The Hal and Sharon Smith Family Endowment for Irish Studies was established in 1999. Hal and Sharon were born and raised in South Bend, but they didn’t meet until Hal was a student at Notre Dame. Hal’s dad, Ken, was a Notre Dame football player in the Knute Rockne era. The Smiths now live in Michigan and have raised five children. Hal owns H.C. Investments, LLC. Prior to starting this company, he was CEO of the H.H. Culter Company, a children’s apparel retailer founded by his grandfather. At Notre Dame, Hal is a member of the Hesburgh Libraries Advisory Council.

The Smith Endowment has helped with the acquisition of newspaper microfilm sets and the addition of some rare travel accounts of Ireland, including the 1824 illustrated book, A picturesque tour through Ireland by Dennis Sullivan, held only in fifteen libraries. Funding from the endowment supports the acquisition of works on early Irish history and culture, Irish archaeology, Irish bronze swords, the caves of North-West Clare, and the daggers and halberds of the early Bronze Age. Funding has also helped with the purchase of Irish local histories, such as those of Killarney, Clare Abbey, and Killone. The Irish collection also includes access to the CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: An Online Resource for Irish History, Literature, and Politics.

Members of the Sorin Society, the Smiths also established the Don & Harriet Smith Academic Advisor Fund.