Letters by Oberlin Students, Former Staff, and Others

Original manuscript letters and copies of letters written by Oberlin students to their families and friends. The documents are arranged chronologically in order to provide a consecutive account of student life at Oberlin from 1836 to ca. 1940. Letters are largely written at the time of a student’s attendance at Oberlin College, or from the missionary fields of China (Susan Rowena Bird, 1900), India (Margaret Hammaker, 1925-47, Thornton and Charlotte Penfield, 1866-71) and Japan (Edith E. Husted, 1931-38). Student letters discuss matters of import to the writers, such as academic subjects, Bible reading, dress, family activities, living arrangements, sickness, social events, and weather.

Letters by former Oberlin staff members and the spouses of Oberlin staff members. Several of the documents were written by former Oberlin students from the Civil War fields of battle (James McCleery, 1861, 1863, 1864; Edward N. Upton, 1864-65; and James D. Cook, 1864-65). A letter by Mrs. Thomas L. Nelson describes an 1878 lecture-demonstration of the telephone given at Oberlin's First Congregational Church.

Section C contains letters of individuals with no direct affiliation with Oberlin. Included here is a letter of John Brown, dated 16 February 1857, in which he explains his intentions to his “brother [and] sister Adair.”