Robert Kenneth Carr Presidential Papers

Collection

Identifier: RG 02-009

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This record group, consisting of six subgroups, primarily documents the activities of Oberlin College President, Robert Kenneth Carr, 1960-1970. The last subgroup, however, documents his pre-presidential and post-presidential years as well. During his presidency, Carr was responsible for directing the re-organization of the administration to meet the needs of the modern university setting. The institutional group consisting in large measure of correspondence and committee files report on many aspects of the expanded administration of Oberlin College between 1960 and 1970. This documentation, which is largely arranged in alphabetical fashion, operates at several institutional levels (e.g., the directives of the President and the activities of the several faculties and the numerous academic departments and administrative entities within the organization).

Subgroup I contains the administrative records of the Office of the President during the tenure of Robert K. Carr (1960-70). Record series include: annual reports, appointment books, budget files, by-laws and legal matters, correspondence, outside representation (who represented the college at various functions across the state), and subject and name files relating to the decade of his work as President of Oberlin College. The correspondence files contain a few letters to Mrs. Olive Carr. Some files predate Carr's formal appointment and thus constitute documents retained from the administration of William E. Stevenson.

Subgroup II constitutes the President's working files relating to the Board of Trustees from 1959-1970. Included are trustee meeting minutes and the work of committees. (These records are not as complete, of course, as the files for the Board of Trustees as maintained by the Office of the Secretary.) Some of the documents do bear Carr's notation, however, which makes them distinctive from records in other collections.

Subgroup III, 1960-1970, contains records relating to the interworkings of the College's main divisions and General Faculty. This group includes files relating to the General Faculty, Arts and Sciences, the Conservatory of Music, the Graduate School of Theology (G.S.T.) faculties as well as the files belonging to the committees of each of these divisions, and miscellaneous committees which are filed under the series, Subject Files.

By far, the richest segment of records in this group is found in Subgroup IV, 1959-1970. Information relating to academic departments (6) and programs (9) as well as development and financial aid are contained in this subgroup. Records documenting the construction of the 15 new buildings between 1960-1970 are filed under Buildings and Grounds. Though it is a small subgroup in comparison to others in this collection, the files document many of the important changes made during Carr's administration.

Subgroup V, Student Life, 1960-1970, contains documentation on the life of the Oberlin College student. The files report on student affairs, the work of student committees, campus demonstrations during Vietnam, student government, student organizations and publications, student programs and student services. A general subject file contains smaller topics relating to student life.

Subgroup VI, 1959-70, contains a record of Oberlin College's contact with professional associations, councils and organizations at all levels. The records are organized alphabetically on a state, regional and national level. Important documentation from the Great Lakes Colleges Association and North-Central Evaluations is found here.

Dates

Creation: 1940-1984, undated
Creation: Majority of material found within 1959-1971
Other: Date acquired: 1973

Creator

Carr, Robert Kenneth (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Unrestricted

Biographical Sketch

Robert K. Carr (1908-1979), widely respected academician and ninth president of Oberlin College, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on February 15, 1908. He received his primary and secondary education in Cleveland and East Cleveland. He attended Dartmouth College (A.B. 1929) and Harvard University (A.M. 1930, Ph.D. 1935). He received six honorary degrees, including one from Dartmouth College (LL.D, 1960).

From 1931-1937, Carr taught at the University of Oklahoma at Norman. In 1937, he returned to his alma mater, Dartmouth, where he taught in the Department of Political Science (Government) for the next 23 years. During this period Carr produced a prodigious body of work, which earned him a national reputation in the field as a scholar and practitioner of civil liberties. Carr authored three principal books, The Supreme Court and Judicial Review (1942); Federal Protection of Civil Rights (1947); and The House Committee on Un-American Activities (1952). He co-authored four others, American Democracy in Theory and Practice (1951, 1971), Civil Liberties Under Attack (1953), Foundations of Freedom (1958), and Aspects of Liberty(1958). American Democracy, with Marver Bernstein (past President of Brandeis University), was one of the most widely used introductory-level college textbooks in political science and government.

