Pamela Kirwin Adams, Alexandra Weil, and Roland M. Baumann, Compilers
Roland M. Baumann, Editor

Gertrude F. Jacob Archival Publications Fund
Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio 1990

Dedicated to Gertrude F. Jacob (1908-1989)
Oberlin College Class of 1929

Foreword

Introduction

Images

RECORDS OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES (Group 1)

[1] Records of the Board of Trustees, 1833-1978, 44 Ft.

RECORDS OF THE PRESIDENTS (Group 2)

[2] Papers of Charles G. Finney, 1817-1875, 4 ft. 6 in.
[3] Papers of James Harris Fairchild, 1835-1903, 12 ft. 3 in.
[4] Papers of Henry Churchill King, 1897-1934, 58 ft. 2 in.
[5] Papers of Ernest Hatch Wilkins, 1927 (1927-46) -1953, 70ft. 4in.
[6] Papers of William E. Stevenson, 1926 (1946-59) -1960, 48 ft. 3 in.
[7] Papers of Robert K. Carr, 1925 (1960-70) -1977, 27 ft. 1 in.
[8] Papers of Robert W. Fuller, 1970-1974, 11 ft. 2 in.

RECORDS OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ASSISTANTS (Group 3)

[9] Papers of William F. Bohn, 1910 (1913-44) -1953, 20 ft. 6 in.
[10] Papers of Charles Whiting Williams, 1904-1912, 5 ft. 2 in.
[11] Papers of Harold S. Wood, 1942 (1944-48) -1953, 2 ft. 5 in.
[12] Papers of Bayley F. Mason, 1971-1974. 4 ft. 7 in.

RECORDS OF THE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY (Group 5)

[13] Records of the Office of the Secretary, 1860-1973, 86 ft.

RECORDS OF THE OFFICE OF THE TREASURER (Group 7)

[14] Records of the Office of the Treasurer, 1822-1950, 50ft.

RECORDS OF THE COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES (Group 9)

[15] Records of the Department of Physical Education for Women, 1886-1963, 11.3 ft.
[16] Records of the Women's Studies Program, 1974-1989, 3ft. 4in.

RECORDS OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY (Group 11)

[17] Records of the Graduate School of Theology, 1841-1966, 28ft.

RECORDS OF THE DEAN OF STUDENTS (Group 12)

[18] Records of the Dean of Students, 1935 (1967-82)-1985, 29ft. 9in.

RECORDS OF THE OBERLIN SHANSI MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION (Group 15)

[19] Records of the Oberlin Shansi Memorial Association, 1881-1987, 44 ft. 6 in.

RECORDS OF THE OBERLIN COLLEGE LIBRARY (Group 16)

[20] Records of the Oberlin College Library, 1815 (1950-75) -1988, 25 ft.

RECORDS OF THE PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT (Group 18)

[21] Records of the Centennial of Coeducation, 1936-37, 2 ft. 7 in.

RECORDS OF STUDENT LIFE (Group 19)

[22] Records of the Oberlin Band of Student Volunteers for Foreign Missions, c. 1886-1927, 2 in.
[23] Records of the Young Women's Missionary Society, 1879-1894, 2 in.
[24] Records of the Ladies' Literary Society, 1850 (1904-52)-1952, 1 ft. 2 in.
[25] Records of the Women's Center, 1971-1987, 10 in.
[26] Records of the Oberlin Association of Women Students, 1958-1966, 2 in.
[27] Records of the Oberlin Peace Society, 1930-1940, 8 in.
[28] Scrapbooks and Diaries—Papers, 1864-1936, 9 ft. 2 in.
[29] Student Notes—Papers, 1860-1907, 2 ft. 6 in.
[30] Records of the Mock Conventions, 1936-1968, 10 ft.

RECORDS OF THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION (Group 20)

[31] Records of the Alumni Association, 1839-1990, 42 ft.

RECORDS OF THE OBERLIN FILE, WRITINGS BY AND ABOUT (Group 21)

[32] Records of the Oberlin File, Writings By and About, 1833-1988, 8 ft. 3 in.

RECORDS OF THE OBERLIN KINDERGARTEN AND PRIMARY-TRAINING SCHOOL (Group 24)

[33] Records of the Oberlin Kindergarten and Primary-Training School, 1894-1933, 9 ft. 3 in.

RECORDS OF THE YOUNG WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION (Group 29)

[34] Records of the Young Women's Christian Association, 1899 (1940-58) -1962, 6 ft. 9 in.

