The papers of William H. Warren are comprised of materials collected by Warren that document the efforts of the World War II Memorial Sponsoring Committee to plan, design, and fund the World War II memorial on the Oberlin College campus. Warren served as the chair and guiding force of the committee from its inception in 1995.

Received in two accessions in 2001 – with one later addition in 2003 – the materials document the work of the committee as a group and of Warren as an individual to create the content of the memorial, establish an accurate list of Oberlin alumni who died during the war, and raise the money necessary for the memorial’s construction and maintenance as well as for the establishment of a World War II Memorial Scholarship. In most cases, Warren’s basic arrangement of the materials has been retained at the folder level.

The collection is separated into four series: Series I. Memorial Design and Construction Files; Series II. Research Files; Series III. Fundraising Files; and Series IV. Photographs. The first three series contain a variety of materials, including a sizable amount of correspondence. Copies of articles and personal notes also make up a large part of the materials, many of which are copies of originals in the Oberlin College Archives.

A basic documentary history of the committee’s work is contained within Series I. Of particular interest are the memos sent by Warren to committee members over the course of their work together, 1995-2000. The committee reached consensus on a variety of issues: whom to include in the memorial’s list of names; what quotation to add, and what tone to set; what to call the memorial, itself, and where to locate it; what font to use for words inscribed in the memorial’s sandstone; how ambitious to be in fundraising. Throughout the process, Warren maintained a wide correspondence with committee members, Oberlin staff and alumni, those involved in the construction process, and many from outside the college community interested in the building of the memorial for one reason or another.

The architectural plans are also contained in Series I, as is correspondence between the landscape architect for the project (James McKnight), Warren, and others. Another subject documented in the correspondence is the controversy surrounding the eventual inclusion on the memorial of Masaru Nakamura, a graduate of the Oberlin School of Theology who died while apparently serving in the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Also, with Warren as the collecting nexus, the papers document the research undertaken to compile a list of alumni names for the memorial, as well as the project’s fundraising. Photographic prints and photocopies provide a visual context for the collection as a whole.

Series I. Memorial Design and Construction Files, 1995-2000 (9 folders)

This series is a compilation of folders received from Warren, generally left as they were received. Committee communication - both internal memos and external correspondence – architectural plans, construction invoices and correspondence, personal notes, transcripts from speeches at the groundbreaking ceremony, programs, and an audio cassette tape of that ceremony, and a student paper all document the process whereby an idea that had its genesis at an alumni gathering in 1995 reached fruition in a memorial and a scholarship several years later.

See also: Architectural Drawings of the WW II Memorial Garden by James McKnight, Architectural Records RG 53 (1999/037)

Series II. Research Files, 1995-96, 2002-03, n.d. (6 folders)

This series consists of several versions of the list of alumni to be honored on the memorial, each growing with additions made or verified by volunteers working in the College Archives; copies of pertinent articles from Oberlin College and other publications; notes taken by those doing research – chief among them Don Van Dyke (OC ’47) - at the Oberlin College Archives and other college offices; a registry of names with biographical and death information; correspondence relating to the inclusion or exclusion of specific names or groups of people. One folder consists of materials received from Van Dyke rather than from Warren. Also in this series is correspondence received by the College Archives in 2003 that addresses the question of the proper class year affiliation for Richard Cowan (OC ex-1944), one of those whose name is listed on the memorial.

Series III. Fundraising Files, 1995-2000 (4 folders)

This series consists of correspondence between Warren and various Oberlin College officials involved in the arranging of the mechanisms by which money would be raised and retained for the memorial and subsequent scholarship. Versions of the various fundraising letters and committee correspondence pertaining to the fundraising process are complemented by samples of the pledge cards sent with the mailings.

Series IV. Photographs, 1997, n.d. (13 photos/ copies)

This series consists of two color photographs of the completed memorial, color copies of photographs of the memorial site and completed memorial, and black and white photocopies of the site and memorial.

The William H. Warren papers were received in two accessions in 2001 (2001/050 and 2001/104). Don Van Dyke, ’47, donated a separate file of research materials in 2001. In 2003 a folder of correspondence pertaining to Richard Cowan’s class year was added to what became Series II.

Records of the Office of the Secretary (RG 5), Historical Files (World War II), Subgroup IX, Series 6, Subseries 2

Ernest Hatch Wilkins Papers (RG 2/7)

Architectural Records RG 53 (1999/037), Architectural Drawings of the World War II Memorial Garden, James McKnight