Department of Philosophy Records

Records relating to the department of philosophy contain annual reports, correspondence, agendas and meeting minutes, files of the Oberlin Colloquium in Philosophy, and student-related academic files. Spanning only forty years (1952-1991), the files provide an uneven picture of the internal and external activities of the Oberlin College Department of Philosophy. Organized around two subgroups, the twelve records series are arranged for the most part in hierarchical order—from the most important to the least.

The department of philosophy records also contain significant, but not extensive, files of incoming and outgoing memoranda and correspondence (subgroup one, series four). Dating primarily after 1955 and thin for many areas (1980s), the correspondence, supplemented with the annual reports (1975-78, 1983-90), provides a better than usual record of departmental activity. Topics of discussion include budgets, colloquium, course offerings, personnel changes, sabbaticals, visiting professors, and tenure appointments. A memo of October 23, 1970, directed to the acting dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, E.P. Vance, describes the academic status of each staff member, their fields of interest, and courses taught at Oberlin College. Interfiled with the memoranda is some external correspondence, both incoming and outgoing. Though not complete, the correspondence provides a small glimpse into the department’s outside contacts with its own staff and peers around the country. Especially noteworthy are a series of exchanges (12 letters) between acting chair Norman S. Care and Robert H. Grimm while the later was teaching abroad (March 1972-April 1973). Care details to Grimm department business over the course of fourteen months, writing on many subjects, including budgetary and curriculum issues.

Although this institutional holding documents a wide range of departmental activity, the records are notably weak in some areas. The administrative files, for instance, are a bit scanty and uneven for a number of departmental matters. Though the department has existed in one form or another since 1875, the holding contains no records before 1952. (The location of these records is unknown, although some documentation can be found in the records of the Dean’s Office of Arts and Sciences.) After 1952, the most significant gap is the absence of department meeting minutes. Agendas (1970s and 1980s) provide outlines of topics scheduled for discussion, but they do not offer any specifics of action taken. Gaps in the annual report files also contribute to the overall weaknesses of the collection. Dating mostly after the late 1970s, no reports exist before 1975 summarizing the department’s activities. (This is true for a great many other academic departments during the early 1970s as well.) Program review files, important because they document the evolution of the department’s academic programs, consist of a single file related to a 1977 accreditation review. Users must consult the department chair’s correspondence (1956-90) to fill gaps existing in the administrative files after 1955.