PAPERS OF OTHER INDIVIDUALS (Group 30)

[35] Papers of George A Adams, 1846-1903, 9 in.
[36] Diaries of Phoebe Haynes Ainsworth, 1863-1875, 2 in.
[37] Papers of Kathryn Reinhard Albrecht, 1928-1948, 4 in.
[38] Papers of George Nelson Allen, 1820-1894, 1 ft. 2 in.
[39] Genealogy of Archibald McCullum Ball and Sarah A. Curtis Ball, compiled 1956-1960, 3 in.
[40] Papers of Willard L. Beard, 1910-1925, 2 ½ in.
[41] Papers of Dan Beach Bradley, 1800-1888, 1960s, 1 ft. 11 in.
[42] Papers of Anna Ruth Brummett, 1957-1985, 2 ft. 10 in.
[43] Papers of Ellsworth C. Carlson, 1939-1981, 1 ft. 10 in.
[44] Papers of Henry G. Carpenter, 1842-1933, 5 in.
[45] Papers of Paul Leaton Corbin, 1904-1936, 7 ft.
[46] Papers of Carolyn Corwin, 1970-1971, 3 in.
[47] Papers of Kirke L. and Mary Cowdery, 1890-1935, 2 in.
[48] Papers of Betsy Mix Cowles, 1835-1868, 2 in.
[49] Papers of Henry Cowles, 1824-1908, 2 ft. 9 in.
[50] Papers of Mary Elizabeth Rodhouse Creglow, 1909-1963, 2 in.
[51] Papers of Olive Bell Daniels, 1909-1981, 1 ft. 3 in.
[52] Papers of Francis H. Dart, 1904-1935, 6 in.
[53] Papers of Mr. and Mrs. Francis (Lydia Lord) Davis, 18621944, 3 ft.
[54] Papers Frances T. Densmore, 1884-1904, 2 in.
[55] Records of the Directors' Association of Oberlin College, 1904-1964, 2 in.
[56] Papers of Ruth Easton, 1952-1958, 1 ½ in.
[57] Papers of the Eddy Family, 1805-1919, 2 in.
[58] Papers of Helen Estabrook, 1923-1950s, 2.5 in.
[59] Papers of Florence Fitch, 1807-1951, 7 ft.
[60] Papers of Robert S. Fletcher, 1833-195S, 7 ft. 6 in.
[61] Letters of Lewis and Lois Gilbert, 1925-1941, 10 in.
[62] Papers of Amy J. Gittler, 1982-83, ½ in.
[63] Papers of Elliot F. Grabill, 1859-1901, 10 in.
[64] Records of the Grand Army of the Republic, Henry Lincoln Post #364, 1883-1934, 1 ft. 3 in.
[65] Papers of Charles Martin Hall, c.1863 (1882-1914) -1930s, 9 ft.
[66] Papers of Lyman B. Hall, 1871-1918, 1 ft. 11 in.
[67] Papers of Everett D. Hawkins, 1927-1972, 3 ft.
[68] Papers of Karl Florien Heiser, 1920-1975, 1 ft. 8 in.
[69] Papers of Hope Hibbard, 1913 (1928-43) -1988, 10 in.
[70] Papers of Frances Juliette Hosford, 1925-1935, 3 in.
[71] Papers of Sara L. Houston, c. 1954-1970, 1 ft. 6 in.
[72] Papers of Gertrude F. Jacob, 1931-1982, 1 ft. 3 in.
[73] Papers of Adelia A. Field Johnston, 1863-1911, (1974), 2 in.
[74] Papers of Mary Elizabeth Johnston, 1880-1982, 4 ft.
[75] Papers of George T. Jones, (1839) 1865-1990, 5 ft. 2 in.
[76] Papers of Elizabeth Kadelbach, 1914-15, 2 ½ in.
[77] Papers of Lucy Fletcher Kellogg, c. 1835-1900, 2 ¼ in.
[78] Letters of Leonard and Julia King, 1852-1878, 2 in.
[79] Papers of Daniel C. Kinsey, 1922-1970, 5 ft. 10 in.
[80] Papers of Ellen NicKenzie Lawson, 1972-1988, 8 in.
[81] Papers of Ellen NicKenzie Lawson and Marlene D. Merrill, 1977-1984, 3 ft.
[82] Papers of Fred E. Leonard, 1821-1950, 16 ft. 8 in.
[83] Papers of Betty Lind, 1966-1973, ½ in.
[84] Papers of the Misses Alice and Elizabeth Little, 1853-1949, 6 in.
[85] Letters of Grace E. McConnaughey, 1910-1928, 5 in.
[86] Papers of Fred H. ("Tip") Maddock, 1839-1950, 7 ½ in.
[87] Papers of August Meier, 1941-1945, 5 in.
[88] Papers of Irving W. Metcalf, 1878-1935, 2 ft. 5 in.
[89] Papers of William L. Mezger, 1965-1978, 2 in.
[90] Papers of Margaret Portia Mickey, 1914-1940, 6 in.
[91] Papers of Charles E. Monroe, 1875-1936, 2 in.
[92] Papers of Julia Finney Monroe, 1838-1921, 7 ½ in.
[93] Papers of Charles A. Mosher, 1836-1984, 9 in.
[94] Papers of John Herbert Nichols, 1908-1974, 9 ft. 10 in.
[95] Papers of Susan Wealthy Orvis, c. 1924-1939, 10 in.
[96] Papers of Donald J. Pease, 1971-1986, 135 ft.
[97] Papers of Chauncy N. Pond, 1892-1916, 1 ft.
[98] Papers of the Prudden Family, 1836-37, 2 in.
[99] Papers of Azariah Smith Root, 1881-1931, 7 ft. 1 in.
[100] Papers of Margaret R. Schauffler, 1915-1960, 3 in.
[101] Memoirs of John S. and Caroline S. Service, 1976-1978, 2 in.
[102] Papers of Mabel Louise Shaw, 1906-1909, 5 in.
[103] Papers of Mary Sheldon, 1842-1853, 2 in.
[104] Papers of John Jay Shipherd, 1806 1860, 7 in.
[105] Papers of Gives W. Shurtleff, 1846-1924, 2 ft. 11 in.
[106] Papers of A. Clair Siddall, M.D., 1930-1980, 10 in.
[107] Papers of Lloyd W. and Esther Bliss Taylor, 1905-1980, 3 ft.
[108] Papers of Nancy Hays Teeters, c. 1960-1984, 8 ft. 5 in.
[109] Papers of Mary Frances Tenney, 1865-1930s, 2 in.
[110] Papers of Various Persons, 2 ft. 11 in., 1839-1979
[111] Papers of Mr. and Mrs. George L. (Alice Moon) Williams, 1883-1960, 3 ft.
[112] Papers of Henry E. Woodcock, 1838 (1848-l907)-1987, 1 ft. 3 in.
[113] Papers of Albert Allen Wright, 1858-1905, 2 ft. 8 in.
[114] Papers of George Frederick Wright, 1812-1921, 21 ft. 11 in.
[115] Papers of Mary Sareta Yocom, 1930s-1960s, 2 in.

