The records of the Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Associations of Oberlin College consist of annual reports, minutes, correspondence, scrapbooks, cloth maps, and printed materials documenting the organizations' governance and programs. The cloth maps (1863-96), which predate the 1881 formation of the YMCA, were given to the YMCA by an unknown donor. The earliest textual records are printed pamphlets (1885).

The collection has been divided into the following subgroups: I. YMCA Records; II. YWCA Records; and III. YM/YWCA Records. Within subgroups, records are arranged into the following series: Subgroup I: Series 1. Annual Reports, Series 2. Miscellaneous Administrative Files; Series 3. Scrapbooks; Series 4. YMCA Cloth Maps. Subgroup II: Series 1. Annual Report; Series 2. Miscellaneous Administrative Files; Series 3. Scrapbooks; Series 4. YWCA-Sponsored Programs. Subgroup III: Series 1. Administrative Files; Series 2. YM/YWCA Programs; Series 3. YM/YWCA Publications. Within subgroups, series are arranged alphabetically by type of material and thereunder chronologically.

YMCA administrative records are thin. No annual reports exist for the first two decades of the organization's history(1881-1902). The annual reports of the YMCA's General Secretary begin in 1902/03 with gaps from 1912-13 and 1917-40; reports resume in 1941/42 and continue through 1959/60. Reports for the years 1915-40 are available in the records of the Office of the Secretary (RG 5). Annual reports discuss staffing, the activities of the secretaries, and plans for the coming year. Other administrative documents include the minutes (1944, 1949-61) of the YMCA Advisory Board. There are no records for the other YMCA governing bodies, the Cabinet and the Executive Committee. Also lacking is complete correspondence from YMCA executive secretaries. What correspondence remains relates mainly to personnel searches (1945-61); correspondents include Elbridge P. Vance, Secretary of the Advisory Board; W. Robert Rankin, YMCA Executive Secretary (1945-51); Robert C. Johnson of the National Council of the YMCA; Provost Thurston E. Manning, Chairman of the YMCA Faculty Advisory Board; and Harvey Cox, Executive Secretary of the YMCA (1955-58). Information about the activities of the YMCA in 1924-27 and 1937-49 can be gleaned from the YMCA scrapbooks for these years.

YWCA administrative records are more complete than those of the YMCA. Files include annual reports (1894-1941) which include membership lists and committee reports. In addition this subgroup contains annual reports of YWCA officers including the General Secretary (1923/24-1928/29, 1933/34-1961/62), President (1941/42-1956/57) and the First Vice-President (1942/43-1951/52). (Missing annual reports after 1905 are available in the Records of the Office of the Secretary.) Of particular interest to researchers studying the organization and activities of the YWCA is a Historical Survey of the YWCA of Oberlin written by Barbara Shattuck in 1927/28. This survey describes the formation of the YWCA at Oberlin, the work of its committees and departments, and the reorganization that took place in 1916/17. Advisory Board Minutes exist for the period 1928/29-1943/44. Additional records document the functions of the governing Cabinet, Executive Committee, and Personnel Committee. Correspondence includes four letters (1904-06) from Florence Mary Fitch (1875-1959) attending YWCA conferences in Columbus, Ohio. Other correspondents include Y secretaries Elizabeth Blakesley (1944-55) and Marjorie Schreiber (1960-64). Scrapbooks from 1904 to 1949 illustrate the YWCA's activities through newspaper clippings, programs, other printed materials, and photographs. Later scrapbooks include material on joint YM/YWCA activities.

Records relating to the joint meetings and programs of the YM and YWCA include minutes of joint cabinet meetings (1953, 1955), joint program committee reports by the YM and YW secretaries (1956, 1959-62, n.d.), and reports of the Religious Interests Committee on YM and YWCA activities. These activities are documented in the files by brochures, programs, clippings, calendars of events, a few photographs, and a scrapbook. Events recorded include the 50th and 60th anniversaries of the founding of the YWCA; the YM/YWCA-sponsored student protests in Cleveland over the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956, and various Y student conferences. A few items (1918-20), one in Chinese, relate to YMCA support for Oberlin's work in China's Shansi province.

Subgroup I. YMCA Records, 1863-1969, n.d. (4.05 l.f.)

The records of the YMCA and YWCA were transferred to the Oberlin College Archives in three separate accessions in 1968, 1971, and 1972. Additional records were transferred from the Oberlin College Library's Department of Special Collections in 2001.

For the 1967 report of the Religious Interests Committee, consult Record Group 33, Box 19 and the papers of David Anderson (30/165). For annual reports of YMCA and YWCA officers, see the Records of the Office of the Secretary (RG 5, Subgroup II, Series 3). See RG 37 for motion picture films relating to the YMCA-YWCA. See Record Group 15, Subgroup V, Series 2, for the October 4, 1922 issue of Student Chest Review which discusses the YMCA and YWCA's role at Oberlin College. For the papers of E.M. Hoffman, who served with the YMCA in Japan and Manchuria (1918-20), see Record Group 30/69. J.G. Olmstead was with the YMCA in Providence, Rhode Island; consult his papers in Record Group 30/2. The Alumni Magazine for April 1954 contains a reminiscence of Florence Mary Fitch on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the YWCA. For related materials, consult Record Group 19, the Oberlin Band of Student Volunteers for Foreign Missions. The writings of Edward Increase Bosworth for the YMCA, as well as his files on the YM/YWCA, are housed in Record Group 11, the Graduate School of Theology. The papers of Bernard Gladieux (30/194) contain an oral history which includes an account of Gladieux's involvement with the YMCA in Toledo, Ohio, and at Oberlin College.