RG 30. Personal Papers

Scope and Contents The Andrew Bongiorno Papers are arranged into five series: 1. Correspondence; 2. Speeches; 3. Writings; 4. Teaching and Research Files; and 5. Photographs. The teaching and research files in Series 4 make up the bulk of the collection, with extensive lecture notes and quotations for his teaching, particularly on the work of Dante, and research index card notes for his translation of Lodovico Castelvetro’s Poetica d’Aristotele Vulgarizzata et Sposta published...

Scope and Contents The genealogy fills 12 three-ring notebooks, with an accompanying volume that contains an introduction and an index. In addition to the genealogical information, the notebooks include letters and documents of family members, plus historical and biographical sketches. The collection includes letters by Irene Ball (Allen), 1836-1842, describing life as a student in early Oberlin and as the wife of an abolitionist minister in Illinois; an eight-page typescript of a notebook written by Elizabeth...

Scope and Contents The papers of George Frederick Wright relate to his work as a minister, theology professor, geologist, and literary writer. The collection consists of correspondence, writings, sermons, and addresses, the bulk of which spans the period from Wright’s young adulthood through his death in 1921. Additional material includes notes, newspaper clippings, miscellaneous printed material, and photographs. The collection also includes correspondence and genealogical information of the Wright...

Scope and Contents The Adelia A. Field Johnston papers are divided into the following five series: Series I. Biographical File, Series II. Correspondence, Series III. Travel Accounts and Diaries, Series IV. Writings and Notebooks, and Series V. Photographs. Of importance to the Oberlin community is the correspondence series, which sheds valuable insight on the central role Johnston played in the establishment of the Oberlin Village Improvement Society. Filed under the subheading "Oberlin...

Scope and Contents This collection primarily consists of the sermons delivered by John Williams Bradshaw during his pastorate at First Congregational Church in Oberlin (1900-1912, n.d.).  Sermon titles include “The efficacy of prayer”, “The ethics of business”, “Evolutionary hypothesis and the idea of God”, and “Changes of 75 years in conceptionof religious life” (delivered in conjunction with Oberlin’s 75th anniversary).  The balance of this collection is made up by a biographical file, correspondence...

Abstract

The papers of Azariah Smith Root (1862-1927, A.B. 1884) document the personal and professional life of this prominent educator, librarian, and scholar.

Abstract The papers of the Rev. Francis Ward Davis (1857-1900) and his wife, Lydia Clara Lord Davis (1867-1952), constitute an excellent source for the study of the lives of China missionaries up to the time of the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 in which Francis Davis was killed. The couple's eight-year residence (1889-97) in Shansi Province as Congregational missionaries under appointment of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (A.B.C.F.B.) is well documented. The post-1900 papers...

Scope and Contents The personal papers of Donald M. Love are divided into thirteen series and span 1868-1974. Love's papers document his activities as a college administrator, writer, and teacher, as well as a civic leader and traveler. The most significant records are his talks and writings. The series of largely incoming correspondence, while equal in volume to Love's writings, provides minimal details about Love's personal or professional activities.  Files include exchanges with President Carr over the...

Abstract

The Fletcher papers reflect Robert S. Fletcher's interest in the history of Oberlin College, an institution located in the Connecticut Western Reserve, and his interest in the history of the trans-Mississippi West.

Abstract

The papers of William Goodell provide partial documentation of Goodell's early business activities (1813-21) and of his mature writings on temperance and religion (1842-74). His numerous anti-slavery publications are not present in this collection. There is also some material here relating to the Goodell and Frost families and to Rhoda Lavinia Goodell, one of William Goodell's daughters.