RECORDS OF THE OBERLIN COMMUNITY (Group 31)

[116] Records of the American Association of University Women (AAUW), 1914-1982, 1 ft. 3 in.
[117] Records of the Finitimi Society, 1902-1924, 2 ft. 5 in.
[118] Records of the First and Second Congregational Churches, 1836-1988, 32 ft.
[119] Records of the Junior Forum, 1936-1940, ¼ in.
[120] Records of the League of Women Voters of Oberlin, 1924-1974, 2 ft.
[121] Records of the Literary and Social Club, 1933-1983, 2 ½ in.
[122] Records of the Maternal Association of Oberlin, 1835-1866, 1 ½ in.
[123] Records of the Mutual Improvement Club, 1913-14, ¼ in.
[124] Records of the Newcomers Club, 1962-1975, 2 in.
[125] Records of the Nineteenth Century Club, 1924-1961, 1 ½ in.
[126] Records of the Non-Partisan Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Oberlin, Ohio, 1897-1924, 2 ½ in.
[127] Records of the Oberlin Board of Education, 1860-1973, 3 ft. 6 in.
[128] Records of the Oberlin Female Moral Reform Society, 1835-1857, ½ in.
[129] Records of the Oberlin Historical and Improvement Organization, 1959 (1964-87) -1990, 5 ft. 5 in.
[130] Records of the Oberlin Industrial School, 1885-1914, 5 in.
[131] Records of the Oberlin Junior League, 1935-36, Single item
[132] Records of the Oberlin Junior Women's Club, 1954-1963, 1 ½in.
[133] Records of the Oberlin Mutual Benefit Association, 1893-1921, 2 ½ in.
[134] Records of Oberlin Sorosis, 1898-1915, ¼ in.
[135] Records of the Oberlin Temperance League/Alliance and Ladies League, 1870-1917, 3 in.
[136] Records of the Oberlin Woman's Club, 1901-1981, 2 ft. 2 ½ in.
[137] Records of the Order of the Eastern Star, 1918-1977, ½ in.
[138] Records of the Senior Forum, 1941-1986, 1 ½ in.
[139] Records of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, 1882-1976, 1 ft. 3 in.
[140] Records of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the First and Second Congregational Churches of Oberlin, 1869-1920, 10 in.
[141] Records of the Woman's Relief Corps, 1885-1944, 1 ft. 3 in.
[142] Records of the Women's Progressive Club, 1912, ¼ in.

