Office of the Secretary Records

The records of the Office of the Secretary document the duties and functions of the office beginning with the creation of the office in 1899. The records also include documents prior to the organization of the Office of the Secretary. The majority of these records are located in the historical file. The records illustrate the gradual growth of the Office of the Secretary, from an ancillary offshoot of the Office of the Treasurer, to an administrative office overseeing the functions of the faculty councils, the Board of Trustees, alumni affairs, and student life. The records also reflect the gradual loss of power and redistribution of power after the office reached its nadir of power in 1960.

The records of the Office of the Secretary are centered on the tenures of George M. Jones, secretary from 1899 to 1938, and Donald M. Love, his successor who served from 1938 to 1962. These two secretaries shaped the office and influenced the College as a result. Between 1962 and 1980 the Office of the Secretary went through a period of downsizing and transition. Under the Starr administration, pre-1962 duties were gradually restored to the Office of Secretary.

The Office of the Secretary records are arranged around eleven subgroups.  The subgroups are representative of the functional responsibility of the Office of the Secretary: I. Administrative Records (General); II. Administrative Records of Departments and Units; III. Board of Trustees Records; IV. Alumni Affairs; V. Athletics and Athletic Associations; VI. Campus Functions and Special Events; VII. Scholarship and Loan Records; VIII.  Student Life Records; IX. Historical Files; X. Miscellaneous Personal and Real Property Records, and XI. Additional records received as accession 2004/089; and XII. Additional records received as accession 2003/065 and unaccessioned. A separate inventory for accession 2003/065 is included in these records.

The records found in the first two administrative subgroups, Administrative Records (General) and Administrative Records of Departments and Offices, are the most voluminous. These subgroups belie the broad operational base of the Office of the Secretary. The first subgroup, Administrative Records (General) is comprised of records generally reflecting the routine functioning of the office. The accrediting materials offer valuable insight into the operation of the College as an institution. The accrediting records include institutional profiles and self-studies, prepared for the North Central Association, which provide a detailed record of how the college perceived itself and the extent to which it adhered to its mission and kept pace with peer institutions. The subject files offer evidence of the wide supervisory scope exercised by the Office of the Secretary. The files also give evidence of the sensitive relationship between town and gown, such as records of bills owed to merchants by students. It also illustrates the cooperative spirit in which the town and college have shared buildings and facilities. Other items in this subgroup include the secretary's files of the physical plant, building and grounds and developmental studies. These are general files, and are more modest than the building and grounds records found in record group (6/4/3).

The second administrative subgroup documents the Academic Departments and Administrative Offices. Records of academic departments consist of materials received by the secretary from the departments as well as board and council vote excerpts related to the departments. The records of administrative offices mirror the duties once performed by the secretary. The admissions records contain proceedings from the Committee on Admissions up to 1928 when a director of admissions was hired and the duties transferred from the secretary. Items from the development office include valuable records relating to the bequest of Charles Martin Hall (1863-1914). In addition to background material on Hall and his bequest, the files include correspondence with the college, their lawyers and the executors of the estate, Homer Johnson (1862-1960) and Arthur Vining Davis (1867-1962). The printed testimony of college officials is included as part of the record from the 1940 monopoly litigation of USA v. ALCOA et al. Included is a run of annual reports submitted to the secretary by various department heads between 1903 and 1951. The annual reports received offers a rich source of information on the curriculum and course offerings. The earlier reports are hand written reports from campus luminaries such as Edward Increase Bosworth (1861-1927) and Hope Hibbard (1893-1988).

The Records of the Board of Trustees in subgroup III represent the core function of the Office of the Secretary. Facilitating Board functions and preserving and indexing their minutes has been the central function of the secretary. This subseries represent a fraction of the extant records of the Board of Trustees. (A more complete run of records is found in record group 1 as well as the records currently administered by the Office of the Secretary in the vault in the Cox Administration Building.) The records found in this subgroup document the election of trustees from the ranks of the alumni, note changes and amendments to the charter and by laws and includes general records of the proceeding of early Board meetings.

Subgroup IV, Alumni Records represents records created and received by the Office of the Secretary between 1900 and 1960. Charged with maintaining the records of alumni and preparing catalogs, the secretary maintained vast indexes of former students, staff and faculty. The master index, a comprehensive record of names from the founding of the college in 1833 was prepared between 1906 and 1979. In 1988 these records were filmed onto microfiche allowing the original documentation to be stored off-site. Other valuable records in this series are the indexes of minority students. An index of Black students from 1835 to 1970 contains individual cards for each student enrolled at Oberlin for that period. It is particularly useful in reconstructing trends in minority student enrollment. Reunion records, dating to 1856, are also part of this subgroup which includes files on the class of 1894 (Secretary Jones' class) and the reunion of 1900. In 1964 the alumni records duties were transferred to the Office of Development and Alumni Affairs.

