The Marion McGill Smith Library Endowment was established in 1986 by Marion McGill Smith. Ms. Smith was a library science graduate of The University of Montana's class of 1938. She was the former director of the J. Hugh Jackson Library of the Stanford Graduate School of Business. During her twenty-two year career at the Jackson Library, Marion developed the collection from 24,000 volumes to over 250,000 volumes. The Jackson Library has risen to eminence as one of the two best business school libraries in the United States.

Ms. Smith received a Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1992. She passed away in February of 1998, but the Marion McGill Smith Class of 1938 Collection Room, which this endowment provided, will continue to aid in student research in perpetuity. Her fund allows the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library to secure reference materials in all fields of interest to faculty and students.

Endowments