Emma L. Frank Papers

Manley Clarence (1876-1955) and Susan Martyn Fox Frank (1877-1974). Both she and her brother, Gerald Martyn (OC B.Mus '28 and MM '29, 1902-1983);, attended Oberlin College.

Emma Frank began her formal education and career at Oberlin College in 1924. During her time as a student, she worked as an assistant in the library. Upon graduating in 1927, Frank began working as Secretary to the Librarian. She held this position until 1931, when she became the Assistant in Charge of the Theological Library, part of the Graduate School of Theology at Oberlin College. This graduate program existed from 1833 to 1966, when it was transferred to the Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Nashville, Tennessee. 

In the course of her career Frank obtained two additional degrees. She received a BS in Library Science from Case Western Reserve University in 1937, and an MA in Library Science from the University of Michigan in 1947. In 1920 in Manhattan, New York, she married Clifton Isaac Frank (1889-1967) and they had one daughter, Phoebe Ann (1921-2002). She retired in 1965 as Librarian of the Graduate School of Theology.

In 1976, Frank left Oberlin for Port Charlotte, Florida, but remained interested and involved in Oberlin intellectual life. She began a project to compile a list of books written by graduates of the Oberlin College Graduate School of Theology, which she finished in 1985 despite suffering from problems with her vision. Frank died on September 11, 1997, after a long illness.

Sources Consulted

Oberlin College Archives, RG 28 Alumni Records, Faculty, Staff Records.

Note written by Haley Antell.