Edward S. Steele Papers

Collection

Identifier: RG 30-133

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The papers consist of a typed manuscript by Steele titled, “The Open Secret.” On June 14, 1929, he wrote to W.F. Bohn, assistant to the president of Oberlin College, “My principal work will be entitled A Dogmatic Epistemology and will be a radical investigation of the human power of knowing.” In this letter and in subsequent correspondence he indicated that he planned to have a statement inserted in his will that his manuscripts be sent to Oberlin.

Note: Entry taken from William E. Bigglestone's unpublished "[preliminary] Guide to the Oberlin College Archives," which was prepared as individual entry sheets in a three-ring binder during the early 1980s.

Dates

Creation: ca.1930-1954
Other: Date acquired: 06/26/1980

Conditions Governing Access

Unrestricted.

Biographical Sketch

Edward Strieby Steele (1850-1942) was a teacher, writer and botanical researcher. A son of Lane Rebel James Steele (1808-1859) and Minerva Selina McConoughey (1821-1870), he received an Oberlin A.B. in 1872 and Seminary degree in 1877. He had two sisters, Frances C (1848-1939) and Mary Carter (1852-1910). After further education, at Andover, Harvard and Leipzig, and teaching he went to Washington D.C. in 1889 to assist in the preparation of the Century Dictionary. From this project he entered government employ and for the next 27 years was associated with the Smithsonian Institution and the Department of Agriculture. At the College herbarium (Oberlin Review, Jan. 6, 1882, p. 92), and later when he moved to Los Angeles in 1932 (although past age 80), Steele and his niece collected specimens of Southern California plants. They sent Oberlin College more than 350 specimens. Steele was married to Grace Avery King (1847-1932).

Sources Consulted

Oberlin Alumni Magazine (Feb. 1942), p. 7.

Note written by William E. Bigglestone.