RG 30. Personal Papers

Scope and Contents

The papers of Louis D. Hartson consist of correspondence between Hartson and colleagues (i.e. Lawrence Cole, Raymond Stetson, Eileen Ort Rees, and Ruth Graff), memoirs and reminiscences, talks and writings, lecture notes, biographical information (including an oral history interview), and files pertaining to Raymond H. Stetson. The collection primarily documents the professional career of Hartson. The collection consists of seven records series.

Scope and Contents Consisting of three artificially constructed record series, the individual documents of varying value were collected by Professor of Organ David Boe over the course of the 1990s. Boe is less the creator of this history than Oberlin College’s point person to implement the proceeds of the K. Africa estate to install a new organ in Finney Chapel. The dedication of the Kay Africa Memorial Organ took place September 28-30, 2001. Boe’s role is also documented in the records of the Conservatory of...

Scope and Contents The Robbins Strong papers primarily consist of the six photographic albums and five manuscripts that detail twentieth-century China. The collection covers almost exclusively Strong’s prolific career in China as an Oberlin-in-Shansi representative and as an active Christian missionary (1930s-1960s). However, the collected works face several shortcomings in shedding insight into Strong’s personal career. Most of his correspondence between friends and family were written under strict...

Scope and Contents The John Millot Ellis papers consist of a modest amount of material but it covers a good portion of his life. There is little biographical information, but an obituary offers a good summary of his career and community service.  Miscellaneous photographs and college pamphlets chronicle some of Ellis's leisure and family activity. A genealogical chart, compiled by a family in 2002, is included. Six of Ellis's notebooks record his instruction of Rhetoric and Greek from 1851 to 1896. One...

Scope and Contents This collection consists of only two documents from John S. and Caroline E. Service (1970, 1978). The first document is a memorandum entitled “A Partial Examination of One Aspect of the Many Gross Errors Contained in The Amerasia Papers,” written by John S. Service and dated September 18, 1970. Service critically examined the U.S. government’s foreign policy with China and, in particular, the Communists in the late 1940s and early 1950s. He...

Scope and Contents The papers of George Edward Woodberry reflect Woodberry’s position as a poet, critic and educator. The 46 documents in the collection are letters written by Woodberry to George H. Danton, Oberlin College faculty member who, while working on his doctorate at Columbia University, had been Woodberry’s research assistant. The letters range in date from June 30, 1903 to October 29, 1927, and are largely personal in nature.  Woodberry was a charming and indefatigable letter-writer, his...

Scope and Contents This collection is composed of correspondence, personal belongings, biographical material, and research materials related to the life of Alice Imamoto (’47 Mus. B.) Alice enrolled in the conservatory for piano at the age of 16 in 1943. During her first years at Oberlin, her family, of Japanese descent, were in an internment camp in Arkansas. Her letters to her parents, a considerable portion of the collection, provide a look at life in Oberlin during and after the Second World War,...

Scope and Contents The Seabury C. and Agnes W. Mastick Papers consist of materials that primarily document the relationship between the Masticks and Oberlin College. The materials document the Mastick’s donation to Oberlin College in 1961 for the construction of the Warner Concert Hall, and their honorary degrees awarded by Oberlin College in 1962. The philanthropic activity of the Warner and Mastick families are documented in this collection. The collection contains some biographical information,...

Scope and Contents This small collection holds biographical information, correspondence, poems, and publications by Thornton, photographs of Carnegie and the Conservatory libraries, student assistants, library staff, and Thornton’s retirement dinner, and a scrapbook assembled and presented by library staff on the occasion of Thornton’s retirement in 1971. Included are two handmade children’s books created by Thornton in 1938, with original illustrations. Another handmade book, made by Thornton...

Scope and Contents This collection is primarily comprised of copies of poems written by Stuart Friebert, as well as articles and publications related to Stuart Friebert’s work and life. The bulk of the biographical materials relate to Stuart’s time teaching at Oberlin College. The collection also includes unfinished poems from Stuart’s computer files and several talk transcripts. The collection is arranged into four records series: 1. Biographical Materials, 2. Creative Writing Program, 3. Writings,...