RG 30. Personal Papers

Scope and Contents

The papers of George J. Binczewski primarily concern Charles Martin Hall, who discovered the electrolytic reduction process for aluminum on February 23, 1986, in Oberlin, Ohio. Mr. Binczewski made it his mission, beginning in 1983, to convince the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) to donate their Charles Martin Hall materials to the Oberlin College Archives.

Scope and Contents The papers of John Frederic Shreiner consist of textual and non-textual materials relating to the Oberlin College Class of 1916.  Shreiner served as Class President and Class Agent for several years, beginning in 1966, and collected these materials in order to plan class reunions and update class directories.  Materials in the collection include letters from the Class President, letters from class members, class member lists, minutes and reports from meetings, financial records, printed...

Scope and Contents The papers of David A. Egloff primarily document his interest in arboretums and the landscaping and appearance of the college and the town of Oberlin, Ohio. The collection contains files relating to Egloff’s service on the Ad Hoc Campus Arboretum Committee, as well as collected materials relating to arboretums (Ohio and other states). The writings contained within this collection (by Egloff or other authors) concern a variety of subjects, including arboretums, landscaping at...

Scope and Contents The Frederick Bennett Wright Collection consists primarily of photographs taken in Russian and the Far East ca. 1900-1901, some of which appear in the two-volume work Asiatic Russia, 1902, authored in Oberlin by his father George Frederick Wright and with a chapter by the younger Wright.  Some of the photographs appear in articles written by Frederick Bennett Wright for issues of the periodical Records of the Past in the...

Scope and Contents The papers of Frank T. Cooke document his personal interest and professional career in photography. Many photographs of college buildings and houses in Oberlin are included in the collection. The pages of a disbound photographic album show Cooke and his family at Oberlin Beach along Lake Erie and demonstrate his concern for the eroding of the beach. Additional photographs were taken in several cities in Ohio, including Huron and Milan. Notably, the photographs in the later accession...

Scope and Contents 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,...

Scope and Contents This collection, which consists of correspondence, notebooks, legal papers, and printed materials, documents the lives of Lucy Fletcher Kellogg and her family.Kellogg's account of her life is preserved in both manuscript and printed forms, 1879 and 1881. In addition to information on family life and changes of residence, Kellogg describes her youth in New England, where she produced textiles in her parents' home to support herself. Family letters (1836-1851) discuss feelings of...

Abstract

This small collection consists of materials that document the study and teaching of the French language.

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 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...