Carr also made a major contribution to the work of the Commission on Civil Rights during the Truman Administration. He served as its executive secretary, and was the principal author of the Federal report titled To Secure These Rights.

Inaugurated as the ninth president of Oberlin College in 1960, Carr's charge was to restore an academic character to the presidency and direct the process of administrative change on the Oberlin College campus. Over the next decade the physical plant saw impressive growth and modernization in both teaching and dormitory facilities, with 15 new buildings completed. Two national fundraising efforts—to raise $7.5 million and $6.5 million, respectively—were successfully completed. A capital gifts campaign followed to raise $15 million for a men's gymnasium (Philips Physical Education Center) and for a central library (Mudd Center). The market value of the endowment increased by approximately 63 percent and the general budget rose from almost $5 million in 1959-1960 to nearly $11 million in 1969.

At this time, Oberlin led liberal arts colleges in widening student participation in the process of educational change. Student representatives were given full voting membership in the divisional faculties and general faculty. Students served on nearly all college committees as voting members. Even the Board of Trustees was expanded to include class trustees, one from each of the last three graduation classes to serve three-year terms.

Under a report prepared for the Board of Trustees, which advanced administrative reorganization of the college, new administrative departmental units were created during the "Sixties." New positions created included the following: dean of students, provost, director of financial aid, director of administrative services, personnel officer and publications director. Functions of other offices were also redefined, transferred, or eliminated (e.g., Office of the Secretary, Business Manager and the Prudential Committee of the Board of Trustees). One of the major divisional changes was represented by the closing of the Oberlin Graduate School of Theology (GST). It merged with the Divinity School at Vanderbilt University in 1966. Additionally, the Shauffler Division of Christian Education, a part of GST since 1954, was ultimately placed at The Defiance College, Defiance, Ohio.

During the Vietnam years, Carr clashed with students as he tried to provide an "institutional definition of the proper role and tactics of social protest and dissent in the academic community." Ultimately, campus demonstrations over the prolonged war in Southeast Asia, along with the polarization of the college community, prevented Carr from completing his agenda for change. In November 1970, Carr was forced to resign as president of Oberlin College.

Carr subsequently joined the American Council on Education (ACE) in Washington, D.C. as executive associate. Previously, he had served as a Trustee (1964-1967) and Research Scholar (1970) for ACE. At the Council, he directed a study of the future of the academic profession. His work resulted in co-authoring a book (with Daniel K. VanEyck) titled Collective Bargaining Comes to the Campus (1973).

Coming off a very active presidency, Carr kept busy on other fronts. He was trustee and vice chairman of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (1964-70), a member of the American Political Science Association (1948-50), and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1955-?). In addition, he was a member of the Visiting Committee of the Department of Government at Harvard (1965-70), the Advisory Committee on Higher Education of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare (1967-68), the Advisory Board of the U.S. Naval Academy (1969-71) and the Board of Massachusetts Maritime Academy (1973-78).

In the spring of 1975, he returned to Oberlin College as Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Department of Government. He taught two sections of a course on Constitutional Law; and he made use of the Olympic-sized swimming pool bearing his name. In retirement, beginning in early 1978, he also served as a consultant to the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges. For the association, he designed a program to assist academic boards of trustees in evaluating their own procedures, responsibilities and performances.

Carr married Olive Grabill on August 25, 1933. They had three children: Norman, Elliot and Robert.

Robert K. Carr died in Elyria, Ohio on February 21, 1979, after a grave illness. He was survived by Olive, who passed away in January 2003. Survivors include their three sons, seven grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.

Note written by Lisa Hicks and Ellie Leonhardt

Extent

55.40 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Method of Acquisition

The papers of President Robert Kenneth Carr were transferred to the Oberlin College Archives by the Office of the President in three accessions, in 1973, 1976 and 1978.

Accruals and Additions

Accession No: 208, 1976/2, 1978/18

Related Materials

For records associated with President Carr, the researcher is advised to consult the following collections: Board of Trustees (1); Office of the Secretary (5); President Robert W. Fuller Papers (2/10) and President Robert K. Carr (2/9/1, 2/9/2).