RG 32. Photographs

Scope and Contents This grouping, arranged by subject, holds the largest numbers of photographic prints in the Oberlin College Archives. The bulk of them are 8” x 10” or smaller, and are stored vertically in file cabinet drawers. Older, more fragile prints are stored separately in records cartons and require more careful handling. The subject headings were locally derived and do not adhere to any controlled vocabulary. The older prints, dating from the 1850s to the later 1910s, were produced by...

Scope and Contents To establish and report on the service of Oberlin College men and women in World War I, the College published a special tribute in the 1920 issue of its yearbook, the Hi-O-Hi, featuring photographs of those who served. The College sent out a survey to former students with a request for photographs. About twenty-five percent of those who had served responded. Of special concern to the organizers of the tribute was the need in this institutional publication to recognize the thirty-two...

Scope and Contents This classification is distinct from RG 32/5, photographs arranged by subject, and it is unclear as to why earlier Archives staff made that decision. Researchers will need to consult the inventories of both groups to discover photographs arranged by subject. In future, the Archives staff may reorganize the photographic prints to consolidate these two subject-driven groups. A significant amount of material relates to alumni groups and activities, student life, and the World War II V-12...

Scope and Contents This collection comprises Subgroup I, Flat Panorama Photographs and Subgroup II, Rolled Panorama and Other Rolled Photographs (cannot be flattened without conservation treatment). The panorama photographs were taken with special mechanized cameras such as the Cirkut, which made a wide sweep exposing a long roll of film to capture large groups or vistas. The time required to expose the broad sweep of film accounts for the appearance in some of these photographs of one individual at both...

Scope and Contents The Photograph Albums Collection comprises albums or album contents dating from 1861 to 2000. Fifteen of these date from the 19th century, with cartes-de-visite, collotypes, tintypes, cabinet cards, postcards, cyanotypes, and other early prints. Cyanotypes dominate the contents of albums dating from 1900 to 1910, typically taken by Oberlin students themselves. From the 1920s to the 1960s several College-produced albums feature quality gelatin silver prints made...