Another early function performed by Secretary George Jones is evidenced in the Athletics and Athletic Association Records. These records organized in subgroup V are largely the result of Jones' prior interest in athletics as a graduate manager for athletics before his appointment as secretary. Jones served as an officer in several early athletic associations, including the Oberlin Athletic Association and the Ohio Athletic Conference. The records of these associations include minutes, correspondence, and results of athletic events. These records are a valuable source of history on the early years of athletic associations and conferences in Ohio. Early scorebooks and programs are also housed within this series, including one baseball scorebook documenting the play of Moses Fleetwood Walker (1856-1924), the first black player to play in the major leagues. The secretary's responsibilities for retaining athletic records ended upon the retirement of George M. Jones in 1938.

The organizational duties of the secretary are illustrated in subgroup VI, Campus Functions and Special Events. Included are records of centennials, conferences, presidential inaugurations and commencement ceremonies held at Oberlin. Centennial records include organizational records and publicity from the centennial of the founding of the town and College in 1833, and two scrapbooks from the Centennial of Coeducation in 1937. Documents about Charles Martin Hall and his aluminum discoveries are found along with the records from the semi-centennial and centennial of his discovery. Records of conferences include programs and brochures from early religious conferences held in Oberlin, including the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and a number of national congregational church conferences.  Invitations and responses to invitations comprise the bulk of the records of the inauguration records from the installation of Ernest Hatch Wilkins (1880-1966) and William E. Stevenson (1900-1985) as the seventh and eighth presidents of Oberlin College, respectively. The bulk of the records pertain to commencement ceremonies, ranging from distribution of commencement tickets, to academic processions and program printing. [Other commencement records can be found in the College General record group (0/0).]

The Scholarship and Loan Records found in subgroup VII document the secretary's functions prior to the creation of the Office of Financial Aid. The records include indexes of scholarship and loan funds and the amounts borrowed. Annual reports prepared by the secretary provide the balances and principle available on loans. Auditor's lists of outstanding loans give account of the number of unpaid loans, listing the loan fund and the borrower. The subgroup also includes several ledgers compiled to record transactions as well as a fragment of scholarship applications for student names beginning with B-J from 1917-26.

The files organized around Student Life Records in subgroup VIII document the secretary's involvement in coordinating campus activities and student organizations prior to the creation of The Dean of Students position. Included are copies of chapel talks presented by faculty members and guests to campus assemblies in the chapel. These speeches provide a remarkable record of political and social thought at Oberlin for the years 1933 to 1955. Also housed here are records of freshman honor lists compiled from 1905 to 1943 and various lectures and programs presented to and by students.  Among the visiting lecturers were Admiral Richard E. Byrd and Will Rogers. General files of student organizations and publications include constitutions and some minutes from student organizations, many of which are now defunct such as the Ladies Board, Oberlin Peace Society and Angels Flight, the women's R.O.T.C. auxiliary.

Subgroup IX, Historical Files, underscores the role played by the secretary as unofficial archivist prior to the appointment of an archivist in 1966. Documents include miscellaneous early historical records dating back to 1833. These miscellaneous records include several important documents such as Adelia Field Johnston's (1837-1910) report on the Ladies Department from 1871. An index to early historic records references Board of Trustee and Prudential Committee records for the first thirty years of the institution's existence. 

Additionally, the subgroup contains reminiscences of early graduates compiled between 1918 and 1920 as well as general files on historical topics and people. The war service and activities series offers a particularly rich source of documentation on Oberlin's reaction and involvement in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. Records include lists of Oberlin graduates in the service and the records of military training programs on campus, the Student Officer Training Corps (S.A.T.C.) in World War I and the Navy V-12 program in World War II. Records of the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies provides a glimpse of Oberlin on the eve of the Second World War. The subgroup concludes with artifacts. The artifacts consist of the items removed from the Warner Hall cornerstone upon the demolition of the building in 1962. The items were interred in the cornerstone in 1884 and include hymnals, catalogs and newspapers from 1852 to 1884. The materials are in pristine condition, demonstrating the benefits of sealed storage.

Subgroup X, Miscellaneous Personal and Real Property Records, is arranged into five series: 1. Files Relating to Agreement, Contracts and Leases; 2. Files Relating to Bequests, Donations, Endowments, Estates, Funds, Gifts, and Scholarships; 3. Deeds and Property Files; 4. Gifts (Personalty and Reaty); and, 5. Mortgage Gift Files.  Series one and series three are rich sources for the history of College land use and architecture, with the earliest property file concerning the Street and Hughes Deed of 1836, three years after the founding of the Oberlin Collegiate Institute and colony. Files include material dated up through 1964, but are not complete.

Subgroup XI, Additional Records Received as Accession 2004/089, comprises records received in 2004, dating from 1947 to 1970, with some earlier material, arranged in four series: College Faculty, Financial Records, Student Loan Records, and Student Records (restricted).

Subgroup XII, Additional Records Received as Accession 2003/0065 and Unaccessioned holds records received in 2003 and those not accessioned.  These files, primarily dating from 1967 to 1993, are arranged alphabetically by subject, with no series arrangement. Box 16, name files, is restricted.