RECORDS OF THE COMMITTEES (Group 33)

[143] Records of the Committee on the Status of Women, 1971 (1972-1979) -1985, 1 ft.
[144] Records of Various Committees, 1912-1985, 18 ft. 9 in.

RECORDS OF THE SCHAUFFLER COLLEGE OF RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL WORK (Group 34)

[145] Records of the Schauffler College of Religious and Social Work,

MOTION PICTURES AND TAPE RECORDINGS (Group 37)

[146] Cassette Tapes, 1981, 13 ½ hours of tape, 5 in.

RECORDS OF MISSIONARIES (Group 38)

[147] Records of Missionaries, 1890-1949, 1 ft. 7 in.

In March 1834, Oberlin founder John Jay Shipherd committed the fledgling institution to work on behalf of the "elevation of female character, bringing within the reach of the misjudged and neglected sex, all the instructive privileges which hitherto have unreasonably distinguished the leading sex from theirs." The Guide to Women's History Sources in the Oberlin College Archives is a fitting continuation of Shipherd's mission. Its publication makes more accessible over 140 collections of significant historical documents from both the college and the community where pioneers undertook efforts on behalf of coeducation and new gender roles over 150 years ago.

Oberlin's achievements in women's history have received widespread recognition. The first American institution to open its doors to women students and one of the first to admit blacks, Oberlin has maintained its preeminent role as an educator of women from its founding to the present. The collections described in this guide illuminate the environment that produced so many women graduates of distinction, including Lucy Stone, abolitionist and feminist orator; Antoinette Brown Blackwell, the first woman ordained in the regular Protestant ministry; Mary Jane Patterson, the first black woman to receive the bachelor's degree in the United States; Mary Church Terrell, black suffragist, club woman, and educator; and Doris Stevens, militant suffragist. Yet less well-known are Oberlin's contributions to the social history of American women.

This history—encompassing women students, faculty and staff members, and townspeople—has profound implications. Materials on student regulations and culture, perceptions and aspirations, curriculum and faculty, diversity and decorum, offer the opportunity to document the particular circumstances at the institution that introduced sweeping innovations, with important reverberations for women in American society. Oberlin's records not only permit the careful evaluation of our individual case, but also present possibilities for understanding larger questions. Most broadly, 19th-century social historians will delight in the wealth of materials about the lives of women in Oberlin College, the Oberlin Academy, and in the town. More specifically, researchers on voluntary associations will find untapped resources on women's clubs and associations both on and off campus. Students of the place of women in the academy will be fascinated both by the rich material on women in the faculty and administration and by the interchange between town and gown documented in personal and organizational records. Historians of women and religion will discover rich documentation of the role of women in missionary work, including those who served and those who, as wives, supported men who carried Oberlin's sense of mission overseas. Scholars of sexual mores will find in the records relating to student life voluminous materials detailing shifts in social norms and the social relations of the sexes. And those with more contemporary interests, including the development of the field of women's studies, will discover a vast range of materials permitting new types of inquiry.

This guide, then, provides information on an extensive range of materials that will assist the documentation of the history not only of Oberlin, but also of the larger issues for scholars in education, social history, and women's studies. Oberlin has always sought to influence, for the good, the larger community; it is my hope that this publication will continue an aspect of Oberlin's laudable tradition.

