Originally known as Alumni Hall when it was built in 1864, the building contained the library. The area depicted is today the Philips Wing of Lutnick Library named after William Pyle Philips, Class of 1902. In 1865, there were eight members of the faculty or administration: Thomas Chase, professor of philosophy, 1856-86; Edward Drinker Cope, professor of natural science, 1864-67; John H. Dillingham, librarian, 1865-75 and professor of moral and political science, 1865-78; Samuel Gummere, president, 1862-74 and professor of mathematics and director of the observatory, 1862-74; Clement Smith, librarian and assistant professor of mathematics and classics, 1863-65; William Wetherald, superintendent, 1863-65; John Wilson, teacher of drawing, 1860-65; and Paul Swift, M.D., professor of English, 1860-65. This photograph depicts all but John Wilson, John Dillingham and Edward Drinker Cope. Instead are three students: seniors Allen C. Thomas and James A. Chase and sophomore Samuel Craft Collins.
