RG 30. Personal Papers

Scope and Contents The papers of Wolfgang Stechow and his wife Ursula Hoff Stechow primarily document facets of Wolfgang Stechow’s greatest academic interest—the history of art. His non-textual research and teaching materials, correspondence, and academic papers all serve to enlighten the scholar of Stechow's teaching methods, professional esteem by colleagues, and scholastic topics.These research and teaching materials, which make up the bulk of the Stechow papers, include photographs, study prints,...

Scope and Contents The E. Michael Hoffman Papers consist primarily of correspondence and photographs taken by Hoffman while he was in Japan and Manchuria with the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) from 1918 to 1920. Hoffman served in Yokohama, Japan, from November 1918 until February 1919, and then in Harbin, Manchuria until March 1920.The heart of the papers, from 1918 to 1926, consists of about eighty letters written by Hoffman generally from Harbin and mainly to his family as well as...

Scope and Contents The papers of Jessie Trefethen document her twenty-one years of teaching practical art at Oberlin College, her career as a water artist, her views on the teaching of art at Oberlin College, and her personal history in the last few years before her death in 1978. Except from one letter from Trefethen to her mother, there is essentially no information about her family, or her life before coming to Oberlin.The collection is organized into four record series: I. Biographical Files;...

Scope and Contents This collection centers the letters (13) sent by Edward Plumb to his wife, Isabel Mills Plumb, September 1861 to July 1862, while a member of the 8th Regiment of the Iowa Volunteers. Also among the papers are twelve letters, 1854 to 1910, mainly by or regarding Mrs. Edward Plumb, and printed matter mainly about Isabel Mills Plumb and Edward’s brother Ralph Plumb of Oberlin, who participated in the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue of September 1858. A photograph of Ralph...

Scope and Contents Ruth Easton’s personal financial records dating from 1952 until after her death in 1957 make up the greater part of this collection. Her guardian and later executor of her estate, Robert Barr, Assistant Secretary of the College, presumably kept most of these materials. Evidence of a five hundred dollar gift to Oberlin College from her estate for the Ruth Easton Scholarship Fund exists in the form of an acknowledgement slip dated April 19, 1958.The collection is divided into three...

Scope and Contents The first subgroup in this record group consists of four series, which document President Robert K. Carr’s pre-presidential and post-presidential years, particularly through his extensive correspondence. Materials (i.e., lecture notes, writings) relating to his professional work concerning civil liberties and his career as an academician are contained in this collection. Carr’s service on President Harry Truman’s Committee on Civil Rights is documented in Series 2. Professional Teaching and...

Scope and Contents The William A. Westervelt Papers reflect his coursework at Oberlin College and Theological Seminary in the 1830s and 1840s, and his career as a minister and itinerant preacher in Ohio from the 1840s through the 1870s. Westervelt’s student notes from lectures at Oberlin are of interest for their light on the content of early courses by professors Charles Grandison Finney, Amasa Walker, James Dascomb, and others.The bulk of the papers comprise notes for sermons and orations. Sermon...

Scope and Contents The Daniel A. Harris Papers comprise a very small collection of printed matter that advertised and reviewed productions in which Harris performed, and those of singers from the Oberlin Conservatory such as his student Jane Marsh. The collection includes posters for operas, program notes, newspaper clippings and show reviews, lyrics from Harris’ productions, and alumni and miscellaneous magazines. The papers shed light on trends in music education and performance, and the global expanse of...

Scope and Contents The papers of Malcolm D. Taylor span the years 1910 to 1981 with the bulk of the collection dating from 1914-1920. During this period, Taylor taught in a junior high school in Kinsman, Ohio, was educated at Oberlin College, and served in the First World War. Less well highlighted is Taylor's professional life after graduation. There is virtually no information about Taylor's personal life.The Taylor papers are organized into eight series: Series I. Biographical File; Series II....

Scope and Contents The papers of Thomas W. Graham consist largely of his sermon outlines, prepared between 1916 and ca. 1945. There is very little material in this small collection relating to Graham's personal life or to his varied professional career. Papers documenting Graham's tenure as Dean of the Graduate School of Theology (1923-48) are located in Record Group 10. In this collection, there is one folder of memoranda and miscellaneous papers pertaining to the Theological Seminary, which includes a report...