The papers of Charles A. Mosher offer partial documentation of Mosher's student days at Oberlin College (1924-28), of his career as a newspaper publisher in Oberlin (1940-60), of his second term of service as a trustee of Oberlin College (1973-77), and of his research leading to the completion of his M.A. thesis at Oberlin College in 1983. For records relating to Mosher's service in the Ohio State Senate (1941-60) and U. S. House of Representatives (1961-77), consult Record Group 30/226.

The Mosher papers are arranged into the following series: I. Personal Miscellany; II. Special Files: Newspaper Editor and Publisher; III. Special Files: Oberlin College Trustee; IV/1. Millikan Family Correspondence; IV/2. Charles A. Mosher Correspondence; V. Miscellany Collected by Charles Mosher; VI. Research Files; and VII. Photographs.

The bulk of these papers dates from the period of Mosher's tenure as publisher and editor of the Oberlin News Tribune in Oberlin, Ohio. Correspondence (1941-60) largely consists of letters from citizens or civic leaders commenting on editorials and community issues such as the organization of an interracial barbershop in the 1940s and the hiring of black teachers by the Oberlin public school system. Correspondents include radio broadcaster Raymond Gram Swing (b. 1887) and journalist William Allen White (1868-1944). A separate run of correspondence (1945-59) between Mosher and Oberlin College trustees pertains exclusively to Oberlin College matters, including the 1945 presidential search culminating in the appointment of President William E. Stevenson (1900-85); the appointment in 1959 of President Robert Kenneth Carr (1908-79); and the 1959 rift between College faculty and trustees. Also present are select editorials written by Mosher (1940-60), notes for talks, clippings reporting visits to Oberlin by Wendell L. Wilkie (b. 1892) and Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), and miscellaneous files pertaining to specific matters addressed by Mosher in his editorials. Topics covered by these files include the expansion of Allen Memorial Hospital (1949-57); controversy over Japanese-American students at Oberlin College during World War 11 (1942-43); and debate over the Lorain County Health Commissioner (1944).

The balance of the papers consist of chronological files relating to Mosher's second term as a trustee of Oberlin College (1973-77), which occurred during the 1973 governance controversy documented in the files. Also present is a scrapbook covering Mosher's undergraduate years at Oberlin College (1924-28); Mosher's 1983 Oberlin M.A. thesis; and miscellaneous historical files collected by Mosher relating to his family and to Oberlin's second physician, Dr. Alexander Steele.

Series I. Personal Miscellany, 1924-1928, 1972, n.d. (3 folders, 0.10 l.f.)

Six incoming letters (1927-29) relating to alumni matters, a scrapbook containing undergraduate memorabilia and photographs, the 1928 Oberlin College yearbook edited by Mosher, Mosher's 1928 diploma, and 1972 Oberlin Alumni Award and citations. Arranged by subject.

Series II. Special Files: Newspaper Editor and Publisher, 1940-60, n.d. (13 folders, 0.30 l.f.)

Correspondence and attached and related materials, ms. and typescript drafts of talks, ms. notes, photocopies of newspaper editorials and printed materials, organized alphabetically by type of material.

Series III. Special Files: Oberlin College Trustee, 1973-76 (6 folders, 0.20 l.f.)

Chronological files of correspondence, memoranda, and related materials, arranged alphabetically by topic and type of material.

Series IV. Correspondence

Subseries 1. Millikan Family Correspondence, 1815-1816, 1836-1837, 1845, 1850, 1888 (9folders, 0.05 l.f.)

Consists of correspondence to and from members of the Millikan Family including Daniel F. Millikan, his son Silas Millikan, his grandson Robert Millikan, Sally Aurelia Pease Millikan, and Martha Millikan. This subseries is arranged alphabetically by author.

Subseries 2. Charles A. Mosher Correspondence, 1931, 1940, 1942-44, 1949, 1961, 1968-1972, 1975-76, 1978 (28 folders, 0.15 l.f.)

Consists of numerous letters received by Charles A. Mosher (or in one case his father Edward Castle Mosher) by such notables as Gerald Ford, Lyndon B. Johnson, Henry A. Kissinger, Richard M. Nixon, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Wendell L. Willkie. This subseries is arranged alphabetically by author.

Series V. Miscellany Collected by C.A. Mosher, 1936-1947, ca. 1954 (2 folders, 0.04 l.f.)

Ms. letters from family relation Robert A. Millikan; miscellaneous papers and land deeds of Dr. Alexander Steele, an early Oberlin physician; and a carbon draft of an unpublished essay written by a friend of Mosher. Chronologically arranged.

Series VI. Research Materials, 1978-84 (6 folders, 0.35 l.f.)

Correspondence, research notes, and drafts of Mosher's Master's thesis written at Oberlin College, "Reinterpreting Congress and its Works" (1983-84). Also present is a bound, unpublished copy of the thesis.

Series VII. Photographs, 1959, n.d. (1 folder, 0.01 l.f.)

Consists of four black and white photographs of Charles Mosher, one of Mosher and his wife, Harriet, and holiday greeting card with a photograph of the Mosher family. The photographs were separated from the Archives photograph collection and placed here October 2000.

The Mosher Papers were transferred to the Oberlin College Archives under a deed of gift in 1982. Subsequent accessions occurred in 1984, 1992 and 1993.

For Mosher's congressional papers, see Record Group 30/226. For other papers of Ohio congressmen, see the papers of Donald Pease.