Curtis Lee Smith (b. 1901) was a native of Cleveland, Ohio, who graduated from Adelbert College of Western Reserve University in 1923. In 1928 he became sales manager of the National Copper and Smelting Company, was promoted two years later to general manager, and then served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of that corporation.
Since his undergraduate college days, Smith was involved in civic affairs. In the early 1920s, he worked in the Schools Division of the Cleveland Community Fund and did not miss a campaign after that time, serving three years as campaign chairman and two years as president. He became president of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce in 1951, and resigned that post in 1968. He remained active in its successor organization, the Greater Cleveland Growth Association.
Smith was a member of the board of Trustees of Case Western Reserve University and was vice chairman of the Board of Trustees of Cleveland State University. He received an honorary L.L.D. degree from Baldwin-Wallace College in 1961, and a similar degree from Fenn College in 1962. In June 1964 he was appointed an officer in the Order of the British Empire and was awarded the Medal de Merit Commercial-France in 1957. He was a member of many local Cleveland clubs and served on numerous special committees. On a national level, he served on the board of governors and as executive chairman of the national council of the United Service Organization.
The Curtis Lee Smith Papers, 1965-1972 and undated, consist of the records of the Trustees and various committees and programs of Cleveland State University, and records of the Trustees and various committees of the Greater Cleveland Growth Corporation.
This collection will be useful to researchers studying the history of Cleveland, Ohio, and business, entrepreneurship, and education there in the 1960s and 1970s. Those studying the history of Cleveland State University and its board of trustees, Buildings and Grounds Committee, and the Finance Administration Committee will find this collection useful. The collection also documents academic affairs, the president and faculty, student affairs, and inter-university and state concerns at Cleveland State University. The records related to the formative years of Cleveland State University and address physical and academic growth there. The collection also contains information on the reaction to student violence in the spring of 1970 and on the effect on the University of President Richard Nixon's freeze of wages imposed in 1971.
The collection also documents board of trustees activities of the Greater Cleveland Growth Association, particularly the administration of federal technical assistance grants and the application process for Cleveland: NOW! funds. The emphasis in these papers in on the financing of business and industrial projects which aided economic development in Cuyahoga County.
The collection is arranged in two series. Each series is arranged by subject, then by document type, and then chronologically.
The researcher should also consult MS 4224 Curtis Lee Smith Papers, Series II.
Processed by Norman C. Nichols IV in 1973.
None.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 3574 Curtis Lee Smith Papers, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
Gift of Curtis Lee Smith in 1973.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.