Carol Lasser,
Associate Professor of History, Oberlin College

The purpose of this subject guide is to assist researchers in locating records (institutional and noninstitutional) within the Oberlin College Archives that relate to women's history from the 1830s to the present. For the most part, this guide is based on an examination of box listings developed between 1966 and 1989, as well as on a review of the more than 400 groups of records themselves. Although some isolated files or documents concerning women can be found in other sources, they have not been included in this guide because there is no practical way of identifying them. Thus, this guide is not a comprehensive listing of every document relating to women's history in the holdings of the Oberlin College Archives. For example, the archives maintains the nonrestricted files of Alumni and Development records of deceased women graduates and former students. This group, which covers over 120,000 women students, is not reported here. Nor does this guide report on the restricted student files received from the Office of Residential Life. Finally, the guide does not incorporate the holdings of the Department of Special Collections, administered by the Oberlin College Library, which houses Oberlinian and printed works of a rare and valuable nature.

The Oberlin College Archives contains the permanently valuable records of the institution as well as those of individuals, families, and organizations affiliated with Oberlin College and or the town of Oberlin. The records are housed in the Oberlin College Library, Mudd Center, Room 420, on the Oberlin College campus.

Under a classification scheme devised in the late 1960s, all college records are assigned to numbered groups. A group most frequently consists of the records of a single College office or department, such as the Office of the Provost (#4), the Public Relations Department (#18) or the Women's Department (#42). Records are sometimes brought together on the basis of similar type, medium, or other relationship. Examples of collective groups are Student Life (#19), Committees (#33), and Motion Pictures and Tape Recordings (#37). The current archival holdings consist of approximately 3,400 linear feet of records organized around 53 record groups. The table of contents is not only a listing of the contents of this subject guide, but also a hierarchical view of the record groups.

The Oberlin College Archives attempts to maintain institutional records in the order in which they were organized by the creating college department or unit. It is believed that this strategy best preserves their integrity and interrelationships. Researchers must realize that college filing systems were designed for administrative purposes and not for the benefit of future users. A major reason for the preparation of this guide is to assist subject-oriented researchers in clarifying complex relationships among collections or groups of papers and in identifying material of interest among vast quantities of records.

Each numbered entry in this guide includes a collection title in boldface type, with inclusive dates and quantity figures in linear feet or inches. Following the title is an Administrative History or Biographical Note depending upon whether the entry reports on a departmental unit in the institution or on the personal papers of an individual or family. In cases where a detailed administrative history sketch is lacking, a Historical Note is provided. Finally, each entry has a notation concerning Scope and Content, which summarizes the extent and depth of the group or collection. Directly or indirectly, these notes report on the strengths and weaknesses of a collection, and they provide a skeletal outline of the series descriptions, when available, and folder listings.

Although this guide is arranged in order of record group numbers, the names and subjects in the index are keyed to the bracketed entry number appearing before each entry title, not to pages or to the classification number assigned to the group. For example, in the index, the number 23 associated with the Young Women's Missionary Society refers to the entry and not to the page number.

Many staff members of the Oberlin College Archives have helped with this publication. The descriptive work prepared between 1966 and 1986 by William E. Bigglestone, the first archivist, provided an important starting point in the compilation of the subject guide. Special reference is made here to his unpublished "Guide to the Oberlin College Archives," which covers between three percent and five percent of the noninstitutional holdings, plus a number of preliminary inventories. Acknowledgment is also due to former staff members Anne Pearson, who checked various loose ends for the project, and Lisa Pruitt, who rearranged a number of institutional record groups around records series, thus making these records easier to describe for this guide; to Patricia K. Delewski for typing the final manuscript; to Carol Lasser, associate professor of history and chairwoman of the Women's Studies Program, for her interest and cooperation; to Sam C. Carrier, provost, for having provided College resources for a reinvigorated College Archives; to Dana interns Pamela Kirwin (now Adams) and Alexandra (Alex) Weil, both of whom worked with me to prepare the individual entries that comprise this guide; and to the Dana Foundation for supporting the work of the interns. We also gratefully acknowledge the support of Marlene Deahl Merrill for her encouragement throughout the project as well as her helpful comments in improving the manuscript. Anne C. Paine, publications editor at Oberlin College, and D. Mark Gabel, graphic designer at Oberlin College, provided invaluable assistance in preparing the manuscript and mechanicals for the printer. Finally, special thanks to the friends of Gertrude F. Jacob, who contributed to an archival publications fund bearing her name; this fund has underwritten the publication of this subject guide. It is fitting that we dedicate this guide to the memory of Gertrude F. Jacob (1908-1989), who devoted the last 23 years of her life to the work of the Oberlin College Archives.

Roland M. Baumann,
Oberlin College Archivist and Adjunct Professor of History
December 1, 1989