Ojibwe Dolls, Red Lake, Minnesota, undated

The collection of Sela G. Wright consists primarily of letters, 1847-66, written by Wright or his relatives. Included are Wright’s letters from Red lake, Minnesota, while among the Ojibwe Indians, which are partly written in Ojibwe; letters written while working with the Black community in the South, 1863-66; a letter containing a description of a sailor’s death off Java, 1847; and a letter containing information concerning the funeral services by C.G. Finney for an Oberlin student, 1847. Also included is somewhat extensive genealogical information dating from the 1600s in England from Ms. Jean Wright, as well as Sela Wright’s Ojibwe language manuscript.

The archives also holds an original 1870 graphite drawing of Leech Lake, Minnesota by Anna Jane Wright, Sela Wright’s daughter (Oberlin College graduate, class of 1872), received from Jean Wright in 1974.

Separate from the rest of the collection, the Archives holds two American Indian dolls (20" tall), one moccasin with beaded trim, two 30" decorative leggings with applique design, one baby carrier with wooden base, and two beaded bandolier bags with beaded straps. Included among the artifacts is the wicker basket in which the material was received. Photographs taken in 2002 and in 2017 of the above artifacts are included with the textual materials in the collection.

An Ojibwa Bible and vocabulary workbook were added to the collection in 2022, and Wright’s Some Reminiscences of Early Oberlin Missionaries… (1890) was added in 2023, transferred from the Oberlin College Library Special Collections.