Abstract
Administrative/Biographical History
Born in Oberlin, Ohio on January 22, 1883, Ernest Barrett Chamberlain (A.B. 1904; A.M. 1906; B.D. 1910) was a teacher, freelance writer, fund-raiser, and educational consultant. He has been variously described as a man of unusual talents, thoroughly trained with broad and varied experiences, a versatile and dependable gentleman. A successful freelance writer, Chamberlain was a dedicated and loyal alumnus. A member of a comfortable, well-educated family, he had family ties with Oberlin College going back to his grandparents, Ebenezer Benton Chamberlain (Sem. 1838) and Mary Ann Cowles Chamberlain (enrolled 1837-38).
Ernest Barrett Chamberlain was the third of six children born to William Benton Chamberlain (A.B. 1875; A.M. 1880; sem. 1881; D.D. 1900) and Emily Elizabeth Peck Chamberlain (Lit. 1869). His father taught singing in the Conservatory of Music as well as elocution and rhetoric in the College and Theological Seminary from 1864-94. The elder Chamberlain was also the founder of the Men’s Glee Club (1880.) Three brothers and a sister also attended Oberlin:
Frederick William (enrolled 1882-86, 90-91, 92-94), Albert Edward (A.B. 1908), Harold Fisher Peck (enrolled 1903-07), and Mary Elizabeth (enrolled 1906-12).
The family moved to Illinois in 1894 when William B. Chamberlain accepted the position of Professor of Elocution and Sacred Music at the Chicago Theological Seminary. Ernest B. Chamberlain graduated from Oak Park High School, Oak Park, Illinois, as class valedictorian before entering Oberlin College in 1900. As a college student he was active in sports and musical associations; he enrolled in both the English and music divisions, graduating with honors (Phi Beta Kappa) in 1904.
After teaching English and Greek at Chillicothe High School, Ohio during 1904-1905, he returned to Oberlin to earn an A.M. degree in English and music (1906). He taught at the Oberlin Academy (1906-07) before beginning religious studies at the Union Theological Seminary in New York. He later transferred to the Oberlin Theological Seminary where he earned a B.D. in 1910. He was ordained on May 3, 1910 at Second Congregational Church in Oberlin.
From 1910 to 1912, Chamberlain was a student at the Oberlin Conservatory where he studied music history and appreciation, theory, singing, cello, and orchestra. He then taught history and practice of music at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois for two years (1912-14). In 1914-15, he pursued independent studies in singing and music history in London and New York.
In 1915 Chamberlain moved to Madison, Wisconsin, to study music history and composition and to teach at the University of Wisconsin. From 1915 to 1918, he taught music appreciation and singing and directed the University Glee Club. At the end of World War I (1918-1920), he served in France and Virginia with the YMCA as song leader for the American Expeditionary Forces. For three years (1920-23), he taught history at the McBurney School, a private school in New York City.
In 1923, Chamberlain became director of publicity, public relations, and fundraising for the New York firm Tamblyn and Brown. He worked on publicity and financial campaigns for a number of schools and philanthropic institutions, including Oberlin College’s first Capital Gift campaign in 1923. In 1938-40, he was director of religious education and development for Culver Military Academy, Culver, Indiana.
In the 1940s Arnaud C. Marts (A.B. 1910) recruited him as a staff writer for Marts & Lundy (a New York firm). In this capacity he wrote the campaign brochures for Oberlin’s Kettering Hall of Science Building and the Conservatory Building campaigns in 1960. He remained on the staff of Marts & Lundy until his retirement in 1969; but during the 1950s and 1960s, he also worked as a freelance writer.
Included in his writings are two volumes published by the Oberlin Historical and Improvement Organization: The Churchills of Oberlin: The Contributions of One Family to the College and to the World (1965), and The Music of Oberlin and Some Who Made It (1968). He also wrote Our Independent Schools - The Private School in American Education (1944), Aims and Ideals of Church Music (1913) and The Voice in Speaking and Singing (1917). His editorial work includes The Memoirs of Will H. Hays (1955) and Arnaud C. Marts’ Philanthropy’s Role in Civilization (1953).
As President of the class of 1904 and President of the NYC Alumni Chapter, Chamberlain led others to support financial campaigns and numerous other alumni activities. He maintained a keen interest in Oberlin College by attending college alumni functions and promoting the Teachers’ Performance Institute at the Conservatory of Music. In 1958, as President of the class of 1904 (1954-64), Chamberlain commissioned and presented to the college a portrait of John Henry Barrows, Oberlin’s fifth president. As the class gift in 1961 Chamberlin proposed establishing the Science Library in Kettering Science Building. At the Half Century Club dinner in 1969 (his 65th reunion) he organized a quartet in honor of the Men’s Glee Club (1880-1950) in which he and three other alumni represented 70 years of singing in Oberlin.
Ernest B. Chamberlain married Gladys Taber (b.1891; Conservatory (1909-11) on June 26, 1912. Their only child, Thomas Taber Chamberlain was born on July 18, 1913. The marriage ended in divorce in 1914. Twenty years later, on January 1, 1935, he married Katherine (Kitty) Buster Kane (1895-89). The couple lived in Indiana and New York before moving to Oberlin in 1959. Kitty Chamberlain worked with her husband as a literary assistant. In 1969, the Chamberlains left Oberlin and retired to Crowley, Texas where they died, he on June 21, 1972 and she on January 4, 1989.
Chamberlain was a member of Christ Episcopal Church in Oberlin and the Oberlin City Club.
Sources Consulted:
Class of 1904 Files, College General (RG 0)
Student File of Ernest Barrett Chamberlain, Alumni Records (RG 28)
Typescript biographical sketch. No details available
Author: Archives Staff Forms of Material (links to similar genres) Administrative InformationStudent file of Ernest B. Chamberlain, Alumni Records (RG 28)
1904 Class Files, College General (RG 0)
