Russell Parsons Jameson Papers

Collection

Identifier: RG 30-066

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The bulk of the collection includes correspondence, both professional and personal. The correspondence series is arranged into two subseries to reflect the accessions received by the Oberlin College Archives: Subseries 1. Correspondence received as accession 75; Subseries 2. Correspondence received as accession 2003/008. Subseries 2 is divided into Professional and Personal/Family.

The correspondence concerns interactions with publishers, requests for copies of his book Le Cercle Francais, and his various trips abroad. The personal correspondence covers general family and personal matters, including the financial troubles of his brother, George, during the Depression. A separate file contains correspondence of Mrs. Florence Jameson, 1954-64.

There is a scant amount of material relating to his teaching tenure at Oberlin College. More information can be found in his faculty file, (RG 28). The bulk of that correspondence relates to salary information.

A series of notebooks concern his student work at the University of Paris in 1911. There are lecture notes, corrected French exercises, and French proverbs.

Series 3. Financial consists of a sample of personal finances and property records. These materials provide an example of financial and related household matters of an Oberlin family for the time period 1920-50.

The remaining material includes miscellaneous printed matter and non-textual materials (prints, negatives and glass slides).

The collection is divided into seven series: 1. Biographical, 2. Correspondence, 3. Financial Records (Sample), 4. Estate and Property Records, 5. Printed Matter, 6. Notes and Notebooks, and 7. Non-Textual Materials.

Dates

Creation: ca. 1917-1958, undated
Other: Date acquired: 04/17/1969

Creator

Jameson, Russell Parsons (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Unrestricted.

Biographical Sketch

Russell Parsons Jameson was born on January 5, 1878 in Mansfield, Ohio to Charles Bentley (1851-1924) and Sarah Elizabeth Jameson (1851-1938). Jameson had five siblings including three brothers, Frederick H (1876-1917), Walter Tolman (1880-1944) and George Bristol (1881-1958), and two sisters, Sarah Elizabeth (1895-1978) and Helen "Nell" (1874-1930). He received two degrees from Oberlin College (A.B. 1900, M.A. 1906). Jameson also received a doctorate degree from the University of Paris in 1911.

During his undergraduate days at Oberlin College, he played both baseball and football. At Oberlin he met Florence Heath (1877-1965, ’00), and they were married in February 1901. They had one daughter, Marjorie Nardella (OC 1937), born in 1904.

Russell Jameson started his career at Oberlin College in 1904 as a Tutor in Declamation and Athletic Director. He served as an instructor of French and Physical Education from 1905 to 1910. Jameson advanced to associate professor in Romance languages in 1910, and was appointed a full professor in 1920. During his tenure at Oberlin College, he was active in the Modern Language Association; both attending conferences, and writing for their publication.

Professor Jameson helped establish the French House at Oberlin College in 1924. In 1934, Russell Jameson was awarded the Cross of a Chevalier dans l’Ordre de la Legion d’Honneur of France, for his contributions to French culture through his teaching and writing. A main interest of Professor Jameson included fencing, which he taught and coached. He was the coach of the intramural fencing team for several years at Oberlin College. Other interests of Professor Jameson included playing in the Conservatory Orchestra, and singing in the choir at First Church in Oberlin.

He published several times, and his writings included Le Cercle Français (1920), Chants De France (1922), The Modern Language Club (1929), Montesquieu Et L’esclavage (1911), and Rire Et Sourire (1926). The Oberlin College Library holds these titles, and a copy of his Masters Thesis entitled The Theory of Play and Games (1906).

Professor Jameson was also a faculty advisor in the French Club. He retired from teaching at Oberlin College in August of 1944. He continued to travel, and regularly spent summers in Ontario, Canada. Russell and Florence Jameson owned property in Florida, where they wintered regularly after his retirement. He died on June 2,1954 at Allen Memorial Hospital in Oberlin. Florence Jameson died in 1964.

SOURCES CONSULTED

Cowdery, Kirke Lionel. (1925). “Russell P. Jameson, ‘00” Oberlin Alumni.

Magazine, 21(7): 17-18.

------. (1954). Memorial Minute, adopted by General Faculty, Sept. 28, 1954.

Oberlin Alumni Magazine, 51(1): 12.

------. (1934). Dr. Jameson Wins Cross. Oberlin Alumni Magazine, 30(9): 272, 273.

Faculty File and Student File of Russell P. Jameson, (Alumni &Development Records, RG 28).

For book titles, see Oberlin College online catalog, OBIS.

Note written by Jeff Geiger.

Extent

2.75 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

The papers of Russell Parsons Jameson provide documentation concerning his professional career as a professor and scholar, and his personal life as a resident of Oberlin, Ohio, from 1904 to 1954.

Method of Acquisition

The Russell P. Jameson Papers were received in two accessions; from the Oberlin College Library on April 17, 1969 (accession 75), and from Robert Haslun, Secretary of Oberlin College, on February 5, 2003 (accession 2003/08).