Robert Wayne Wheeler Papers

Collection

Identifier: RG 30-201

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Robert W. Wheeler Papers comprise biographical materials, correspondence, materials from Wheeler’s time at Oberlin College and Harvard Law School, and two photographs. The small collection is not divided into series. The bulk of the collection consists of legal briefs written for Harvard’s Ames Moot Court Competition from 1924 to 1926. Wheeler’s success in the competition resulted in his winning the most prestigious award bestowed upon law students at Harvard. Other materials include two photographs; miscellaneous papers from Wheeler’s tenures at Oberlin College and Harvard Law School; newspaper clippings detailing achievements; and a transcription of a speech he gave at an Oberlin alumni event in his senior year.

Dates

Creation: ca. 1920-1971
Creation: Majority of material found in 1921-1928
Other: Date acquired: 1989 July 12

Creator

Wheeler, Robert Wayne (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Unrestricted.

Biographical Sketch

Robert Wayne Wheeler was born on December 10, 1901 to Wayne Bidwell Wheeler (Oberlin College class of 1894) and Ella Belle Candy (attended Oberlin Conservatory 1894-95) in Columbus, Ohio.

Robert’s father, Wayne Bidwell Wheeler (1869-1927), was a prominent figure in the temperance movement and the Anti-Saloon League, founded in Oberlin in 1893, an outgrowth of the Oberlin Temperance Alliance founded in 1874. Wayne Wheeler graduated from Oberlin in 1894; the League became a national organization as the Anti-Saloon League of America in 1895. After graduating from Oberlin College, he became a paid organizer for the League, and pursued his LL.B. degree at Western Reserve University, conferred in 1898. With his law degree he rose in the ranks of the Anti-Saloon League and became Superintendent for the Ohio League in 1903. Commended for his persistent and persuasive temperance work, Wayne Wheeler was a major force in campaigning for the Eighteenth Amendment which was passed in 1920.

Wayne’s son Robert Wheeler graduated summa cum laude from Oberlin in 1923 with both a B.A. and A.M. in political science, followed by graduate work at Harvard Law School where he completed his law degree in 1926. He excelled at Harvard, where he was chosen an editor for the Harvard Law Review, considered one of the highest honors the law school can give. In addition, he won the Ames Moot Court Competition, the very highest honor awarded by the law school. After Harvard he practiced law in Cleveland for fifty years, first with the firm of M.B. & H.H. Johnson and its successors, McAfee, Hanning, Newcomer, Hazlett & Wheeler. In 1967, Squire, Sanders & Dempsey merged with McAfee et al., making Squire Sanders the largest law firm in Ohio, with 115 lawyers.

Robert Wheeler’s interest in books, literature and artistic pursuits led to his election in 1971 to the Rowfant Club in Cleveland, an exclusive, men's-only bibliographic society for the study of rare books, founded in 1892 and continuing to this day. He continued to be involved with Oberlin College and its development. He was a member of the Alumni Board, the Scholarship Study Committee, and the Development Council before he was elected to the Board of Trustees in 1963. As a trustee Wheeler was part of the Campaign Committee for “Outlook for the Seventies,” a campaign launched in February 1970 to raise $15 million for new facilities for the college. Wheeler stepped down from the Board in 1975 and in 1976 was appointed an honorary trustee.

Robert married Grace Strickland in 1928, five years after they graduated together from Oberlin College. They did not have children and remained married until his death on February 20, 1977.

SOURCES CONSULTED

Alumni Records (RG 28), Oberlin College Archives: Wayne Bidwell Wheeler and Robert Wayne Wheeler

American National Biography, “Wheeler, Wayne Bidwell,” 1999, accessed 10/17/2019,https://doi.org/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1500750.

Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, “Squire, Sanders and Dempsey,” accessed 10/17/2019, https://case.edu/ech/articles/s/squire-sanders-and-dempsey.

The Rowfant Club, Cleveland, Ohio (website), accessed 10/17/2019, https://www.rowfant.org.

Note written by Rachel Marcus, Anne Cuyler Salsich.

Extent

0.40 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Method of Acquisition

The majority of Robert Wayne Wheeler’s papers were received from his wife, Grace Wheeler in 1989 [Acc. 131]. The photograph of John Prindle Scott was received from David Boe, the Dean of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, also in 1989 [Acc. 174].