Revered Professor Blodgett Dies
by Matthew Green

Geoffrey Blodgett, Emeritus Robert S. Danforth Professor of History, died on Thursday Nov. 15, after a long struggle with cancer. He was 70.
Professor Blodgett was a prominent and influential member of the Oberlin College faculty from 1960 until his retirement in 2000, after which he continued to contribute regularly to the Oberlin Alumni Magazine, conduct oral-history interviews and give talks to the College community.
Born in Hanover, N.H. in 1931, he attended Oberlin College and graduated Phi Betta Kappa in 1953. After serving in the navy for two years, he went on to receive his master’s degree and doctorate from Harvard University. Shortly there -after, he returned to Oberlin to teach in the same classrooms in which he had studied. He remained here for the rest of his life.
Blodgett’s courses primarily focussed on aspects of intellectual, architectual, and urban American history. As a published scholar, he was particularly recognized for his work on architectural history. Oberlin Architecture, College and Town: A Guide To Its Social History, one of his three books, is still frequently used in both history and art classes as an invaluable document for the understanding and appreciation of local history and architecture and its wider implications.
“American Intellectual History and “The Social History of American Architecture,” were among his two most popular courses, filled to capacity year after year.
Students would pack classrooms to hear his renowned lectures, unique presentations that preserved the essence of the traditional academic lecture-style while simultaneously highly innovative and imbued with sensitivity as well as a sense of command over the subject matter. Many of his students will forever retain the image of him standing before a large lecture hall, perpetually jiggling his keys in his pocket and commanding the attention of every student in the room with his insightful, colorful and precise recounting of history.
“He optimized a generation of the great lecturer,” Professor of History, Gary Kornblith who was a colleague of Blodgett’s for 20 years, said. “I will never be able to speak this well,” Kornblith recalled thinking after first hearing Blodgett speak during an Orientation lecture in 1981.
He was among the select few members of the College faculty who achieved legendary status both on campus as well as in the greater Oberlin community. A highly respected professor and historian, Blodgett taught and advised generations of students as well as generations of young, incoming professors, many of whom looked up to him as an erudite member of the academy and an exceptional and unique intellectual force.
“He was, for me, the perfect senior colleague. We referred to him as the Senior Americanist,” Kornblith said. “He was wonderfully
respectful, supportive and kind.” Other colleagues remember Blodgett as a very welcoming and warm figure, particularly with young faculty members just entering the institution.
In addition to being a revered scholar and professor, Blodgett also received acclaim for his self-selected and irreplaceable role as the historian of both the town and College. “Geoff represented a generation in so many different ways. That cannot be replaced by just adding another historian,” professor of History Steven Volk said. “As only one person per generation can, he represented Oberlin. He was our historian of both town and gown. Every place needs someone like that, someone who is the organized memory. He was a living presence of how Oberlin keeps changing, ” Volk said, noting that Blodgett’s impressions and accounts were not always obstinately positive, yet were always honest, passionate and immensely thoughtful.
Many of Blodgett’s colleagues recall his intense devotion towards the Oberlin community. “He was really one of the great Oberlinians, both as a teacher, scholar and alumnus,” College President Nancy Dye said. “He contributed a whole lot to this community, both College and city I was struck by his very deep understanding and love for this college.”
A volume of Blodgett’s writings and essays about Oberlin’s history will soon be published.
Blodgett was known for his steadfast views and representations of the College community. He had explicit notions of the direction in which he thought Oberlin should move in, both academically and socially, which became, at times, a source of disagreement between him and his colleagues.
“[Blodgett] was a key figure in Oberlin campus discussion. He had a very profound sense of Oberlin’s heritage,” Dean of the College Clayton Koppes said. “His was a vision that not everyone shared but was always an articulate and thoughtful spokesperson for a strand of Oberlin’s community.”
Kornblith recalls how there always was a certain degree of tension felt by Blodgett between the direction Oberlin was going and where it had been when he was a student. Blodgett, at times, voiced strong disagreement about certain structural changes made by the College that seemed to deviate from his own vision.
“He was a true liberal. He wanted people to be accepted on individual terms and judged as individuals, not as members of groups. He had a vision of Oberlin as a liberal community, as individuals seeking both to work together and to achieve their best,” Kornblith said. He added, however, that despite the strength of Blodgett’s opinions, there was always a sense of humor and self-skepticism, in which he showed great respect for those he was in disagreement with and the ability to listen to an opposing argument. “His personal side would always transcend whatever political difference we might have had,” Kornblith said. “He was a really good person.”
Support of the College’s football team was an issue, which Blodgett was particularly adamant about. Having played on the team as an undergraduate, Blodgett had an undying sense of devotion towards the team, throughout good times and bad. In the mid-1970s when there was discussion of doing away with the team, Blodgett was one of its main defenders and was instrumental in saving it.
“He was indeed very committed to rebuilding football and a strong advocate for keeping it at Oberlin,” Dye said, emphasizing his devotion to the game and his understanding of why it was so important to the people who played it.
Weeks before his death, Blodgett watched from the sidelines as the Yeoman won their first game in four years, breaking a 44-game losing streak.
“Watching him at the Kenyon-Oberlin game was almost Shakespearean in drama. Seeing the man instrumental in saving football watching the team restored to competitiveness from his wheelchair as one of his concluding visions of Oberlin College was incredible,” Koppes said.
“[Blodgett’s] death is a kind of hole in our memory,” Volk said. “There’s not that many people we can ask questions of. It’s not just that Oberlin has lost a great professorit’s something else.”
He is survived by his wife, Jane Taggart and his three children, Lauren, Barbara, and Sally.
A memorial service will take place in December.

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