The papers of Karl Wilson Gehrkens consist mainly of Gehrkens’s published and unpublished essays, articles, and addresses on the philosophy of music education, composed between 1914 and 1967. This collection includes one of Gehrkens’s published works, Essentials in Conducting (1919). In addition, the Department of Special Collections in the Oberlin College Library holds a complete set of Gehrkens’s publications.

Files also include correspondence of a routine nature with Oberlin Secretaries Donald M. Love (1894-1974) and J. Robert Williams (b. 1916). Miscellaneous biographical materials include tributes from various music education groups and college officials. Additional biographical information is included in Gehrkens’s student and staff files, housed in the Oberlin College Archives.

The collection also contains thirteen mounted photographs of Shurtleff Cottage and Stewart Hall taken by Gehrkens while he was a student at Oberlin between 1900 and 1905.

Series I. Biographical Material, 1923-62, 1975

Excerpts of magazine tributes, newspaper articles (photocopies), obituaries, and other miscellaneous printed material of a biographical nature. Arranged chronologically. A separate folder is devoted to biographical material of Gehrkens collected by Dr. Joseph Hofrichter.

Series II. Miscellaneous Correspondence, 1941-67

Correspondence between Karl Gehrkens and officials of Oberlin College, including originals and file copies. Arranged chronologically.

Series III. Writings, 1914-67, n.d.

Published and unpublished articles, talks, and booklets. Arranged chronologically. Separate folders are devoted to Gehrkens’s writings collected by Dr. Joseph Hofrichter and to Gehrkens’s book Essentials in Conducting (1919).

Series IV. Photographs, ca. 1900-05

Mounted photographs, arranged alphabetically by subject.