 in books and $90,000 in other resources.
The library opened in November 1980 and the trustees approved a long resolution honoring Mrs. Fish and making her Honorary Chairperson of the Alice and Hamilton Fish Library. The minutes reflect:
“…it is the view of the Trustees to be communicated to their successors that throughout perpetuity and as long as this library shall stand, it shall always be known as The Alice and Hamilton Fish Library, that designation to be carved in a cornerstone at or near the entrance to the Library and always to remain in that same position and that, furthermore, for the same perpetuity, the portraits of Alice Curtis Fish and of her husband, Hamilton Fish, shall always hang in the entrance hall over the fireplace with an appropriate inscription underneath recognizing the aforesaid gifts, both financial and by way of direction and inspiration that said Alice Curtis Fish has brought to the conception, implementation and completion of the institution to be forever known as The Alice and Hamilton Fish Library….”
That was not, however, the end of the story of the Library name.
Alice and Hamilton Fish divorced in 1984; after that date she used the name Mrs. Desmond and appears with that name in the Library Board minutes. The Library continued to be called The Alice and Hamilton Fish Library. Hamilton Fish III stayed on the Library Board and in the Board minutes often spoke respectfully of his former wife and her contributions. Besides the initial investment of close to $3 million she had made in 1978-1979, Alice Desmond continued to make annual gifts, and stayed closely involved with the building of the Hudson River collection. Hamilton Fish III also gave annually, with likewise no restrictions on his gifts.
In 1990, the Board decided that since the Library was named in honor of two people, it should be called by the actual names of those two people. Alice Desmond had always published her books under the name of Alice Curtis Desmond. The Board, including her former husband, Hamilton Fish III, voted to do so in June 1990. Thus the name was changed to the Alice Curtis Desmond and Hamilton Fish Library. Alice Desmond was likely never aware that this had been done, since she was in very poor health and died in October 1990.
The official charter from New York State was amended in June 1991, making the name officially “The Alice Curtis Desmond and Hamilton Fish Library.” This remains the official name today. The “Doing Business As” name is the Desmond-Fish Public Library (DFPL).
Mrs. Desmond died having assured trustees that she intended a substantial part of her estate to go to the Library. That estate came from two sources. Her first husband, Thomas Desmond, was well-off and the couple had no children. Alice herself was an only child, and she had inherited a family company, Curtis and Curtis, which was liquidated at her death. Her bequest resulted in a $4.6 million endowment for the Library.
Currently, income from Alice Curtis Desmond’s bequest accounts for about 42% of the Desmond-Fish Public Library’s annual budget. Revenue from Garrison taxpayers accounts for a further 42%, and donations and grants contribute about 16%.
Hamilton Fish III died in January 1991. His son, grandsons, and great-granddaughter have devoted many years to volunteer service on the Board of Trustees of the Library.