Student Life: Religious Organizations Records, 1852-

The earliest records in this group reflect Oberlin’s support of missionary endeavors of Protestant organizations both at home and abroad in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The organizations affiliated with Christian missionary activity were the Foreign Missionary Volunteers, the Students Missionary Society, the Student Volunteer Band, the Union Missionary Society, the Young Ladies Missionary Society, and the Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor.  Later twentieth and early twenty-first century records reflect the wide diversity of faiths, philosophies, and political and sexual orientations expressed by students at Oberlin through participation in student religious organizations, particularly since 1965.  In the 1960s and 1970s, student religious organizations included Baha’i, Christian Science, the Interfaith Religious Council, Hillel, Jewish Socialist Community, Kadima, the Newman Club, Nexus, Sangha, Society of Friends and the related American Friends Service Committee in the 1970s and 1980s, and Student Religious Liberals.  More recent groups include Agape Fellowship, the Latter-day Saints Student Association, Liberated Unitarian Universalist Voices, Muslim Students Group, Nichiren Shosha Soka Gakkai, Oberlin Atheists and Freethinkers, Oberlin Zionists, Pagan Awareness Network, and Queers and Allies of Faith, among others.

INVENTORY        

Box 1

            Agape Fellowship, 1989-90, 1997

            American Friends Service Committee, 1978-83

            Baha’i, 1967-68, 1975-97 (2f)

            Chabad Jewish Student Group, 2012

            Christian Science Organization, 1968, 1976-83 (2f)

            Ecumenical Christians of Oberlin, 1989

            Foreign Missionary Volunteers, 1886, 1889 (2f)

            Hillel, 1965-70, 1980, 1997

            Interfaith Religious Council, 1964-67

            Jewish Socialist Community, 1973-79, 1983-85

            Jewish Student Union, 1995

            Kadima, 1979-87

            Latter-day Saints Student Association, 2003-

            Liberated Unitarian Universalist Voices, 2000

            Muslim Students Group, 1990

            Newman Catholic Community (formerly Newman Club), 1968, 1979, 1997

            Nexus, 1973, 1978-79

            Nichiren Shosha Soka Gakkai, 1985-86

            Oberlin Atheists and Freethinkers, 1991-92

            Oberlin Bhakti Yoga Society, 2013

            Oberlin Chinese Christian Fellowship, ca. 2015

            Oberlin Christian Fellowship, 1949, 1977, 1997

            Oberlin Interfaith Community, 1998

            Oberlin Menorah Society history, see Andrea R. Meyer Papers 30/321

               (See also RG 21, series II. Letters)

            Oberlin Orthodox Christian Fellowship, ca. 2015

            Oberlin Zionists, 1997

            Pagan Awareness Network, 2001

            Quaker Student Committee, 1998

            Queers and Allies of Faith, 1999

            Sangha, 1979

            Society of Friends , 1967-68, 1975-78 (2f)

Box 2

            Student Christian Association, 1942

            Students Missionary Society, 1852-64

            Student Volunteer Band, 1912-27 (4f)

            Tzedek, 2002-

            Union Missionary Society, 1867-70

            Unity, 1998

            Young Ladies Missionary Society, 1879-94 (3f)

            Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor, 1892-94, n.d. [2001/94]

                    (See also 31/4/1 - First Church, Subgroup I, Series 14)

            Young Women's Missionary Society - see Young Ladies Missionary Society

            Miscellaneous Publications and Programs (Prayer Meetings), 1887-89, n.d.

                    [2001/94]

Box 3

            Student Religious Liberals, 1964-69, n.d. (7f)